Regaining Control Of Your Life Through Meditation

Have you ever had feelings of overwhelm where things are moving so fast you are barely keeping your head above water and you desperately need to slow things down to catch your breath?

We all have points in our life like this, where our job, health, career, relationships, friends and life challenges all collectively overwhelm our ability to think straight and even manage to get through the day.

Left unchecked this leads to a very negative form of stress which can, in turn, lead to significant physical and emotional challenges.

It is at this point that people turn to destructive defense mechanisms to copy – alcohol, drugs, rage, withdrawing from everyone, running from trouble, over-eating, depression and procrastination.

You simply cannot be productive or make rational judgements when you are in a state of overwhelm.

TAKING BACK CONTROL

Some of us go through these periods a few times in our life, others go through it on a daily or weekly basis…whatever the frequency, it is critical that we know there is a way to reverse the downward spiral, quickly regain control and resolve back to a state of maximum emotional state.

For some people, exercise is the outlet that allows them to regain perspective.

But for many, there is no way…there is no positive way that works consistently, safely and effectively.

For us, that way ended up to be meditation.

In today’s busy, complicated and overwhelmingly rapid society learning to calm our mind and regain perspective in life should be MANDATORY — we would see immense improvements in society as well as our personal lives if this was the case.

Learning to reach our inner peacefulness in the face of surrounding chaos is one of the most profound, powerful things you will ever learn in your life.

Just imagine being able to set aside (on demand) any fear, chaos, overwhelm, anxiety or over-stimulation in favor of inner peace, calmness, rationality, inner warmth – wouldn’t that be an incredibly valuable thing to have in your life?

Will it happen immediately?

For most people, no.

But given the incredible value being able to meditate effectively will bring to your life – it’s worth a few false starts.

This isn’t the place to go through all aspects of effective mediation – you can reference Attracting Greatness for a very good guide, here are some basics that will help you get started immediately:

1. Meditation is all about finding a central stimulus of focus that is both pleasurable, relaxing and repetitive…meditation works by eventually blocking everything out except this single stimulus until you become habituated to that stimulus and enter a zone of complete peace…a magical place that calms the mind, offers healing and rejuvination to your body and gives you back control over everything else going on in your life.

So the key is to find that stimulus that works for you.  For some people it is a mantra (a saying or sound that is repeated over and over) while for others it may be the sound of ocean waves, rain falling, or the sound of your own breathing.   Personally I have found that the sound of ocean waves is what works for me…but I could never meditate to the sound of my own breathing.  If you have tried meditation before and found it didn’t work, then look at the stimulus you used as your focal point, that could very well have been the challenge

2. The “Busy Mind” Syndrome.  When you first start meditation you will find the more you try to focus on a single stimuli (like a certain sound, mantra or vision) the more you may find external thoughts come flooding in…it seems as though meditation is having the opposite effect filling your mind with even MORE business.

This causes many people to give up…but believe me, this is the first step to effectively meditating.

What you want to do is NOT fight those thoughts, but rather patiently and kindly re-focus on the meditation stimulus, gently guiding your mind back to the central point of focus.  This may take 5-minutes or 15-minutes in the beginning…take the time you need in the beginning.  It will get easier over time.

3. Consistency is more important than being 100% effective each day.  To be honest, especially in the beginning, some days will be more challenging than others.  That’s ok.  It is more important to stick with the discipline of practicing meditation each day than it is to be 100% effective each day.

Within a few weeks you will begin to notice some pretty amazing changes in how you feel, your perspective on life as well as potential health benefits.  For me, meditation along with some small changes to diet altered nearly 30-years of chronic heartburn/acid reflux as well as feelings of overwhelm, sleeplessness and overall anxiety levels.

Are you ready to regain control in your life – give meditation an honest try and you will not be disappointed.