Why Everyone Should Meditate For At Least 10 Minutes a Day

Let’s talk about meditation.

My whole life, I have been experimenting with meditation. A lot of smart and successful people do it. So I should too, right? Its gotta have some great benefits then.

What is meditation anyway? Is it just sitting around and thinking? Well, I tried that a few times, and every time I just fell asleep. “There is gotta be something more to this,” I thought.

So I have spent the last few years learning all about meditation and practicing it as much as possible.

During my studies, I came across many different types of meditation practices. Those I will discuss more in a different post, but they all built off of the same basics. The building blocks of meditation, if you could call it.

The basics of meditation is to focus on being present and acknowledge your thoughts as they come up. 

It sounds pretty simple, right? Well, not nessessarially. One thing we must understand is we can’t control our thoughts. We can think about things that we want to think about, but we can’t control the thoughts that come up.

 

Why Meditation is Important

This leads to an interesting concept; we do not have free will. We have the illusion of free will. Play with this concept for a bit. If I ask you to close your eyes for a few minutes and not think of a pink elephant, you will always fail and think of a pink elephant. This proves that outside forces manipulate the thoughts that come into our heads. This is how subliminal marketing manipulates us if we aren’t aware of what to look out for. (Check out the book Influence: The Psychology of Persuasion for subliminal marketing tactics if you are interested to learn more about that.)

Our thoughts also spring up on their own. Everything we do in life usually starts with a simple thought. I’m itchy, or I’m hungry, or I want to say this next in the conversation. Thoughts also make us feel emotions, and emotions control how we live. So if we learn how to master our thoughts, or at least acknowledge them, we will master our emotions and improve our lives. Because if we don’t, our subconscious thoughts will control our lives, and their not always good for us.

 

Benefits of Meditation

 

So what we’ve learned so far is that we cannot control our thoughts. Also, our thoughts dictate the way we feel and live. Meditation helps us acknowledge that our thoughts are there, and instead of getting lost in them, we focus on being present. How does this benefit us?

Our thoughts can make us worry about the future and the “what ifs.” The “what ifs” that are probably never going to happen.

At the end of the day, those “what ifs” are just thoughts. I’ve seen people get full-on depression because of overthinking about the “what ifs.” Our thoughts create the reality we live in, and those realities can get out of hand sometimes.

Practiced meditation helps us understand that thoughts are just thoughts. We acknowledge them and let them pass. Not letting them dictate the way we live our lives or feel. Instead, we are able to focus on what is real, the present, the beautiful world around us, and the gift we have for being alive. When we are not lost in our heads we have more gratitude and are happier. 

This is why I believe everyone needs to learn how to meditate. Whether it is to start a new 10 minute morning routine or learn how to be more present and less worrisome, everyone can benefit from meditation.

 

Best Beginners Meditation

 

This is how I began my journey of meditation. Through a company called Headspace. They have a great Beginner’s Book on Meditation and an app you can download called Headspace. Headspace teaches you the basics of meditation with useful analogies to help you understand it best. Overall I’d recommend either their book or just doing the trial on their app if you are new to meditation and want to try it. It is a great way to learn the basics so that you can start meditating on your own one day.

My favorite analogy Headspace uses is that image you are sitting next to a busy road. The cars passing by are your thoughts, rather than focusing on them, you acknowledge them and let them drive by. Then be present, focus on your breathing, if a car passes by that catches your attention, recognize that is just a thought, and let it drive away.

The quick video below explains it best!

No, I am not sponsored by Headspace. I just believe they are a great way to learn about the basics of meditation if you are a beginner.

Being present and acknowledging your thoughts are the basics of meditation. Mastering this will make your life overall better. After practicing this many times, you can easily understand that a thought is just a thought. It can’t affect you unless you let it.

Give it a try. Set a timer for 10 minutes. Close your eyes, and just focus on your breathing. See what stray thoughts come up. See if you can keep yourself from chasing them. 

You might find out you keep losing focus on your breathing. You might be at peace and enjoy those ten minutes. You might enjoy mediation so much it becomes a daily habit, but you’ll never know if you don’t try. 

I hope this post has been informative. I’ll leave you with this quick video narrated by philosopher Alan Watts. You might find it eye-opening.