I am sure that on more than one occasion you have hated talking about how meditating can help you to combat stress, anxiety, depression, the symptoms of some physical illnesses or to have a clearer mind.
However, meditation has many other benefits that you probably do not know about.
But before I give them to you, I want to talk to you a little about myself, about how meditation changed my life (and therefore can change it to you too)
I have also lived for a long time on autopilot, seeing how the days passed before my eyes, going from one place to another, doing a thousand things at once without taking a break and feeling how anxiety was already becoming commonplace in my day to day.
I think the time comes when you even get used to living half-heartedly. You get so used to it that it stops being a problem for you.
You resign yourself to the fact that life is like that and you stop trying to live it.
Maybe you make some attempt to change your situation, but you get carried away by the inertia and get back into the hamster wheel.
However, there comes a moment when something or someone makes you wake up and know life is something bigger and more wonderful than you think, that you can take control and that after all What you need to be happy is at your fingertips.
Of course, this is not something that happens from one day to the next but it needs a process, shorter in some cases, longer in others.
Each person needs their time and at the end of the day it is not about reaching a goal but to enjoy the journey.
In my case, I can say that this process accelerated exponentially since I began to meditate.
Little by little the anxiety began to disappear from my life, I was able to integrate my emotions, accepting that everything has its moment and that any feeling is lawful and therefore should not be repressed.
Suddenly I felt great moments of joy and could not explain very well why, I began to perceive more intensely the smells that surrounded me and I discovered that a beautiful contrast of colors surrounded me.
I enjoyed all those things that I had always been shot but I was too worried about other things that I considered more important …
I can say that meditating changed my life because it taught me to enjoy it, to leave the wheel of the hamster to enjoy the house I do.
I would lie to you if I told you that my life is perfect, that I do not have low moments, that there are not days when I am tired of everything and that sometimes thoughts and emotions invade me that I would prefer they were not.
5 UNCONVENTIONAL BENEFITS OF MEDITATION
Apart from the most common benefits of meditation, there are others not so well known but are at least equally important. Let’s go with any of them!
1 # Meditation helps you to be more resilient
Resilience is the ability you have to face difficult situations with strength and integrity.
When something happens that you categorize as a disgrace (You get thrown out of work, your partner leaves you , etc …) Your head starts to be invaded by little monsters without form or color that start to tell you very ugly things of the type you’re going to be left alone forever, you’ll end up starving under a bridge, you’re too old, too young, too tall, too short, too much Everything! and all your fears begin to organize the pajama party.
Meditation teaches you to make friends with your own fears , to stop fearing your negative thoughts and discover that they are harmless. Are you really going to allow a set of words, letters, sounds, noise, to hurt you?
It will also teach you that things are neither good nor bad, they are simply and it is you who interpret them, when judging them you give them a negative or positive connotation.
Although now it seems to be horrible that your partner has left you in that way after so many years or you get fired from your job may within less time than you expect you are grateful for that opportunity that gave you the life of knowing love of your life and of starting that project that you had been postponing for so long.
I leave you with one of my favorite fables:
A farmer had only one horse. One day the horse escaped.
All the neighbors arrived saying, ” I’m so sorry. This is very bad news. You must be very upset. ” The man simply replied, ” We’ll see .”
A few days later his horse returned with twenty wild horses. The man and his son put the 21 horses in the corral.
All the neighbors arrived saying, ” Congratulations! This is very good news. You must be very happy. ” The man simply replied, ” We’ll see .”
One of the wild horses struck the farmer’s only son, breaking both his legs.
All the neighbors arrived saying, ” I’m so sorry. This is very bad news. You must be very upset. ” The man simply replied, ” We’ll see .”
The country went to war, and every young man in good physical condition was recruited to fight. The war was terrible and killed all the young men, but the farmer’s son was saved, as his broken legs prevented him from being recruited.
All the neighbors arrived saying, ” Congratulations! This is great news. You must be very happy. ” The man simply replied, ” We’ll see “
2 # Meditate helps you live longer and better
Yes, yes, as you hear it Meditating favors longevity!
Now we also know that meditation is a source of longevity and quality of life. One of its secrets is hidden in the helices of DNA. When we think about our genetic load, we forget an essential component: telomeres.
Both ends of each DNA strand are covered by telomeres, “caps” that protect the chromosomes.
These regions of our genetic material are becoming shorter as time passes.
Therefore we can say that the length of the telomeres serves as an indicator of aging.
However, there is a substance, the enzyme telomerase, which is able to protect and even rebuild and lengthen telomeres.
The activity of this enzyme was already related for the first time to meditation in 2010 and from there several studies have been developed that confirm this relationship.
Incredible true?
3 # Meditate favors empathy
Meditate significantly increases neuronal activity in the brain areas associated with empathy.
Several studies have shown that people who meditated had more active neurons of the dorsomedial prefrontal cortex and the posterior frontal gyrus, two structures that participate in the recognition of the emotional state of the people around us.
4 # Meditate improves your physical health
Meditating will not only improve your mental health, but also your physical health. Your mind and body are intimately related therefore if you take care of yourself mentally it will positively influence your physical health, and if you take care physically you will notice that your emotions are more positive than if you do not.
Meditation is the physical exercise of the mind and its benefits will be reflected in your body.
To give you some data there are studies that show that meditation reduces blood pressure, decreases the risk of heart disease and helps to improve the symptoms of diseases such as cancer, asthma, diabetes, psoriasis, headaches, etc …
5 # Meditating makes you feel less alone
It seems unbelievable but for those who show some studies meditating about 30 minutes of daily meditation diminished the subjective feeling of loneliness.some studies meditating about 30 minutes of daily meditation diminished the subjective feeling of loneliness.
After all, loneliness is a subjective feeling, you can feel extremely alone surrounded by a lot of people and on the contrary you can feel connected to a lot of people from solitude.
Now is your turn!
What did you think of the article? Have you been able to experience any of the benefits of meditation in the first person? Do you want to share some personal experience?
I wait for you in the comments!
