I want to talk about something old, but also something new that I’ve been incorporating into my wellness routine. Meditation.

I love meditation, but it wasn’t always this way.

I use to think that meditation was something people only did when they had their shit together, because that meant it was easy to do. Little did I know that the overall purpose of meditation is to connect the mind and body to one another so that you can learn to live a more purposeful life.

Sounds insane I know, and it turns out that there are so many health benefits that can result from practicing meditation. Meditation can help with stress and anxiety, lower depression levels, it can improve your physical health, increase your awareness, and even improve your quality of life.

Meditation isn’t only for people who have their shit together, and it’s not an easy practice what so ever. Meditation is for anybody looking to create a healthier relationship with themselves, while also increasing their quality of life. What I love most about meditation is that there really isn’t a right or wrong way to practice it.

Meditation is a very personal experience. It’s an experience that enriches your life based on what you choose to bring to the experience.

It’s a sacred space that you learn to create for yourself, where you let go of any worries or anxiety you may have, and collect positive vibes, and positive affirmations all for the purpose of increasing your happiness.

Meditation encourages you to be present on a moment to moment basis in a non-judgmental way.

It took me a really long time to really understand the relationship that I have with meditation. This was because for years I always had a vision in my head of what meditation was supposed to look like, instead of discovering what meditation could potentially be for me personally.

Since practicing meditation more often I’ve learned that meditation holds a different meaning, and takes up a different amount of space for everybody. What may be valid and helpful reasons for me about practicing meditation may not be the same truth for someone else.

Much like everything new we encounter in our lives we have to determine for ourselves the purpose meditation will have in our life. I started my meditation journey a couple of months ago and so far, I have discovered so much about myself.

I’ve grown so much because of meditation.

Today I want to share a little bit of my personal experience so far with meditating, as well as 5 reasons why you should be meditating daily.

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5 Reasons to Meditate

1. Meditation reduces stress levels

Meditation can reduce stress levels. The main act of meditating involves you being able to shut out everything around you in order to really focus on everything happening within you.

As someone who experiences high levels of anxiety on a daily basis, since engaging in meditation I’ve experienced less anxiety now than before. While I don’t practice meditation daily, I have been doing my best to meditate at least 3 times out of the week.

And it has been life changing.

Meditation teaches you how to look within yourself. You learn how to recognize what’s out of place for you, any negative thoughts or judgements you may be holding onto, and possibly changes within yourself that you may need to make in order to reach your full potential.

High stress levels are the result of negative thoughts, feelings, and a negative environment. This in turn can reduce your quality of life. When this happens a number of negative habits can begin to follow.

This includes habits such as not properly caring for yourself, or not thinking highly of yourself. Meditation can help reverse these negative habits and thoughts, and provide you with the skills to transform them into positive habits and thoughts.

Since I’ve been meditating, I’ve found that I’m much happier, have less anxiety, and have even created a greater commitment to my health and wellness goals.

2. Meditation allows you to create a better relationship with yourself

What I enjoy the most about meditation is the relationship that it encourages me to have with myself.

Most people lack a connection with themselves. This is because they don’t know how to appropriately recognize specific feelings, they don’t know how to filter out negative messages, and even developing self-confidence can be a huge challenge for them.

For most of my life this is exactly how I was.

I struggled with getting to know myself because I lacked the confidence needed to really explore who I was at the core. Meditation changed this for me by teaching me how to really listen to my own voice in my head.

Meditation teaches you how to tune into yourself. In doing so you’re able to be more aware of everything that is happening within yourself, and focus less on everything happening outside of yourself.

This includes your emotions, your thoughts, the way your behavior may change in a specific environment, and even the habits you may have that are not in line with your ideal quality of life.

Meditation can help you create a better relationship with yourself by teaching you how to be more aware of the way you treat yourself. You may come to discover bad habits you have but were never aware of. This includes habits such as the lack of exercise you may be engaging in, or even the amount of junk food you tend to eat on a daily basis.

