Todd Perelmuter's Blog, page 44

Path to Peace How to Earn Money Without Being Possessed by It

There is a cosmic irony to this law of the universe: the more we try, the more likely we are to fail. This law is true in sports, art, dating, earning money and just about everything else. The more we force effort, the more we repel the thing we want. The more pressure we put on ourselves, the more nervous we get and the more mistakes we make.

Forced effort isn't sustainable. Mounting pressure does not help us perform. And for some reason, the universe demands that we act without trying, achieve without striving for achievement, and get without wanting.

When we are relaxed, effort comes naturally. When we are present, we think clearly. And when we are enjoying ourselves in the work, we are more likely to get the date or promotion.

In today's episode, I talk about money — how we can get it, how we can lose it, and most importantly how we can get it without losing our soul/mind/mental health/inner peace/physical health.

Please enjoy other episodes where Todd shares meditation techniques, tips and spiritual lessons from around the world for peaceful and stress-free living. Remember to subscribe to stay up-to-date.

One small positive message can uplift our day. Get your dose of positivity at https://www.youtube.com/toddperelmuter

Like what I’m doing? Support the show at https://www.buymeacoffee.com/toddperel.

I answer spiritual questions from people on my weekly Path to Peace newsletter. Join the community of like-minded beautiful souls right at https://www.eastwesticism.org

You can find my books on Amazon, Audible, BarnesandNoble.com, and anywhere else you get your books.

The post Path to Peace How to Earn Money Without Being Possessed by It appeared first on EastWesticism.

Is There Such a Thing as Too Much Meditation?

With the rise in the popularity of meditation, many people are beginning to wonder if there is a downside to meditation. Some people have heard stories or read articles about people having side effects like panic attacks. Other people have heard stories about people withdrawing from their lives. Rumors of people becoming addicted to meditation have even been reported.

So, I would like to once and for all address each one of these as someone who has worked with thousands of meditators and seen all kinds of different reactions people have to meditation.

 

Why Some People Don’t Want You to Meditate?

First of all, there are many financial interests that do not want people meditating. People don’t consume or buy things when they meditate. Meditators are less susceptible to the advertising of giant corporations because once people feel fulfilled and whole from within, products no longer have the seductive allure they once did.

And some people in the mental health industry see happy people who no longer need therapy as a threat to their existence. These massive financial interests have massive PR machines putting out all sorts of scary stories about anything that threatens their bottom line. 

 

How Not To Learn Meditation?

Most of the stories in the press, if not all, are about people who learned meditation from a book or a friend or a social media influencer who did not fully understand what they were talking about. Equating this to someone who learned meditation from an expert is called a false equivalency. 

 

Moderation With Meditation

Many in the west are choosing to learn meditation as a technique to achieve more success and material possessions—a life hack. They are forgoing any spiritual teaching that has usually accompanied the technique. While this is fine and there are benefits, they are only getting half the benefits.

Meditation is about gaining wisdom and insight, learning moderation, and taking the middle path—not too rigid, not too lazy.

Anything in life can be done to an extreme. So, if meditation takes over your entire life, you withdraw from your family and you begin to shirk your responsibilities, this is not wisdom.

However, with proper meditation from a proper instructor, you will be sure that you will maintain balance in your life.

It is possible that after doing meditation for some time, you will realize that certain relationships are not healthy and you may wish to remove yourself from a relationship. Not only this, but you may discover that a job is not right for you any longer and you wish to do something different.

Moreover, you may find that certain activities you were doing weren’t serving your highest good and you may make a change. These are all some of the beautiful benefits that come from meditation as we become wiser, happier, and healthier. If you withdraw from all people and all labor, this is not an example of wisdom and presence but rather ignorance and avoidance.

 

So, How Much Meditation is Too Much Meditation?

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This is a question that will be different for each person. Some people, like Jack Dorsey, the CEO of two multi-billion-dollar companies, meditate for two hours every day. Other people may sneak in a couple of minutes three or four times throughout the day.

