Steps on How to Meditate
In the world of communication skills, one of the best habits to pick up is meditation.
The art of training your mind to become still can work wonders.
But let’s be real…
There is so much information out there on HOW to meditate.
Analysis paralysis is bound to ensue.
Some people talk about having meditation apps.
Others talk about having meditation music.
And let’s not forget the group who talks about having candles!
All those things are not necessary for the beginning stages.
If you want to add them in later on, you can.
But when you are first starting off, the goal is to keep it simple.
I’ve spent years looking for practical strategies on how to meditate.
And after a lot of experimentation, I found my core principles.
In this blog, I will be sharing why meditation is important & the steps to pick it up.
Without further ado, let us begin.
Why Is Meditation Important?
A distracted mind is a useless mind.
One of the biggest causes of unhappiness is a wandering mind.
I’m sure you can relate.
When you are hopping from thought to thought, you put yourself in a state of panic.
Not fun.
Meditation is important because you learn the art of CO-EXISTING with your thoughts.
Not eliminating your thoughts, but coexisting with them.
When you learn the art of coexisting, you are able to detach your identity from thoughts.
No longer do temporary events define you.
Seeing the situation for what it is allows you to recognize that thoughts are simply waves.
They come and go.
But the core of your identity is the ocean. It will remain.
Side Benefits of Meditation
Learning to coexist with your mind is just one of the many benefits.
When you invest in meditating, you begin to unlock another flurry of benefits as well.
Those benefits include:
–Concentration– You do not succumb to distractions as easily.
–Less impulsive– Temporary thoughts make you do silly things. Detaching from them allows you to mature.
–Compassion – You begin accepting ALL of you, which makes it easier to accept others.
–Confidence– The confidence levels rise when your mind has been tamed.
–Ability to Handle High-Pressure Situations– The weak are controlled by their breath. The strong control their breath.
Science is backing up mediation as well.
You learn the art of calming the Default Mode Network portion of the brain, which is responsible for mind-wandering
And you are able to process more data from the prefrontal cortex (responsive) rather than the (amygdala).
Lesson?
Meditation is a great skill to leverage in ALL facets of your life.
Steps on How to Meditate
So I’m going to keep it simple.
Going to give you a 3 part strategy for steps on how to meditate:
- Start off SMALL.
- Pick a target to focus on.
- Bring awareness to distractions.
Most people who begin meditation don’t stick to it long term.
Tsk tsk…
Don’t be a statistic.
1. Start off SMALL.
It will be very tempting to do 30-minute meditation sessions from the get-go.
You feel sooo motivated.
But that will simply overwhelm your brain.
Gotta EASE yourself into it.
Your brain has been programmed with wandering thoughts for years.
Rewiring that will be no easy task.
My personal strategy is to make the beginning portion so easy that you’ll feel guilty for quitting.
For me, that was 1 minute a day.
If I couldn’t commit to 1 minute a day, then I wasn’t going to commit long term, period.
In his blockbuster book, Atomic Habits, James Clear brings up the importance of working your way up.
Spend 1-week doing 1-minute meditations.
The next week, do 2-minute meditations.
And you’ll start a chain from there.
2. Pick a target to focus on.
Meditation is all about making the mind 1 pointed.
Choose 1 thing and stick by it.
A few options are:
- Breath.
- Sensations in your body.
- An affirmation.
- Visualization image.
- A physical picture.
Etc.
I recommend choosing 1 target and sticking with it for a few weeks.
Rather than doing breath one day, then a picture the next day, and an affirmation the day after.
Just focus on 1 target for now.
This allows you to build an intimate relationship with the target.
Your mind is wild at the moment.
So don’t confuse it too much in the taming stages.
3. Bring awareness to distractions & refocus.
Once you have picked your time limit & your target, now it gets fun.
Your 2 goals are:
- Focus on your target.
- Make yourself aware when you have gotten distracted and gently bring yourself back to the target.
How you focus on the target is up to you.
For breathing meditations, I recommend counting your breath.
For targeting your mind towards a picture, you just need to look at the picture with all of your attention.
Here’s the issue though.
Most people are too harsh on themselves.
When they lose focus, they start feeling defeated & being negative.
But that’s not the point of meditation.
Like I said earlier, meditation is not about eliminating thoughts.
It’s about learning to coexist with them.
Your goal is to build your AWARENESS.
Every time you get distracted, make yourself aware. And gently bring yourself back to the target.
Be proud that you made yourself aware rather than remaining distracted.
Each time you do that, each time you gain power over your thoughts.
After a lot of practice & consistency, you’ll be able to notice quickly when you get distracted.
It’s all a process.
Taming the Monkey Mind
A distracted mind is an unhappy mind.
A still mind is a confident mind.
In the world of communication skills, the last thing you want to do is be all over the place.
Communicating comes down to making your mind tangible.
And if your mind is sloppy, then your speaking skills will be sloppy.
Meditation is one of the best skills to pick up.
You now have the steps on how to meditate.
With the endless list of benefits, it’s a skill that you don’t want to postpone any longer.
And if you did the act before & quit, no worries.
Pick up where you left of.
Tame the monkey mind & you’ll future self will give you 2 pats on the back.
Good luck.
– ArmaniTalks 🎙️🔥
