Define meditation: Meditation or the act of meditating is the practice of training one’s mind to achieve a clear mental and emotional state. This occurs by focusing the mind on one thing and only that thing. Some people practice meditation to achieve a state of mindfulness which helps you keep a clear mind, but many people get their start with meditation in order to help them with a problem they face in their everyday lives.
These types of problems include sleeping, general anxiety, situational anxiety, stress or anything else that could put stress on the body and/or mind. Getting the mind to focus on only one thing for a period of time can be difficult, but after meditation someone can get up with a clearer mind than ten minutes prior. Achieving mindfulness won’t happen in a few short sessions, the benefits of practicing meditation take time and effort, but meditating can have immediate effects when it comes to relieving the mind of negative or overwhelming thoughts.
Many times that I have recommended meditation to help someone through one of these issues, a common response is that it “seems boring,” that they don’t know how, or that they get distracted during a guided meditation.
Meditation can seem boring because from an outside perspective it looks like people who are meditating are doing nothing, but a lot of effort and energy goes into clearing the mind and focusing on what is important. Not knowing how to meditate is also not a problem, everyone has to start somewhere. There are countless free apps that have guided meditations, many of them great for beginners. These can range from guided breathing, to telling you a story, to helping you get through an anxious thought. Some of my favorite apps are Simple Habit and Calm. YouTube is also a great place to go when looking for a meditation to get you through a more specific issue. I keep my favorites bookmarked so if I need it I know exactly where to go.
Distraction, however, is a more difficult hurdle to get over. Oftentimes you may find your mind wandering off and forgetting to focus on the meditation, or going back to anxious thoughts you were trying to get over. The best thing to do for this is to start small. Start with meditations that are only a few minutes long. Stay with these until you feel ready to move on to something longer like 10 to 15 minutes. Meditation can be an extremely helpful tool to keep in your back pocket during times of stress, or simply to use whenever you can in order to reap the benefits of mindfulness and a level emotional state. With all of this advice and info in mind, don’t be afraid to give meditation a try the next time you find yourself feeling overwhelmed, you’ll probably be surprised at the positive change you notice afterwards!