2 VERY GOOD REASONS TO START MEDITATING WHILE YOU’RE YOUNG

In the digital age, we have become so familiar with stress, anxiety, and pressure that peace of mind and mindfulness seem like lost art.

Happiness, peace, satisfaction, physical and mental health have become the biggest casualties of our modern lives.

Spending leisure time amidst nature, playing sports and other outdoor activities have been replaced by time spent on laptops, tabs, and smartphones.

Technology has certainly brought us a lot closer to each other than ever before in known human history. But complimentary with that boon, comes a disconnect between our physical and inner self.

We know how to read market trends and animal behavior, but we are unable to decipher our own emotions.

We all are taking a hit, but I feel it is the youth and teenagers who are losing out the most.

 

I will now list 2 main challenges that most young people face with rising stress and anxiety levels:

 

 

1. LACK OF CLARITY & PURPOSE

 

I like to believe that there are two ways to be at peace mentally. The first way is to be very clear with your thinking, which simply means understanding yourself completely. The second way is to have no thoughts at all!

That may have sounded a little confusing but yes, ultimate meditation is actually de-concentration as opposed to most of us believing that it’s all about concentration and focus.

The problem in today’s world is that self-discovery has taken a back seat in most people’s lives. We are unaware and unsure of what makes us happy, excited or even sad.

Many of us are running towards temporary happiness and satisfaction while leading a dangerous life filled with stress, frequent mood swings, show off, substance addictions and lack of clarity in setting priorities.

These symptoms are quite often culminating into incidents like public shootings, mass killings, riots, suicides and other crimes.

We are better educated and qualified than ever, yet we remain unhappy, angry, anxious and dissatisfied.

 

 

2. SOCIAL ADJUSTMENT

 

According to estimates, there are almost 2 billion social media users in the world which are expected to grow to about 2.5 billion by 2018.

While the world seems to be a smaller place with growing number of friends on social media, it has in fact become quite lonely for many of us when it comes to nurturing healthy real life relationships.

We are more interested in impressing our social media friends with our next post rather than spending quality time with the people we meet every day.

Whether we eat or not, we have to put up our food on Instagram.

I find this somehow very relatable to what Edward Norton says in the movie Fight Club.

 

No matter what technology brings in the future, nothing can replace the human camaraderie built with real human interaction, and the teamwork lessons one learns in sports.

Sharing on social media is rampant, but true sharing of inner feelings is reducing, leading to loneliness and depression.

Many young people today face challenges in facing social situations. While they are over-expressive in online chats, they become equally awkward in face to face interactions. Other similar personality disorders are also on the rise.

Similarly, qualities like dynamism, initiative, leadership skills, courage, and determination are hard to cultivate among the younger people with growing problems related to social adjustment.

 

 

WHAT IS THE WAY OUT?

 

The first thing you should do is reconnect with yourself.

Understand yourself and find a healthy balance between your professional and personal life. This can be done by setting priorities and cutting out all the unnecessary noise around you.

You need to understand that the answers to most problems you are facing, lie within you. It is very important to look inwards, rather than outwards for happiness. This can be done by becoming more mindful by meditating regularly.

 

 

WHAT IS MEDITATION?

 

The term ‘meditation’ refers to a different variety of techniques leading to a common goal of relaxation, building internal energy and developing qualities like compassion, love, patience, generosity and forgiveness.

In simple words, meditation is a technique to achieve peace in the mind.

It is a process to transform oneself from reacting to life with stress, anxiety, and dissatisfaction, to reacting with inner peace, harmony, and joy.

The ultimate stage of meditation is a state of thoughtlessness, where your mind will be completely empty through the duration of the meditation. But to begin with, most people start by focusing on one particular thing.

A common way to do this is by concentrating on your own breathing. It will probably be extremely difficult to focus on your breathing continuously, so whenever your mind begins to wander just bring it back to your breathing smoothly.

Initially, don’t overdo it. Set a timer and do it for 10-15 minutes. Make sure you keep all the distractions at bay during this time. Put your cell phone on silent mode, turn off the TV and ask your family to leave you alone for those 15 minutes.

Gradually you will notice that you can focus on your breathing for longer durations and that’s when you will start feeling the benefits of meditation subtly reaping in your life.

 

 

BENEFITS OF MEDITATION

 

I will have to write an entirely different post to cover all the benefits of meditation as there are just so many of them!

But for now, I will briefly give you a feel of how meditation can help you and why you should start meditating:

• Reduces stress and anxiety
• Helps regulate mood
• Increase gray matter concentration in the brain
• Reduce alcohol and substance abuse
• Improves focus and attention
• Decreases feelings of loneliness
• Improves memory
• Fosters creativity
• Reduces risk of heart diseases
• Improves resistance to pain
• Reduces blood pressure
• Improves feelings of empathy and compassion
• Enhances the immune system
• Improves ability to work under stress
• Increases productivity
• Improves relationships

I could just go on and on.

The point is, there are far too many benefits of meditation to simply ignore.

 

 

MAKING IT A HABIT

 

Meditation has no negative side-effects!

Why wouldn’t you want to have a habit with so many benefits and not a single side effect?

You don’t even have to leave your house, forget house, not even your bedroom, or bed!

Only takes 15 minutes!

There are many mobile apps that are available to assist you with meditation. You can have a look at some of these here, here and also here, and start meditating right away.

Also, do everything mindfully and live in the present. Even if you’re brushing your teeth, stay focused at that. It will help in developing a better mind-body harmony.

As it becomes a habit, you will start experiencing whatever life throws your way in the truest sense!

Get started right away. If not for 15, start with just 5 minutes, but get going.

Like with all the good habits, meditation will become more and more effective with time.

So start meditating and stay at it. All the best!

 

 

We would love to hear about your experiences with meditation in the comments below. Also if you found this useful, please share it with your friends and family.