A few months ago, I found myself feeling sluggish and getting caught up in worries of the past and was wasting much of my brain space on unimportant stuff. I was in search of a way to add more productivity and meaning to my day-to-day tasks and to feel like I had more control over my state of mind. A little research led to an interesting article, which led to a fun video, which ended up with me learning about this great little app called Headspace. Headspace introduced me to the art of mindfulness & meditation and helped me to create a nice lil habit of meditating every day.
I have learned a lot about myself and about others through daily meditation, and have really enjoyed the journey of getting to know just how great of an impact daily meditation has made on my overall well-being.
There are a whole bunch of reasons, but here's my list of
Top 5 Reasons Why I Meditate:
1. It Wakes Me Up
I am not a morning person. At all. Every morning is a struggle and I constantly wrestle with my alarm clock, begging it to grace me with just five more minutes of sleep. When I started meditating, however, I found that by setting up a daily routine I was able to transform the beast-of-a-morning grumpiness into something of a productive moment of reflection and goal-making. Starting my mornings by just taking 10 minutes to myself really helped me to get my head in the zone for the day ahead.
2. It Gives My Brain A Time Out
If you're like me, you understand the struggle of having a head full of buzzing nonsense. That buzzing can come from worry, energy, anxiety, excitement, exhaustion, creativity...you name it. I tend to be quite hard on this 'ol noggin of mine, particularly when it's not working as fast nor as hard as I want it to. With meditation, I able to give my brain a much needed time out. It's amazing what a little bit of distraction-free downtime can do for your brain's productivity and clarity. When the brain buzzing gets to be too much, demand a mental timeout.
3. It Helps Me Sleep Better
Just as I struggle with waking up in the mornings, I often have issues with quieting my mind down when it comes time to sleep. You know when you feel so incredibly exhausted and you crawl into bed, ready to drift off into dreamland, and then your brain reminds you of that one time in high school you did that one embarrassing thing and then you're spiraling off down the dark path of 2am thoughts? Yeah, me too. So, I started sandwiching my days with AM and PM meditation moments and found that I really like the sense of structure it creates in my day. It has helped to train my brain that meditation is an activity that serves as bookends for my crazy activity-filled days and now I know when the day officially starts and ends.
4. It Improves My Crisis Management
Anxiety is a fact of everyday life and being a human is stressful. On particularly difficult days or during extremely storm-filled moments, it's easy to spiral downward at a rapid pace. Headspace has a really great section for these S.O.S. type moments and wow are they helpful. Even if it's just for 3 minutes, taking a step back from whatever crisis is occurring can really help to solidify a reasonable perspective in order to move forward calmly and with a new game plan.
5. It Puts Me In The Front Seat of My Happiness
Last, but certainly not least, is the fact that through meditation, I am handed the reigns and am given true control of my happiness. That sounds so incredibly corny, but it's kinda crazy just how true it is. For me, meditation isn't about being all hippy-dippy-do-da and feeling like life is always sunshine and rainbows. It's not a magic remedy that makes the struggles of the human condition go away. It's simply a tool to use in times where you need to give your overworked mind a break. Being mindful enough to tell yourself "hey, maybe I'm lashing out right now because of XYZ" or "yo, this situation is hella overwhelming and I need to take a breather" is a powerful thing.
I like meditation because it gives me a chance to spend time with my mind away from the distractions of daily life (there are SO many distractions!!) and to organize the files in my brain so I don't end up running around like Spongebob in that one chaotic episode (you know the one).
If you struggle with having an anxious mind or you're just feeling stressed about work or school or life, spending 10 minutes a day can really help with finding your peace of mind. There are plenty of ways to dip a toe into the world of meditation. I really like how Headspace is set up and their starter content is free to try out (and it's really wonderful content) so give it a go if you wanna give your brain a lil TLC ❤️