Everyone is different and how much you choose to do will be determined by your schedule, your goals, and how it is affecting you and your loved ones.

Some people may feel like they don’t have even 40 minutes a day to meditate, but time and time again I have seen the busiest people (think the single mother of four working three jobs) tell me that when they do a 20-minute morning and evening meditation, they feel they have more time in a day, not less. That’s because of the greater focus and energy they have throughout their day. 

 

What to Watch Out for When Meditating?

I’ve seen people who experienced all kinds of things during meditation. Some people became depressed or anxious. Others became restless. Some people told me that all of their senses felt uncomfortably heightened. 

All of these people though were not experiencing issues from meditating too much. It was from not meditating enough. They had spent all of their lives lost in constant thought, always doing, never being.

They had decades and decades of repressed emotions they had not yet processed. Thinking and doing became so habitually ingrained in them, as does nearly all of us, that when we first start meditating we find it difficult or that it makes us uneasy. In fact, it is the easiest, most natural thing in the world.

It can take a little while for some people to become used to peace and accustomed to stillness. The trick is to be gentle with yourself. Don’t force it. Go slowly. Undoing decades of habitual unconscious thinking don’t happen right away. But just like going to the gym, with consistent training, you will notice a difference.

 

Meditation For ADD/ADHD

These days, with screens absolutely everywhere, a lot of people find that their shortened attention span is their greatest impediment to meditation. The average attention span of a human is shorter than ever. If you’re having difficulty focusing or sitting still, check out our audiobook, How I Cure My ADHD with Meditation at Audible.com.

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How to Clean Up the Mental Mess You Created

Make Life Less Chaotic

I wish this wasn’t such a timely metaphor, but tragically due to the recent events in Ohio it is: a speeding train cannot reverse course instantaneously. It has so much inertia that it can only be stopped very slowly, and only once it’s stopped can it begin the gradual acceleration in the other direction.

Our habits, especially our mental habits, are like speeding trains. When we are born, our thinking hasn’t even started. Then, it starts to build and build. Soon, we’re thinking a million miles a minute. 

Before we know it, we’ve picked up the stress and worry from our parents. Our mental freight trains gather more passengers like jealousy and comparative thinking from our friends and social media. As it builds up more speed, cargo like addiction and distraction get picked up. Now our trains are fully loaded and plowing forward. 

All the cargo (which we could call conditioning) in these mental trains were picked up unintentionally and unconsciously. Some things we pick up are good, like sharing and caring. Some, not so good, like greed and fear.

The key to stopping our freight trains so we can unload the baggage and start going in a new direction is to slow down in our lives. This doesn’t mean doing less or limiting our ambitions. It means setting aside some time every day to observe the cargo (observe our minds), reflect on where the cargo came from (notice how this thinking began), and toss out any impediments to reaching our desired destination (release the old ways of thinking but stay conscious of them as well so that whenever they rear their ugly heads, we can consciously choose the new course of action). Once that mental train has stopped, we can load up on all sorts of intentional cargo that will help us get where we want to go (nourish the mental habits that make us joyful). 

Every time we have a moment of presence, we are creating new inertia in the opposite direction. Every time we act consciously and intentionally, we build up speed and energy towards new mental habits. It takes time, so be patient with yourself. There will be twists and turns, so be kind with yourself. It takes effort and work, so be sure to enjoy the journey as well.

 

The Practice of Letting Go

We know that happiness comes from within, but what about when things go wrong? How do we stay happy then? When I was in Thailand, a gentleman stole my camera. It wasn’t the camera that was hard to let go of, it was the may irreplaceable photos that I hadn’t backed up yet. Here’s how I learned to let go and forgive.

Many of us try futilely to control every aspect of our lives. But control is an illusion. We can do our best to create a perfectly calm life, but life may have other plans for us.  Often, our attachment to impermanent things becomes our primary source of suffering. This is how we can learn to become comfortable with change.

