Why is Meditation Important For Your Journey to Self Discovery?

A recent survey found that approximately 14.3% of adults have some kind of meditative practice. This might not sound like a lot, but it’s a number that’s steadily on the rise.

You may know a little bit about meditation, but you might not know how to get started or even what the real benefits are. Why is meditation important? What does a good meditative practice even look like?

Read on to learn more about meditation and how you can establish a meditative practice of your own. Use these tips, and you’ll transform yourself from meditation novice to master.

Let’s begin!

What Are the Benefits of Meditation?

Though meditation has been around for many thousands of years, it’s arguably gained a lot of popularity in recent times. For many of these new devotees, meditation is an important part of their life, because of the mental health benefits it can provide. 

A lot of people say meditation gives them some space between an event and the way they react to the event. This then allows them to have a better response to stress, ensuring that in a given day, they experience more positive emotions than bad.

Meditation can also improve your ability to focus, and this can enhance your ability to learn new things.

For instance, those who learn how to meditate can improve their language learning skills. Meditation is helpful here because it increases your ability to handle the frustrations that come with learning a new skill.

Don’t Aim too High

Many people fail with meditation because their initial efforts are simply too ambitious. They overcomplicate their meditative practice, or they make the mistake of trying to meditate for too long. 

To begin with, you just want to focus on sitting in silence. You don’t have to do this for long, and you may only want to set a target of one minute. 

Of course, if you struggle to sit for one minute, you can aim for just 30 seconds of meditation.

If you can do this consistently, for one week, you can then think about increasing the amount of time. You can then increase the time again after you complete another week of meditation.

The hard part is making meditation a part of your daily life. Your key focus should be to get to the point where you do it, without negotiating with yourself. By starting with a practice you can handle, it shouldn’t be too hard to build some momentum. 

Pay Attention to Your Breathing

Many people feel guilty because, during a meditation session, their mind wanders.

However, it’s normal for your mind to wander, and there are techniques you can use to remain focused. One such technique is to pay attention to your breathing. 

By concentrating on your breath, you give your mind a singular focus. This helps to reduce the amount of ‘wandering’ your mind does and therefore enables you to achieve some of the benefits of meditation.

That said, if you find yourself wandering, even after doing this, it’s crucial you don’t get angry at yourself. Remember, meditation is a skill, and it takes some time to learn how to do it properly.

If you find yourself being drawn into a thought, all you need to do is go back to focusing on your breath. If you do this consistently, your ability to maintain focus will increase over time.

Don’t Go Alone

If you find it difficult to establish a regular meditation practice, think about joining a group dedicated to meditation.

Joining a group like this is a good idea because it puts you around other people who are also trying to improve their ability to meditate. This can then cause you to take your meditation more seriously, as you don’t want to be left behind.

Attending a meditation group is also an excellent way to pick up some tips that’ll allow you to improve the way you meditate. 

These tips might come from the person leading the group, of whom will probably have many years of experience with meditation.

But support might also come from the other members. These people have figured out how to go from not meditating at all, to making it a daily practice. Thus, if you listen to them, you may pick up some tips that’ll ensure mediation is something you stick with. 

Can Technology Help You?

You might think the whole point of meditation is to get away from technology. While there’s some truth to that, it’s important to note there are some great apps you can download onto your phone, that’ll help you meditate.

Using these apps is a good idea because they have been tested with thousands and thousands of people. This means the apps have developed techniques that’ll ensure you stick to your meditation practice.

For instance, the app will send you reminders, so you don’t forget to meditate. The apps will also help you keep a meditation journal so that you can keep track of each meditation session and the lessons you may have learned.

Some apps even allow you to rate your meditation sessions. Such features can be an excellent way to figure out if you’re getting better at meditation as time goes on.

So, Why Is Meditation Important?

Before reading this post, you may not have known how to answer the question – “Why is meditation important?”

Now that you’re at the end, though, you should understand the benefits of meditation and how you can get started.

Focus on scoring some small wins, such as one minute of meditation, every day for one week. If you can do that, you can then gradually build things up from there. 

Meditation is something that a lot of people are skeptical about. But if you make a concerted effort to try it out, it won’t be long before you’re amazed at how much better you feel, because of meditation. 

Do you find it difficult to set and achieve goals? If so, check out this post for some tips on how you can turn things around.