HOW IT STARTED
I never really took the time to understand and adequately experiment with practicing meditation until the COVID-19 pandemic. I was always too busy, too skeptical, too impatient. The idea of dedicating precious time in the morning to a relaxation technique seemed to contradict the purpose of the previous night’s sleep.
Instead, I relied on socializing, exercise, sleeping and isolating myself some days to relieve stress and anxiety. I was unconsciously spending way too much time on social media for general distraction and periodic dopamine hits. Predictably, this didn’t make the issue disappear but only added to it. I continued to feel like I couldn’t fully relax to the level I used to before all of the “adulting” stuff took over. I continued to expect my external environment to change rather than attend to my internal one.
The reality was that I didn’t believe that slowing down and observing my thoughts daily could revolutionize the way I think, feel and approach my entire life. But it did. A favourite social media influencer of mine, Jen Atkin, a celebrity hairstylist living in Los Angeles, turned me on to the idea. This woman has it all – the career, the relationship, the house, the friends, the dogs, and the personality to match! She also possesses a certain depth and authenticity that makes you value what she has to say. Despite her success, she revealed that her mental health left a lot to be desired. She was overworked, and had chronic anxiety that left her crying on planes and having panic attacks for the first time. Therapy and a consistent meditation practice changed that. She began to feel authentic, deep, inner peace.
With that, I started doing further research on the concept of mindfulness and read numerous books on the subject, including The Power of Now, The Seven Spiritual Laws of Success, and Aware, to name a few. I was sufficiently convinced after everything I learned and began meditating in March 2020 during the second week of the pandemic. The chaos, abrupt transition to virtual work, and not being allowed contact with anyone were all a bit too much to take. Not to mention the frightening stats of the pandemic itself that we all had to endure.
In short, the stress was too much, and I needed every resource available to help me cope. In a previous post, I talked about how one of the lessons we learned during the pandemic is how to be grounded in the present moment. Meditation taught me how to do just that and much more. Below are the areas of my daily life where I saw massive change for the better.
HOW MEDITATION ADVANCED 5 KEY AREAS OF MY LIFE
Health
I started with short ten-minute meditations from YouTube (a few are linked at the end of this post) and gradually worked up to 30-minute sessions. It took about two weeks to fall into a daily habit and see results. But after the first few weeks, I had fewer headaches after a long workday, the quality of my sleep improved, and I was much more engaged with my daily workouts and pushed myself harder. Mentally, I woke up with far less mental “noise”, i was unbothered by minor inconveniences, and just felt less overwhelmed in general.
I’ve also recently discussed how meditation improved my skin health in a previous post. Link to that blog post can be found here.
Productivity
Meditating blessed me with the ability to magically start managing my time better. I began tracking my daily habits and fixed holes in my productivity (i.e. Excessive social media use and procrastination). I was able to engage in deep, focused work for more extended periods with less need for distractions. My days and weeks successfully incorporated the perfect balance between work, fitness, and social/family time that was always just out of reach. I now finish most days with a healthy sense of accomplishment without the nagging anxiety of feeling like I just can’t catch up.
Personal relationships
The mindfulness that meditation requires eventually trickles into all aspects of your life. Your personal relationships are no exception. Becoming mindful gradually made me more aware of my interactions and how I converse with the people around me. These include family members, friends, coworkers, and even your pets. I’ve become much less reactive to annoying comments (lol) and have developed a stronger ability to just let stuff go.
Self-Discipline
My increased focus has formed valuable habits in self-discipline. I’ve been able to fit so much more into my daily schedule and, more importantly, have managed to do so enthusiastically and not grudgingly. I’ve committed to a workout practice at a fixed time each day, have finally started journaling, and have almost entirely given up alcohol. Mind you, the pandemic and not being able to leave the house also played a significant part in this. Still, I am committed to sticking to it past these restrictive days!
Quitting other mindless habits
I have quit annoying old habits through meditation and mindfulness that I simply couldn’t kick for years. Things like biting my nails when I feel nervous and meaningless social media use. You tend to start becoming aware of the cues and cravings that lead to bad habits and then begin to change.
James Clear talks about how “a craving is just a specific manifestation of a deeper underlying motive in his book Atomic Habits. Your brain did not evolve with a desire to smoke cigarettes, check Instagram, or play video games. At a deep level, you simply want to reduce uncertainty and relieve anxiety.”
To simplify, he means that you need to get to the root of your bad habit. The habit is just the symptom for something more profound. Quiet contemplation through meditation will help you understand the true causes behind your mindless routines and put you on the right track to quitting.
To summarize, meditation is a practice that takes some time to perfect, but once you do, the positive results are astounding. If you integrate it with other good habits such as proper rest, good nutrition, and exercise, your mind and body will thank you.
LINKS TO MY FAVORITE MEDITATIONS
To help get you started, I have embedded a few links to my favourite guided meditation videos on YouTube. Please feel free to try them out and see which style works best for you. Alternatively, you may not enjoy guided meditations but prefer calming background music or sounds of nature. If so, there are many options for those as well, which can be found on YouTube or Spotify.