While we can’t always control our circumstances, we can control how we experience and react to them. That is where mindfulness and meditation come in. Because our fast-paced culture can make meditation seem boring, a lot of people avoid it at all cost and will seek out anything else, but is that a good thing? Here’s the lowdown on alternatives to meditation.

Every decision we make is driven by a desire for happiness. But often, what we do may bring temporary pleasure followed by more craving and more longing which actually makes us less happy in the long run (think eating a whole bag of chips).The lasting happiness we seek isn’t in the things we seek. Lasting joy and peace can only be found in the moments between words, actions, and thoughts. In the spaces between objects and things. This is where lasting peace can be found. 

So then, if peace is in the stillness, what role do rituals, traditions and religious communities play in helping us find lasting peace and happiness? Can religion help us reach our ultimate potential? Here’s more on the roles that temples and churches play in our journey to self-discovery.

As we end one week and begin another, let’s remember the people of East Palestine, Ohio. Let’s remember people everywhere who are going through challenging times. Let’s be thankful for our many blessings. May we be strong for those in need, and may someone be there for us too when we falter. This is how the wheel of life spins on. 

PS: Whether it’s losing weight, getting rich, or becoming enlightened, countless people are selling get-it-quick schemes. With smartphones and smart TVs and Amazon, we’re so used to getting what we want when we want. We’ve become an instant gratification culture and many businesspeople are more than happy to cash in on that. While instant enlightenment or quick-fix schemes can seem enticing, here is the truth about 2-minute meditation that everyone should know about.

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Path to Peace Does Going to a Temple or Church Do Any Good?

What role do rituals, traditions and religious communities have in an individual's path to spiritual awakening? Can religion help us reach our ultimate potential? Or, are they nothing but superstitions and fairy tales? Do they create positive outlets for spiritual growth, or do they simply further divide our already divided planet?

In today's podcast, I explore the pros and cons of going to church, temple or mosque. I dive into what religions can offer, what we can expect to gain from them, and most importantly, what faith can look like now and in the future in order to provide the most benefit to the most people without the negative and often violent outcomes that we have seen in the past.

Please enjoy other episodes where Todd shares meditation techniques, tips and spiritual lessons from around the world for peaceful and stress-free living. Remember to subscribe to stay up-to-date.

One small positive message can uplift our day. Get your dose of positivity at https://www.youtube.com/toddperelmuter

Like what I’m doing? Support the show at https://www.buymeacoffee.com/toddperel.

I answer spiritual questions from people on my weekly Path to Peace newsletter. Join the community of like-minded beautiful souls right at https://www.eastwesticism.org

You can find my books on Amazon, Audible, BarnesandNoble.com, and anywhere else you get your books.

The post Path to Peace Does Going to a Temple or Church Do Any Good? appeared first on EastWesticism.

Carrying the Weight of the World on Your Shoulders?

When It Feels Like the Rug is Being Pulled From Under Your Feet

How do our thoughts affect our emotions? Or, do our emotions affect our thoughts? What comes first, the thought or the emotion? Understanding the answer to these questions can help us feel better and think more positively. This can also help us heal from the grief of losing a loved one. (more on this in my YouTube video). So, let’s take a look at our mind.

There are automatic, habitual responses that we have been conditioned to have. If a child sees a parent freak out about a bug crawling across the floor, the child may mirror that behavior. When the child grows up, they may see a bug and before a thought crosses their mind, they scream in horror. In this case, a fear of bugs has not been dealt with. A new, conscious response has not been created and so we fall back into our conditioning. This is why we can feel fear before a mental story has time to play out.

Other times, a mental narrative can drive our emotions and make us feel overwhelmed with our lives (hear how to overcome whatever challenges life throws at us, reenergize, and recenter ourselves in my podcast). As we think about a story that has happened to us or may happen to us, like wondering if we will get a promotion, our emotions can go up or down depending on what is happening within the mental story in each moment. In this case, our thoughts drive our emotions. But, even those thoughts are conditioned by our past.

