In this article, I would like to share three reasons why you should meditate, how meditation changed my life, and how it can change yours.
Six years ago, I was stressed and overworked. I was living on autopilot, chasing some vague notion of “happiness” based on external material things. But the finish line kept moving farther and farther away the more progress I made to reach it.
At some point, I felt utterly frustrated and empty inside. To top it off, my body started to fail me. I had constant back pains and headaches from neglecting my health, sleep deprivation, and burnout at work. It got to the point where I would never leave home without taking pain medication.
One day, I woke up and thought to myself, “If I feel this bad now, what will happen to me in five or ten years? I need to do something about this.” My friend suggested that I try yoga as a supplement for my treatment. I decided to give it a try, and to my surprise, it was amazing for my body and health.
But something else happened during that time. At the end of each class, we practiced Shavasana. Our teacher would instruct us to slowly scan each part of the body to release tension in the muscles. During this body scan, I noticed that I was completely present. I wasn’t thinking about my problems, what I had to do that day, or what I should have done in the past. I shared this with the group, and they said I should try meditation. And I did.
Since then, meditation has become more than just a means to stress relief. It has become a spiritual practice rooted in Buddhism, making me a better person than I was before. If you’re not sure why you should meditate, here are the three life-changing reasons why you should.
1. Meditation Changes Your Relationship with Yourself
One of the incredible ways meditation can affect your life is how it changes your relationship with yourself. As you meditate, your awareness grows, and you start to see specific patterns in your thinking and behavior. It becomes clear that sometimes you unconsciously create unhappiness because of your programming and past trauma.
For example, I noticed that I always found myself in the company of people who would trigger my worst insecurities and fears. There was something in me that wanted to be miserable and unhappy. And all it took to end that pattern was noticing it and a simple decision to stop.
I became kinder to myself and more forgiving. I saw all the flaws I had, but at the same time, I was aware of the ego in me; it was not who I really was.
2. Meditation Changes Your Relationship with Other People
Another transformation that happens to you is how you change your relationship with other people. When you become aware of your own ego and patterns, it becomes easy for you to see the ego and patterns in other people.
But it doesn’t end there. You also gain the ability to see beyond the ego. You see a glimpse of their true nature that is devoid of all programming and unconscious behavior. So even if someone is causing trouble and making your life harder, you don’t automatically label them as “bad.” You respond to the person, not react to their unconsciousness.
You might take action to protect yourself, but that action will not come from negativity and anger. You will take the right action to resolve the conflict in the best way possible for everyone.
3. Meditation Changes Your Relationship with the World Around You
The third way meditation changes your life is how you see the world and yourself in it. When you live unconsciously, completely identified with your ego and its negative thinking patterns, you tend to see yourself as separate. You are interested only in your own well-being and perceive everything outside as an “obstacle” that you need to overcome.
Meditation allows you to see through this delusion of separateness. You start to realize that you are an intrinsic part of the interconnectedness of all things in this universe. At some point in your practice, the tendency to label events and people as “good” and “bad” starts to fall away. You stop blaming circumstances and face every challenge from a place of inner stillness and presence.
I’m a freelance writer and mindfulness advocate behind this blog. What you see here is the combination of my three favorite things: reading, writing, and mindfulness. While you’re here, subscribe to my blog updates and gain access to free mindfulness resources for stress relief.
