Whatever

“Praying is talking to the Universe. Meditation is listening to it.” - Paulo Coelho In 2015, I started to be very serious about meditating. The mind is very powerful and if you can tame the chatter in your head, I believe you can achieve all things. So every morning, without fail, I meditate for 10 minutes. Some days I can carve out time to do it for longer, but most days, it is 10 minutes and then I begin my day. I can honestly say that I have seen a drastic change on how I live my life because of my regular meditation habit. It wasn’t a sudden transformation but remember, I have now been faithfully meditating for almost 5 years. Slowly but surely, I am more conscious and self-aware of how my mind works, and I try to function at my highest level at all times. To me, operating at the highest level means creating a positive, grand life. By doing so, I make a concerted effort to tune out any negative or fear-based thoughts and instead, come from a place of love and generosity. It also means that I take full responsibility for my life. I know that where I am in my life is because I have made choices that have led me here. Studies state that meditation may help develop a stronger understanding of self, help you grow into your best self, and develop a greater understanding of how you relate to those around you. From my experience, I believe this is true. I also recently read a Forbes article on how meditation helps preserve the aging brain. A UCLA study found that long-term meditators had better-preserved brains than non-meditators as they aged. Findings showed that participants who’d been meditating for an average of 20 years had more gray matter volume throughout the brain. If that is true, then that is another factor that keeps me youthful. If you are new to meditating, or have never tried it, don’t be scared. I suggest you put yourself in a quiet room, and make sure you are comfortable with your back propped up. I like to meditate on my bed with pillows behind me. I use the Calm app and set it to the timed 10-minute or 15-minute meditation but Calm makes it easy to use any of their guided meditations. Once you are comfortable, just slowly breathe in and out and try to follow your breath and avoid any distractions. This is easier said than done, but the goal is to try to get your mind in a neutral state so that it is relaxed. Honestly, most of the time, my meditation sessions just set me up to have a calm, relaxed mind for the day, but on a couple occasions, I have been able to be fully in the zone and achieve a trance-like state and actually manifest tangible desires. Regardless, doing any meditation should help you find more peace and clarity, and maybe inspire some creativity. Start with five minutes and then build from there. The one big thing I absolutely believe, believe, believe in is that how you are feeling on the inside – the mental, spiritual, and emotional side of yourself – will manifest on the outside, or physical part of you. Your outer world is merely a reflection of your inner world. I believe that if you consciously monitor your thoughts, you have the ability to: 1) Control your thoughts 2) Remove your thoughts 3) Install any thought My greatest power is my ability to choose my own thoughts. At the end of the book, I’ve shared a bunch of books and incredibly inspiring quotes that I like to reference on how to think. The mind is a powerful organ so we must learn to use it to help us, not limit us. Feel free to bookmark these quotes as mantras, or even memorize one. I think mastering the mind is one of the most important accomplishments anyone can achieve in their lifetime.