The difference between these two scenarios is that one is caused by external circumstances and one is caused by internal circumstances. Our mental conditioning drives us in the first scenario because we are in a hypervigilant state where we react without thinking. In the second scenario, unconscious thinking drives our emotions.

In both cases, unconscious stories are driving our behaviors, thoughts and emotions. Whether we are modeling a parent’s behavior or we are imagining some nightmare scenario, both stem from unintentional, unmindful, unexamined conditioning. As soon as we start to look inward, we see the cause behind the effect. Once we see the cause, we gain the freedom to unlearn and relearn. Once we unlearn and relearn, we can begin to live a life of conscious choice rather than unconscious reaction.

Remember these words whenever life feels hard:

When we’re going through a difficult time, it becomes extremely hard to see any good that can come from our suffering. But, the nature of reality is that struggles help us reach our true potential. When we are lost in negative thinking, we disconnect from the bliss of existence and we get caught up in the conceptualization of existence. But we can experience the deep peace of no-thought so that we can find true and permanent happiness. Watch this video to learn more.

There can be no success without failure and there can be no achievement without defeat. These are the stepping stones and stumbling blocks on our path to greatness, love, peace and joy. Sometimes our greatest difficulty becomes our greatest gift. 

In case you are going through grief,  I have shared some insights into the nature of grief, why we feel it, what it is, what it does, and how a daily meditation practice can help us more quickly see the light at the end of the tunnel in my article, How to Cope with Grief and Loss Through Meditation.

PS: Should we force ourselves to meditate no matter what, or should we only do it when it feels natural? Is creating consistency at all cost the most important thing? Or do certain conditions need to be met in order to meditate effectively? More in this podcast.

 

How to Deal With the Ups and Downs of Life Get Peace & Calm Delivered

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Path to Peace Should You Meditate If You Are Feeling Poorly?

Many people wonder if they should meditate even when they really don't want to. Others wonder if it's better or worse to meditate when sick. And some may even feel worse after meditation and wonder if this ancient spiritual practice just isn't for them at all.

In this podcast episode, I dive into the debate about whether we should force ourselves to meditate no matter what, or if we should only do it when it feels natural. Is creating consistency at all cost the most important thing? Or do certain conditions need to be met in order to meditate effectively? The answer may surprise you.

Please enjoy other episodes where Todd shares meditation techniques, tips and spiritual lessons from around the world for peaceful and stress-free living. Remember to subscribe to stay up-to-date.

One small positive message can uplift our day. Get your dose of positivity at https://www.youtube.com/toddperelmuter

Like what I’m doing? Support the show at https://www.buymeacoffee.com/toddperel.

I answer spiritual questions from people on my weekly Path to Peace newsletter. Join the community of like-minded beautiful souls right at https://www.eastwesticism.org

You can find my books on Amazon, Audible, BarnesandNoble.com, and anywhere else you get your books.

The post Path to Peace Should You Meditate If You Are Feeling Poorly? appeared first on EastWesticism.

Is Your Ego Sabotaging Your Happiness?

Ego And Happiness Let’s take a moment and look at our ego — that thinking part of our brain. It’s not hard to see how, when all humans used to live in the wilderness, that these thinking machines would come in handy. It’s very useful, when there’s danger everywhere, to have these danger detectors. The ego is always looking out for danger. It’s why humans have survived all these years.

Flash forward to today, where we live in relative safety. Where tigers, bears, snakes and spiders are no longer a danger to most of us. Then, let’s throw the news media into the mix. Now we have these fear-generators in our heads sensing danger all the time and around every corner, from economic uncertainty to war to civil unrest. Now the worst stories of the day, even if they’re happening on the other side of the world, feel like they’re happening on the TV screen in your living room or on the phone in your hand.

It doesn’t matter if we witness something on a screen or right in front of us. The brain perceives it all the same. It doesn’t matter if it’s fiction or non-fiction, text or film. The stories we see become part of us, and one way the mind deals with danger is to further strengthen the ego. We begin to identify more deeply with our labels. We harden our mind and we puff out our chest. The bigger the ego, the bigger the walls we put up. But, what feels like defending ourselves can easily become our own mental prison.

