THE TECHNIQUE OF DISCIPLINING THE MIND

Ten Minutes You Can’t Afford To Lose

I have been meditating for as long as I can remember.  It was before the teenage years that I learned to quieten my mind so that I could focus.  I find it strange because no one taught me about meditation.  I didn’t find or stumble upon it in a book.  I didn’t even know “my mind rest time” as I called it then was meditation.  Meditation came to me.  Through the years it helped to guide me, help me grow spiritually, helped me to increase my intuition, helped with focus and many other attributes.  During the times where I am unfocused, confused and even stagnant, I find that meditation is needed, and once I stop and engage it always helps.

Over the years, I always suggest meditation to friends, family, and clients.  It tickles me when I hear someone say they have no time to sit ten minutes out of the day in silence.  My current response in this age of consistent running from morning until we falling in the bed at night is “You can’t afford not to find that 10 minutes, so find it.”  Bold?  Yes, but it is true.  The benefits of 10 minutes of meditation far out weight not doing it.

Meditation is a technique of quietening your mind.  You could meditate for 10 minutes or 30 minutes the time period is up to you.  What you will find during this quiet time is a LOT of chatter in mind.   This is inner chatter and it is going on all of the time.  However, it becomes very loud and noticeable when you begin to quieten your external self.  Meditation should be done in a quiet place free from other noise.  Yes, you will hear the chatter, but over time and will concentration you will learn to dismiss and ignore the chatter and one day you won’t even hear it.

When meditating allow your thoughts and concerns to melt away.  You can even replace them with an affirmation or mantra, such as “I AM at peace now.  I give myself permission to let go of all thoughts and just be still.”  The objective of meditation is to quiet the emotions, control the mind, and relax the physical body.  It is within this STILLNESS that you will begin to feel peace.

The benefits of daily meditation are improved general health, mental alertness, increases self-awareness, a positive attitude towards life and the overall feeling of general well being. Meditation reduces stress, improves concentration, encourages a healthy lifestyle, slows aging, and benefits cardiovascular and immune health.  Studies have shown that there is a change in the body chemistry and metabolism during meditation.

Meditation is a simple but powerful tool.