Having awareness of habits such as these provides you with the opportunity to improve upon them. Meditation can help you in recognizing them, seeing where a change needs to be made, and then making the change in order to grow and improve the relationship that you have with yourself.

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3. Meditation improves your concentration

Meditation can also improve your concentration.

I like to think of this as a way of decluttering your mind. I’m the type of person who tends to have a lot on the brain. I think about a million things all at once, and only maybe 500 of those things exist in the present tense.

As a result of this I tend to have a hard time concentrating on one thing at a time. I’ve often thought of myself as a great multi-tasker, but the more awareness I develop around my negative habits, the more I realize that I’m not a great multi-tasker.

I’m just great at doing multiple things with a half-ass effort.

Since doing meditation I’ve found that I’m able to really focus my attention on one thing at a time, and really give that activity my best effort. While I still think about a ton of things all at once I’m able to filter through what holds more value and is more important to tackle in the current moment.

Meditation is a great way to really learn how to be present in the moment. It takes away that anticipation of the unknown, so that you’re able to be present in the here and now.

Practicing meditation is a great way to declutter your mind and free up space for things that matter most to you now. This can also help you in avoiding engagement in activities that may not be important for you to focus on in the current moment.

4. Meditation helps you connect with others

Much like connecting with yourself meditation can help you connect with others.

As a society we tend to avoid connecting with those who we may believe we have nothing in common with. While this isn’t necessarily bad, it does prevent us from being able to really learn about people and cultures that exist outside of our comfort zone.

Meditation teaches you how to find comfort in yourself, and how to be content with you are, so that you are able to learn about others with an open mind. This is important because confidence, or lack of it, can either propel us forward in great leaps, or hold us back from really living our happiest and best life.

Since practicing meditation, I have noticed that I am more outgoing and more social than I use to be. This is because meditation has really taught me how to be accepting of what others may consider a flaw in me, so that I can interact with others with full confidence of who I am.

In doing so I have learned how to filter people in my life who are not serving me a higher purpose, or providing me countless opportunities to learn and grow daily. While this may seem like a small impact meditation can have, the ripple effect that is created is huge.

Friendships matter. Having people in your life who mean something to you matters, and meditation helps set the foundation for those friendships to exist. It can help you step outside of your comfort zone and start connecting with others without the fear of letting your flaws get the best of you.

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5. Meditation can help identify the root of your problems

Last but not least meditation can help you discover the root cause of your problems. In other words, it can help you uncover what your insecurities may be, and furthermore where those insecurities may come from.

As someone who was such an insecure person growing up, I can honestly say that meditation has helped me significantly with increasing my confidence. As a result of that I have been able to pinpoint where a lot of my insecurities come from.

This is because meditation requires you to face those insecurities head on.

It’s hard to practice meditation if you’re constantly picking on yourself, spending way too much time in your head, or beating yourself up about the flaws you have that make you human.

To really practice meditation, you have to be patient and kind with yourself in a non-judgmental way.

Meditation has allowed me to accept my flaws, identify what parts of myself I am not most comfortable with, and really work through those insecurities in a kind and gentle way.

Through meditation I am able to identify where those insecurities come from. This allows me to be able to work through them so that I can be a much happier person, and a lot more comfortable in my own skin.

Meditation has taught me how to embrace the parts of me that I may not like the most, so that I can live my best life. And it can do this for you to.

Conclusion

Meditation is a great practice for anyone looking to improve their quality of life, increase their confidence, teach themselves how to be more aware, open the doors for connecting with others, and much more.

It’s a great way to go deeper into what makes you who you are, as well as step outside of your comfort zone. There are many health benefits to practicing meditation. It’s a personal journey that will hold a different meaning for everyone.

These are my experiences and things I have come to learn and discover about myself so far on my meditation journey. And I’m excited to see what else may unfold.

Do you practice meditation? If so, what have you learned or discovered about yourself as a result of it?

-Xo

Kimora