Meditation is the Simplest Way to Prioritize Your Own Mental Health
My friend asked me about meditation the other day. She told me that she is interested in it, has tried it, but doesn’t “get it.”
She wondered what the real value of meditation is. Does it make you feel good right away? Is it some kind of long-term practice that only helps after a long time? What’s the point?
The Point of Meditation
Here’s the deal with meditation: You are choosing to work on yourself, and nothing else, for 10-20 minutes at a time. When you decide to meditate, it’s all-or-nothing. You can’t “kind of” meditate. You either do it or you don’t.
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Meditation is the simplest way to call yourself out on your bullshit. If you believe that you take good care of yourself… why aren’t you willing to do 10-20 minutes of a really helpful, proven thing? If you don’t want it, that’s fine. But if you are looking for something… why not this?
When you put in the effort to work at improving your mental health via the practice of meditation, you actively move towards feeling better. It’s a good addition to your other forms of “taking the edge off.”
There are few things that are as simple as “sit still for 10-20 minutes per day and you will feel better.” Exercise is tricky and you can hurt yourself. Entertainments can be addictive or abusive. With meditation, it’s hard to go wrong. You sit quietly and focus on your breathing for 10 to 20 minutes and then you feel a little better.
If You Don’t “Get It”
Even if you don’t “get it” at first, if you want to feel a little better, it’s good to meditate.
It is great to practice making your own health a priority, and meditation is a good way to do it. If you sit still with your eyes closed for at least 10 minutes, you did a good thing.
Take care of yourself. If meditation seems interesting to you, give it a try.
If you need some help, I like the Headspace app. All you do is click “play” and sit still while the voice guides you through a short meditation. The basic app is free and contains everything you need.
What holds you back from trying meditation, or from meditating more regularly?
Hello! I find the simple way in which you explain the subject of meditation very interesting. I thought it was something complex but it can start being a simple and enjoyable activity. I am on that path and I want to transmit it to one of my children who suffers from anxiety. Thanks for sharing, regards.
Hey Mary, that's great -- good luck for your child, meditation can be a useful tool. I dont have experience with teaching kids about it, but maybe there is a meditation teacher or group in your town that has resources.
edit: Transcendental Meditation is pretty common, maybe a good one to look for: https://www.tm.org/
Okay. Thanks friend!
Great no BS rundown on meditation!
Anybody else here a walking meditator? I feel so in touch when I'm on a walk by myself!
Thanks Nez. I like to try and keep my head clear while walking, it's a nice feeling. Especially a long walk with no cell phone...
Important way to phrase why folks should meditate. When you think of it as just taking 10-20 minutes out of your day to improve your mental health, it makes it a lot harder to push aside and procrastinate.
Mindfulness meditation has changed my life. Thank you for sharing!