Over the past few months, I have invested more time into my meditation practice, and have experienced a variety of benefits first hand.

Meditation (or mindfulness) is practicing presence and concentration. It is a way to train your mind to be more aware of the present moment.

If you’re a beginner, I encourage you to meditate at least 5-10 minutes a day, and then slowly build up your practice from there. Finding it difficult to stay motivated? I suggest trying different routines in order to land on the right one. Or switching it up every so often.

Insight Timer has been a great resource for me. It has a wide range of guided meditations, music, talks, workshops, etc. It also has a timer feature in case you just want to sit in silence. I go back and forth between the timer and the guided meditations. There are also other apps like Insight Timer, such as: Headspace and Calm.

With that being said, you’re probably wondering, “How can meditation help me?”

Meditation has improved my life in the following ways:

• Helps reduce stress
• Improves mental health
• Betters focus
• Enhances self-awareness
• Inner peace

Helps Reduce Stress

Meditation has helped me overcome and let go of stress in my life. Don’t get me wrong, some stress is good stress. While other stress, is not so good, and sometimes even unnecessary.

I’m not saying that we don’t have real things to stress about. I’m saying that some things are not worth stressing over, especially if it is out of your control.

Meditation helped me recognize what is in my control and what I have the power to change versus what is not in my control. An example of something that is in my control: how much I prepare for a job interview. An example of what is out of my control: the interviewer’s/company’s decision on whether or not I get the job.

Improves Mental Health

Studies have shown that meditation can improve mental health. It has helped me cope better with the effects of anxiety and depression. Meditation reminds me to be present in the moment instead of getting caught up in the past or future. My perspective on past experiences has also changed, as well.

Betters Focus

Meditation can help improve focus. Training my mind to be still and focus on the present moment has not been an easy task. With access to the world and information at my fingertips, it can be difficult to choose to go inward instead of outward.

Meditation has helped me realize that the present moment is a gift. I want to be here (mentally and physically) to enjoy it. 🙂

Enhances Self-Awareness

Before I really committed to meditation, I would actively avoid myself and my feelings. It used to feel really uncomfortable to hold space for myself. With meditation, I have been able to sit with myself, my thoughts, my feelings, etc., and I have been able to get comfortable with the uncomfortable.

I have also learned to be more attentive of myself, and with that, I am able to understand and love myself better.

Inner Peace

Meditation has given me a lot of inner peace. Before I felt inner peace, I had to weather the storm. What I mean by that is I had to really commit to doing shadow work and getting to know myself.

Meditation has taught me to release and let go. I used to struggle trying to control. I was trying to control my life, people’s perceptions of me, my relationships, and more. Once I let go of the need to feel control, I was able to thrive and feel alive in the present moment.