Is there a parameter to measure a healthy lifestyle? Does anything like a perfect lifestyle exist? Though I believe perfectionism does not exist but the best among something. There are many roads to a healthy lifestyle and for this, one should also focus on a stable, calm and serene mind, focused thoughts along with physical fitness and food habits. Meditation is one such route.
Meditation is a practice of focusing the mind on a particular object, thoughts, or activity to train awareness, observation, consciousness, and attention, and to achieve mental stability, calm and tranquil emotion. It is defined and characterised in a variety of ways. Many scholars believe that meditation can not have a particular or literary definition because it has various forms and techniques. From Yoga Dhyana to Breath Meditation to Mantra Chanting to Vipassana to Nam Japo to Salah to Kabbalah, such techniques and forms may put a limit to define meditation but neither the purpose nor the result.
The main purpose of meditation is to stop the mind from rushing towards an aimless stream of thoughts and to bring mental stability. It also aims to help people remain sharp, focused, alert, and improves relaxation and awareness. Many say its purpose also includes to reprogram the mind and give a purpose to life. Meditation has the same effects on the mind that exercise has on physical fitness.
Meditation has an enriched history but its popularity in this era is skyrocketing. Today it is a global practice. Approximately 200-500 million people meditate everyday globally (it has tripled since 2012), over 14% of Americans have meditated at least once, Women are more likely to meditate than men, top 10 meditation apps have generated $195 million in sales in 2019 and the value of meditation market is expected to be double by 2022.
The impact and effect of meditation are inescapable. We are in a digital era let’s rephrase it we are in a fast-moving and impacting era, that soothes our daily activities, works, businesses, and lifestyles. Today, almost everyone around us is connected and available globally. Everything is available just a call away and the door-step services have become a new normal. This entire conditioning is nothing but a trap of comfort that ends with stress, anxiety, overthinking, insomnia, and other such ailments.
Common lifestyle changes that can be noticed after starting meditation
A routine/disciplined lifestyle – Yes, that is true. Because meditation enhances the quality and quantity of sleep, boosts metabolism, and brings discipline and focus. A calm mind always focuses on one thing/task at a time to avoid distraction. Thus, it brings a systematic and sequential change in habit that creates a routine and disciplined lifestyle.
Trusting yourself more – Regular meditation sidelines negative thoughts and activates freshness. It allows detecting purest thoughts from the center of wisdom. The heart is the center of wisdom in the human body, sometimes people call it an internal GPS or instinct. So, Regular meditation improves instinct in humans that builds self-trust.
Less FOMO (Fear of Missing Out) – FOMO is a social anxiety that develops a perception that others are living a splendid life, or experiencing better than you are. It generally creates a sense of envy and self-doubt. But a regular meditation develops awareness, consciousness, self-trust that reduces FOMO and desperation.
More YOLO (You live only once) – What stops someone to live a life of their choice? Is there any social boundary or if it is, is that too strong to break? The answer is no, if someone wants to work for their dream and goal, there is no external force in existence to stop them but his internal will power or fear. YOLO in the contemporary period is a universal call. Almost everyone has that internal fear to stop themselves to work for their dream. This happens because of stress that acts as a paralysing agent to human potential. Regular meditation eliminates such agents and boosts confidence.
More patience and less dependable – This is a competitive era, everyone is into some rat races. A fast-moving lifestyle where everyone here has to win, move ahead from others but they don’t know what to win and where to go ahead. This is nothing but lack of patience, and lack of patience compels one to be dependable. Regular meditation helps fight with stress, anxiety, insomnia, etc. that let people take some time and think deeply on their needs, desire, expectation, choice, and decision. Awareness suggests believing in the process than the result because the result is the outcome of the process followed and is evident.
Benefits of Regular Meditation
- Increased relaxation
- Less anxiety and stress
- Lower blood pressure
- Improved blood circulation
- Increases confidence, awareness, and consciousness
- More mindfulness and being in the present moment
Some hiccups in meditation
- It takes practice which means it is not the one step solution.
- It has no magic pill to cure all problems in one attempt. Regularity should be maintained.
- A teacher and coach recommendation is fruitful. Always start with a guided meditation.
- The effect may be hard to measure.
- It can be time-consuming.
- Sometimes, it may bring bad memories from the past.
The Last Corner
Around 13% of the global population suffer from some kinds of mental disorder in which stress and anxiety are leading. Medication can not always be a solution to ill health as we must have heard ‘prevention is better than cure’. Meditation, healthy food habits, physical activities, and exercises are preventions to be practiced more for a better and healthy lifestyle. A healthy human always gives their best.
Waybloggerss 