We must become aware of the nature of our ego. We must understand that the ego means well but it is no longer needed 24/7. Once we understand who we really are (More on this in my YouTube video) beyond the ego, we can stop fixating on the voice in our head. We can recognize that it is not our true selves or some voice of God, but just simply the survival mechanism from an age long ago. And, we can finally stop giving it all our attention and it can simply become like the background noise at a restaurant — barely audible, unimportant, and nondisruptive to our inner peace and lasting happiness. 

 

Whenever you feel like your ego is taking control of you, remember this:

We think that the world we see is being projected onto our minds. But the truth is, our mind is projected onto the world. Everything we see and experience is a projection of our minds. It’s seen through the lens of our past, our conditioning, our trauma, and the story about our life that we tell ourselves. 

Simply becoming aware of this fact helps us recognize our place within our experience, lessens our identification as the “I” of the ego, and becomes aware of the fact that we are aware of ourselves. When we understand the nature of the ego we can identify its tricks, we can bring conscious intention to it, and we can discover the key to living with mental peace and joy. I talk more about dissolving our ego and using it as the powerful tool that it is in my podcast.

In meditation, we can see through the clouds of thoughts that obscure our view and we can observe life as the miracle it truly is. 

Often people wonder if attachments are ego-based. I’ve been asked, “Why do we develop attachments if they only cause suffering? How do we break free from the grip of attachments and how do we still form healthy and loving bonds?” I answer these questions and more in my latest podcast.

 

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How to Cope with Grief and Loss Through Meditation

Whether it’s the loss of someone close, going through a separation, losing a pet, financial loss or loss of health, experiencing intense grief and loss is one of the most difficult challenges we can face in our lives. When we experience loss, we ourselves feel lost. 

While there is nothing I can say to ease the pain of loss, I can share a little bit of insight into the nature of grief, why we feel it, what it is, what it does, and how a daily meditation practice can help us more quickly reach the light at the end of the tunnel.

 

The Two Keys to Coping with Grief

Coping with painful emotions like grief requires two things: wisdom and experience.

By learning about the nature of our grief, greater insight and wisdom can occur. But learning about grief is not enough. To fully understand anything, we have to put what we’ve learned into practice. 

In meditation, we experience witnessing our pain firsthand. The more we witness the pain, the less we become identified with the pain, and the more we become identified as the peaceful watcher. As we practice observing the pain, our understanding of it grows and the less power it has over our lives. 

 

Why Do We Grieve?

When we face a sudden and tragic change in our lives, our bodies and mind are unable to quickly adjust to our new reality. We have become so accustomed to having this person or thing in our lives that the loss feels unbearable. We don’t know how to live our lives with such loss and our thoughts, feelings, and bodies go into shock.

Everyone experiences grief differently and for different lengths of time. Feelings of guilt or trauma may accompany grief. Our impulse is to ignore our grief, but this can often make it worse and delay the final stage of grief, acceptance.

At its very core, grief is intense resistance to loss. Our strong desire for the person or thing to come back creates immense mental and physical suffering. Because we’ve become so attached to that person or thing, their loss creates unbearable pain. It is this resistance, pain, and desire that causes our grief.

Even though we know that everything in our lives is only temporary, we still become attached and mistakenly think of them as permanent. We fall for the illusion of permanence and desperately hold on to people and things. It’s only natural. But when the illusion is shattered, so are we.

 

What is the Effect of Grief on Our Body?

Besides the intense sadness, depression, loneliness, and anxiety, grief can take its toll on the body too. 

 

Heart
Because we love with all our heart, grief often directly impacts our heart health and can lead to cardiovascular problems as well as heart attacks.

 

Immune System
The strain on our bodies can often lead to a weakened immune system as stress hormones become imbalanced.

