Lifestyle Therapy | I’m stressed, do I need Meditation?
Meditation is an approach to training the mind, similar to the way that exercise is an approach to training the body. The goal is to achieve a mentally clear and calm state.
For instance, the act of continually moving attention from distracted thoughts back to one’s breathing can strengthen one’s ability to remain focused on a task over time. By exercising control of your thoughts, you are training your brain to maintain focus more easily and for longer periods of time, leading to greater productivity and therefore, greater success in your personal and professional endeavors.
It’s such a simple idea, to give your entire attention to what you’re feeling or thinking about. However, singular focus is one of those things that’s easy to understand the concept of, but challenging to actually do.
Along with the many benefits of meditation, it is also needed to help with self-happiness.
“Self-happiness” refers to a sense of happiness or satisfaction with one’s self. It is often associated with self-confidence, self-esteem, and other concepts that marry “the self” with feeling content and happy. (1)
The most important benefit of any kind of meditation is the increase in the level of happiness combined with a decrease in levels of stress.
Meditation gives us the space to sort out which of the demands on our energy, attention, emotions, and thoughts are valid and which are not. (2)
By. learning how to control, and concentrate on your breathing, you train the brain to get pleasure out of small things. You learn to enjoy each moment in the present, rather than concerning yourself with the past or future as so many of us do, distracting from existing happiness.
After you start practicing meditation, you’ll notice how much gratification you have for positive little moments and achievements you may have taken for granted before. Meditation is not only about being aware of your surroundings but also about what makes you happy; It’s about noticing the good.
Meditation has many other physical and mental benefits like improved mood, control over anxiety, improved sleep and increased self-awareness. It can help heal and prevent many kinds of physical diseases and injuries such as cancer, depression and post-traumatic stress disorder.
The practice has even been found to slow HIV progression and protect the brain from aging. (3)
The psychological benefits of meditation are a peaceful mind and clarity. Overall, meditation gives us the space and clarity we need to organize our goals, giving us relief and more capacity to enjoy life to the fullest.