Is there a part of you that is seeking more balance in your life? Would you like to experience more joy?
If yes, you may want to consider meditation… And if you’ve never done it, that’s fine 🙂 As Sharon Salzberg states in her book “Real Happiness,” “if you can breathe, you can meditate.”
Meditation may be viewed as one of the secrets to managing the stresses of life. While it cannot eliminate pain or difficulties from your life, it can help you become more resilient so that you are better able to roll with the punches and feel less defeated.
Numerous studies have been able to provide scientific evidence that meditation leads to strengthened areas of the brain associated with memory, learning, emotional flexibility, compassion, and our feelings of well-being (or happiness). These strengthened areas, in turn, build up our resiliency and immune system (as per Richard Davidson, Ph.D in Salzberg, 2011; p. 28).
Furthermore, as Sara Lazar (Salzberg, 2011; p. 28), states: “as with physical exercise, the more you practice meditation, the greater the benefit.” In other words, the more you meditate, the more you will get out of it.
It is because meditation has the promise of all these benefits that upon hearing that Sharon Salzberg (a well-known mindfulness teacher and author) was giving a talk with Allan Lokos (another meditation leader and author), that I made sure to attend this talk and buy her book. While I have been practicing guided meditation since May last year, I felt that I could benefit from a tune-up.
Can mediation provide you with sustained happiness?
As Sharon explained during her talk, meditation can help provide the cultivation of the ground so what we want may emerge. She doesn’t believe that you can truly experience nonstop happiness but rather moments of pleasure, as well as a feeling of contentment.
You can’t keep the feeling of peace or happiness indefinitely but you can renew it with meditation training. Similar to the process of focusing your attention on your breath while meditating, you let it go and begin again.
So what is meditation?
It isn’t a religion – you can meditate and still practice your own religion (or no religion).
It doesn’t require special skills/knowledge – you don’t need to be already serene.
It doesn’t demand a lot of time on your part – the goal is 20 minutes/day but if you can only do 10 minutes/day, that is fine. Establishing a daily meditation practice is key (regardless of length).
It isn’t an attempt to stop thinking – Meditation is a way to help us learn to recognize our thoughts (and habits of mind), observe them and then to allow us the space in time to choose whether and how to respond to what we are seeing more skillfully.
As Sharon describes meditation, it is “the simple and direct practice of moment-to-moment awareness.” To meditate, “we first train our attention by focusing on a single chosen object (most often our breath) and repeatedly letting go of distractions in order to return our attention to that object. Later we broaden the focus to include whatever thoughts, feelings or sensations arise in the moment (Salzberg, 2011; pp. 7-8).”
For those of you who are new to meditation, as well as those of you are experienced but want a refresher/tune-up, Sharon provides a 28 day program (a 4 week program) in her book through which she gradually walks you through four different types of meditations and addresses the questions that typically come up as you practice meditation.
My plan is to embark on this program and see how my meditation experience changes, if at all, and then follow-up with a post on the topic.
What are your thoughts and/or concerns about trying out meditation? If you meditate, in what way(s), has meditating been helpful?
Reference: Salzberg, S. (2011). Real happiness. New York: Workman Publishing.
I think that meditation can be an effective tool for counteracting the American culture of hyper-activity.
You allude to fact that religious people often object to the practice of meditation. I think this is the case because the process described here only involves the participant performing a self-examination of their mind and thoughts.
Personally, I believe there is much more to be gained by opening my mind to the examination of God because I am imperfect. I cannot reliably interpret my own thoughts and feelings but God can.
I do not mean to argue that meditation is not appropriate for people who believe in God but that it is far better to seek His wisdom and peace than to seek our own.
Hi Nathan,
Thanks so much for stopping by and sharing your thoughts about meditation and religion.
It sounds like you feel that you are able to make a spiritual connection to a higher power when you are meditating and this helps you in terms of interpreting your thoughts and feelings.
That sounds wonderful… I think that there are different ways that one may work on interpreting the feelings that arise – some people are able to do it on their own or as you describe with the help and belief in a higher power while others may seek the guidance of a meditation teacher, therapist or mentor. And perhaps some do a combo of a couple of methods 🙂
By the way, the reason I had mentioned the religion was because some people may have the misconception that meditation must coincide with the practice of Buddhism (or Hindu).
Thanks again for taking the time to comment,
Dorlee
I’m glad you posted this…for some time I’ve been thinking I would benefit from greater use of meditation but didn’t know where to start. Now I might just have to seek out this book!
Hi Nectarine,
It’s nice to see you again 🙂 Real Happiness is a great book to use as a way to get started with meditation because it literally walks you through the process of beginning with meditation. It also comes with a CD of 4 guided meditations to further ease the process.
I’m finding it helpful as a refresher because questions inevitably arise (and have come up for me in the past) during the process and this way, I have the opportunity to get some responses to those questions because Sharon has heard these before…
If you end up embarking on the meditation journey, please come back and let us know whether you found it helpful.
Take care,
Dorlee
Thank you for sharing this. Most of the time, when I make a decision, I meditate first so that I can think clearly and somehow perceive the consequences. I guess we don’t need to be a professional in order to have an effective meditation, all we need is to have a concentration and discipline to how we think. Meditation could also help me during the times of confusion and it is also very effective to meditate before or after we study our lessons.
Hi Daniel,
Thank you for sharing some of your experiences in meditating. How wonderful to hear that you have been benefiting from it when you’ve needed some clarity in mind or in decision-making.
You’re absolutely right in that you do not have to be a “professional” or a “perfect” meditator (whatever that is) to benefit from meditation; all you need to do is take the time and make the gentle effort to meditate for at least a few minutes a day on as regular a basis as you can.
I also love your idea of meditating before or after studying 🙂