It’s All Internal: How Meditation Changes Everything
Everything we could possibly experience in life is internal. Nothing is good, bad, positive or negative. It is only deemed so through our internal estimate.
If you win the lottery, is this good?
When you pass the finish line of your first marathon, is this to be proud of?
If you break your leg and spend 3 days in hospital, is this bad?
I am now bordering on a possible controversial subject, but I ask these questions to spark thought.
What is bad and what is good?
You may have been able to answer these questions without a second thought. However, some things can be questioned until there are no possible answers left.
Why is running a marathon to be proud of? Because it's hard. Is it? Yes. And doing something hard is something to be proud of? Yes. And pride is something worth pursuing?
What I’m trying to say is everything we feel comes from the context we give to different experiences, therefore, what we feel is up to us.
We are not born with a pre-set list of emotions and experiences that are ready for us to reach. Each one is individual, specific and subjective. Beyond this, it's down to that individuals estimate of each one that determines whether it Is positive or negative, and how much so.
Two people can go through the exact same thing and have different experiences. Of course, this is down to what they have previously experienced and their genetic pre-dispositions, but also, the control they have over their minds.
The first two cannot exactly be changed, but changing the control we have over our minds is something we can work on and improve. And as a result, we can completely fabricate our experience; controlling our levels of happiness, anxiety, stress, sadness, etc.
Another point worth making is that everything leads to something else, so if winning the lottery leads to bankruptcy, was it good? Or if breaking your leg allows you to meet the love of your life, was it bad?
There is then, only one question left. How do we gain the level of mind control it takes to completely change our lives?
The best answer I can possibly give is meditation.
“All of humanity's problems stem from man's inability to sit quietly in a room alone.” - Blaise Pascal
Through meditating I have noticed a complete shift in the way I experience everything in life, from road rage to anxiety and stress.
Meditation has allowed me to gain a firmer grasp on my mind and has done so through the following 3 ways.
Observation Of Thought
Meditation allows you to observe your mind and thoughts through a completely new perspective.
By sitting in silence and noticing every little thought that pops into your head, you start to wonder where these thoughts come from.
You start to see them as though they aren't even yours, which in turn gives you almost a third-party view into your mind.
Before, the thoughts that popped into your head may have led to a depressive episode or an impulsive behaviour, now, they merely come and go with no real bearing.
This is all done by meditating, and sitting with yourself and your thoughts, observing them through a new lens.
This drastically changes your experience of life, as most of our suffering stems from random thoughts that we have no control over.
Although we still can’t control the origin of these thoughts, through meditation, we control how they affect us, which changes everything.
A Sense of Presence
Most of what we think about during our daily lives is focused on two things, the past and the future. We are constantly fixated on what has happened to us, or what might happen to us later.
Someone once said focusing on the past is depression and focusing on the future is anxiety. Although this isn’t the full equation of the two, it definitely makes a load of sense.
So, if focusing on these two is not so good, what’s left? The answer is the here and now; the present.
Becoming more present is a hot topic, but the best way I know that someone can become more present is meditation, it’s by essentially sitting in a silent room alone and practising the art of nothing.
When you first meditate, you’ll notice your mind constantly wandering off. And the goal of meditation is to bring your mind back to the present, by focusing on something like your breath for example.
Doing this is a skill just like any other, and the more you practice, the better you get.
Doing it consciously when meditating allows you to be better at it subconsciously, making you more present throughout the day without you needing to think about it.
This takes you away from the past and future, making you a much happier and calmer person, and helping you enjoy your daily life more than ever before.
Emotional Control
This benefit is a combination of the last two, by seeing your thoughts from a new perspective and by practicing the skill of presence, you gain the mind control that I spoke about earlier.
The world is full of noise, from smartphones to TVs, distractions are endless.
By living this way, we are sundering to the automatic working of our inner minds, without even knowing what’s going on.
This is the standard of the average person, but the average person is sad and depressed. So to be different, you must do something different.
By sitting in a quiet room, alone, you allow yourself to understand your mind at a much deeper level, you get to see who you truly are.
Most people will get angry at something or worry about something without even questioning it as if the fact that they are feeling it must mean they’re entitled to do so.
I’m here to tell you this is wrong, and that by meditating, you can completely change the way you experience life.
This doesn’t sound like the typical mind control, and that’s because this one is real.
This mind control is gaining a grasp on your emotional reactions, it’s being fully in control over your mind and having the ability to see your thoughts for what they truly are.
So, if you want to change the way you experience life and gain a form of mind control, start thinking about sitting in a quiet room and doing nothing, it just might just everything.