If You’re Wondering If You Should Start Meditating This Year, the Answer Is Yes!
It’s amazing what ten minutes in a day can change.
If you had asked me if I would ever enjoy meditation, I would have laughed. But here I was, on the first day of my two-week stay with my in-laws for Christmas. It was motivation enough to make me change my mind!
For more than a month, I have been meditating every night. I turn my app on before bed and try to wind down for 10 to 15 minutes. Every time, my monkey mind wanders. And every time, I ask myself if this really is working.
But it is.
Already after one, two weeks of meditating, I could feel some results: I felt more grounded, calmer, and more patient. I have found meditating to have a great impact on my mental wellbeing. Even if I found it to be challenging in the moment.
As Jay Shetty put it in his book, meditation is much more than sitting for a short period of time during the day. One day can be more difficult than the next. But it still gives you the opportunity to reflect and appreciate your life.
But the point of meditation is to examine what makes it challenging. There is more to it than closing your eyes for fifteen minutes a day. It is a practice of giving yourself space to reflect and evaluate.
I’ve always been the first to tell how boring meditating is and that it doesn’t work for me to be inactive and sit for hours doing nothing.
In all books or articles I’ve read or podcasts I’ve heard relating to the habits of successful people, almost all of the subjects integrate a meditation routine in their day.
When you always read about an idea and its benefits, it starts to make its way in your head. The seed is planted.
So I gave it a try.
Here are 4 valid reasons to start your meditation routine today, from someone who always thought meditating was a waste of time and her thoughts too fast anyway!
You will be more grounded
Do you feel like you’re running through the day, trying to grasp anything left of time for yourself? Between work, our responsibilities, our families, and the projects we might have on the side, it seems daunting to just sit still.
Meditation may be exactly what you need right now.
Feeling grounded is nothing more than being in the present. Being aware of your body and emotions in the moment you’re experiencing it. It’s the here and now.
I’ve always told anyone who wanted to hear how little time I had left in my day and why I would certainly NOT start meditating. But then I shift perspective.
We live in a busy world. I’m running after my personal projects, work, organizing daycare, and days off daycare. Plus living with an extremely loud partner and toddler by my side, taking this extra 10 minutes to stand still helps me feel grounded.
We all have 24 hours in a day. If you’re working, let say 10 hours a day and sleeping 7 to 8, you still have 6 to 7 hours a day to do other things. Even if your to-do list is huge, what are 5 to 10 minutes in 7 hours, knowing the benefits you could possibly get from a meditation practice?
How to get started?
If you’re a beginner like me, try to find a meditation app that suits you. There are a few on the market now. I personally use headspace and have found the guided meditations to be what I need.
Find a quiet place where you will be undisturbed and start the session. I do it in the evening before going to bed, but I am considering moving my practice to the morning.
Try out what feels best for you, anything but start!
You will reduce your stress level
During a day, we are subjected to different kinds of stress. It can be an important presentation for a client, being late to drop off your child at daycare, or the constant notifications from your phone.
Stress takes on many forms and many faces.
The greatest, simplest, and most accessible method to reduce stress is your breath. And meditation is mainly focused on your breathing.
Jay Shetty put the right words on it. When we feel stressed out, we hold our breath. But when we start taking control over our emotions, everything falls into place.
When you align with your breath, you learn to align with yourself through every emotion — calming, entering, and de-stressing yourself.
Since I started meditating, I take big deep breaths when I feel stressed or angry in given situations. And guess what? It helps. I’m now aware of the situations I might feel pressured or stressed. I breathe consciously.
Try this to reduce your stress level during your day
Before we become aware in the moment, it can help to know which situations might cause us stress.
Identifies situations that stress you. It can be anything. Your boss entering the room, your toddler throwing your cup of coffee on your home office laptop. It can be a date or difficult conversations about your feelings.
There are no bad or better situations to feel stressed. Each person reacts differently to a given situation.
Find your moments and write them down. Writing them down helps you become more aware, so you can be proactive and more conscious when these situations arise.
And when it comes, stop a moment and breath. Take a deep breath inhaling through the nose, exhaling through the mouth.
One practice from my yoga teacher is to inhale slowly, hold and exhale slowly (to a count of 4 or more). Do that until you totally calmed down and have control over your emotions again.
You will be and will make your surrounding happier
Meditation is greater than yourself.
It’s not about you; it’s also about the other people benefiting from your habit.
The first year after the birth of our son, my partner and I fought constantly. I felt so much aggressions and hate towards a man I loved more than anything before. This negative energy and constant tension didn’t make either of us happy.
I meditate to be more concentrated, more present, calmer. But also to be a better partner and a better mum. In my meditation practice, I’ll take a moment to set my intentions: to be a better partner and the best mother to my son.
Since I started meditating, we went from fighting every two days to almost no fights at all.
I’m not saying that meditation is the cure for all your relationship problems. But I think this practice helps you take a step back and face crises or problems in a calmer way.
How does your practice become about you and others?
When you start meditating, include a moment in your practice to remember why you’re doing it and ask yourself these questions:
- How does my regular practice can benefit others?
- How do I want to show up?
- How do I want the people around to feel when I am around?
Formulate your answers as intentions. I would recommend setting one or two intentions that you keep repeating day after day at a given time during your practice.
Bonus side effect: You will become kinder
Through meditation practice, you start seeing others from a more empathic, compassionate perspective. It’s not you: it’s you, the others, and everyone as a whole.
When we feel drained and unhappy, stress and anxious, we are less receptive to our environment and others’ feelings around us. Integrate meditation in your day is a good place to start having more happy days.
Practicing with intentions helps us find touch with our kind inner-child. Kindness brings happiness. You can have more happy days when you start taking control over your emotional state.
Before meditating and over the last year, I was going through a rough patch. I ate negative energy, anger, and sadness for breakfast. I was thin-skinned — a real ticking time bomb.
I was not able to be happy for my partner. Everything he did or said was just annoying to me. We were fighting all the time; it felt like a constant negotiation for anything, especially time.
Since I started meditating, I feel more understanding and able to feel joy again. And I am way more understanding, empathic and compassionate toward my boyfriend and his feelings.
It’s not perfect yet, but it’s better.
Your kindness take-away
Life is not meant to be self-centered, focused on the constant benefits you can get from X or Y situations.
Try to find good to do in your daily life.
It doesn’t mean you have to forget about your needs and always put yourself last. It’s about finding a balance and finding happiness by helping or contributing to the happiness of someone else.
Final thoughts
Meditating has been around for decades. It’s not new, and there are reasons why the most successful peak performers of this world use this practice every day.
And do you know the best part? Meditation is not reserved for an elite. It’s accessible for anyone ready to go the path of self-reflection. People are claiming the benefits of this practice. And you can do that too!
Integrate a meditation practice for these 4 reasons:
- You will be more grounded, more in the present
- You will reduce your negative stress level
- You will be and will make your surrounding happier
- You will become kinder
Start today with 10 minutes. I’d bet you spend this time more often than you wish, scrolling down your Instagram feed. Do you remember the last thing you saw a few minutes ago?
There are many forms of meditation, so take the time to find yours before throwing the towel.
I’m not a guru, and I am still a beginner, but I’ve become a strong believer that integrating a mindful practice will help you live a happier and more focused life.
This is what I’m experiencing so far. Isn’t it worth trying different methods for a lifetime of happiness?