 

Digestion
Poor eating habits can be developed by grief. In addition, nausea, upset stomach, and irritable bowel syndrome can be triggered by grief.

 

Pain and Stiffness
The severe stress from grief can cause pain in the joints, back, and neck. Headaches are also very common.

 

Trouble Sleeping and Lack of Energy
The intense emotions associated with grief can be very draining for a person. These intense emotions can also disturb sleep, making the problem of fatigue even worse.

 

Turning to Unhealthy Behaviors
In some cases, people turn to harmful coping mechanisms such as drugs, alcohol, tobacco, overeating or undereating. These choices can lead to permanent damage to the body.

 

How to Deal With Grief, Loss, And Separation?

Two-step process: Step 1: Wisdom

First, it’s important to understand that this, like everything in life, will pass. Try to let go of expectations and just allow whatever comes to come. Don’t resist how you feel.

Accept it. Everything in life constantly changes. All suffering comes from attachment. Welcome whatever comes, let go of whatever goes. You don’t have to make peace with the situation, just try to make peace with your thoughts and feelings.

Step 2: Experience

Healing from grief doesn’t happen overnight, but a deeply relaxing meditative practice can be the first step to healing. In meditation, we simply observe the nature of reality. We observe the nature of our minds.

Moreover, We observe the sensations in our bodies. We learn from this practice that everything we experience in the world, we actually only experience as a projection in our own mind. Thoughts and emotions arise and fall away.

Sense perceptions emerge and disappear. Everything is in constant flux and changing from one moment to the next. The more we observe this phenomenon, the more we understand on a deep level that everything shall pass and nothing is so unbearable if we are able to let go of our attachment and expectations.

This is a practice that takes time and is meant to be done gently, with self-love and compassion, with no expectations or feelings of failure. This is merely the act of sitting with your thoughts and emotions without external distractions and allowing your mind and body to relax and heal.

 

Meditation for Loss

When we’re grieving, we need to take time to work through our pain. Meditation for grief and loss gives us the time and safe space to do just that. There is really no better way to process our grief than by sitting or lying down, closing our eyes, and turning our attention into our inner world.

We tend to instinctively feel as though these painful thoughts and emotions are too much to bear, but it is precisely this resistance and aversion to our feelings that make them truly unbearable. 

When we can just sit with ourselves, watching our thoughts and emotions as they come and go, we learn that they are not so unbearable. They have merely thought-forms popping in and out of existence, leaping from thought to thought, and by the end of a 20 or 30-minute meditation, we will usually be feeling and thinking in a whole new way.

Meditation is about constantly accepting the present moment, surrendering to it fully, and just allowing it to be. In meditation for grief and loss, we let go of our longing, we let go of our attachment to the past, and we just become present, feeling our breath and awareness of our body and surroundings. At this moment, there is only peace.

 

Benefits of Meditation While Grieving

Meditation for grief and loss allows us to see the impermanent nature of all things, thoughts, and emotions. Once we see this, we stop grasping for things past and start accepting what is. The road is not always easy, but it will take you where you need to go.

 

5 Tips for Making Your Meditation EffectiveLet go of expectationsBe kind to yourselfBecome accepting of your feelingsDon’t worry about if you’re doing it wrong, just keep doing your bestStick to it every day Get Peace & Calm Delivered

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Path to Peace Are Attachments Ego-Based?

What is the nature of attachments? Why do we develop them if they only cause suffering? How do we break free from the grip of attachments and how do we still form healthy and loving bonds? These are the questions we delve into in today's podcast.

Please enjoy other episodes where Todd shares meditation techniques, tips and spiritual lessons from around the world for peaceful and stress-free living. Remember to subscribe to stay up-to-date.

One small positive message can uplift our day. Get your dose of positivity at https://www.youtube.com/toddperelmuter

Like what I’m doing? Support the show at https://www.buymeacoffee.com/toddperel.

I answer spiritual questions from people on my weekly Path to Peace newsletter. Join the community of like-minded beautiful souls right at https://www.eastwesticism.org

You can find my books on Amazon, Audible, BarnesandNoble.com, and anywhere else you get your books.

The post Path to Peace Are Attachments Ego-Based? appeared first on EastWesticism.

5 Biggest Myths About Meditation That You Shouldn’t Buy

Along with meditation’s sudden rise in the West came a lack of information, a great deal of misinformation, and even some disinformation. Here I’ll expose 5 myths about meditation that are completely false.

Meditation Myth #1. Only Hindus, Buddhists And Atheists Can Meditate

Wrong! Meditation is a completely non-religious activity that requires no belief in anything. Meditation is like dinner. Anyone can eat it and it is nourishing for all, regardless of what you think of it.

The two most common types of meditation are mantra and breath meditation. Mantra involves repeating a sound or word silently to yourself. It’s no different than silently humming. The sounds are often either meaningless or they may mean something like peace or love.

Breath meditation is focusing on your breath. No God ever said that it’s a sin to spend a few minutes a day focusing on your breath. Quite the contrary. God prefers us to be present, observe and appreciate all of God’s creation. That includes focusing on our breath and marveling at the miracle of life itself.

Meditation Myth #2. You Have to Sit on the Floor in a Specific Posture

Quite the contrary. Every activity can be a meditation if you use it as an opportunity to be present. Brushing your teeth mindfully, feeling every little subtle sensation, and being fully present with each brushstroke, is a meditation.

So, Doing the dishes, having conversations, literally everything can be a meditation practice just by being fully present, fully engaged.

Also, In Buddhism and Hinduism, they have a very specific walking meditation, eating meditation, and even sleeping meditation. For them, life is a meditation. Here is a great YouTube guided walking meditation video.

Meditation Myth #3. It will Either be a Magical Experience, or it’s Difficult Which Means You’re Doing It Wrong which Means You Just Simply Can’t Meditate

Nuh-uh. Especially when just starting out meditating, a lot of disturbing, repressed thoughts and emotions may bubble up to the surface. It may be uncomfortable, but thank goodness it’s no longer bubbling beneath the surface waiting to explode in rage or manifest as disease or chronic pain.

Sometimes, meditation may be like beautiful fireworks and light shows. Other times it will be grueling. It does not matter. Meditation isn’t about the meditation itself. It’s about how improves the rest of your day and your life.

Also, For people who have spent decades not meditating, always busy for most of their waking lives, suddenly shutting out the world and turning inward in meditation can be very jarring. You’re not used to it. We’ve grown impatient and entertainment-dependent since smartphones. But that’s all ok because it gets easier over time. The experience of meditation may not always be magical, but the results always are.

Meditation Myth #4. Meditation is Just Sitting Down with Your Eyes Closed Doing Nothing

No way! Meditation is a very active practice. It may look like nothing, but inside, deep concentration and sustained focus are taking place. Patience and discipline are being exercised. It is a state of heightened alertness yet calm peacefulness. It rewires the brain, boosts our happiness chemicals, lowers stress, and trains the mind to be more present and intentional.

Meditation Myth #5. Meditation is Just Wishful Thinking

Yeah right! Hundreds of peer-reviewed scientific journals have shown that meditation literally changes the size and shape of the brain. Parts of the brain associated with fear become smaller. The regions associated with regulating emotions and learning become larger. Even overall gray matter increases!?

Also, A little meditation has shown measurable increases in happiness, gratitude, a sense of oneness and connectedness, peace and joy. Not to mention a decrease in stress, blood pressure, chronic pain, anxiety and depression.

 

In Conclusion About the 5 Myths of Meditation

So, clearly from exploring the 5 myths of meditation, we now know that meditation is easy, fun, and everyone can start getting benefits from it right away. To get started, check out this Guide for Beginners for all the resources you’ll need.

And be sure to destress your inbox with our newsletter.

The post 5 Biggest Myths About Meditation That You Shouldn’t Buy appeared first on EastWesticism.