Whenever I talk to people about why meditation is important and the benefits of meditation or any sort of mindfulness practice, I get predictable answers. I really do. First, I get people who confuse meditation with some sort of religious practice. As you probably already know, we live in a secular world especially in Western Europe and North America. People simply do not want to hear anything about God, the deity, or anything supernatural.
Regardless of whether you agree with that or not, this is the reality. The moment you engage in any kind of talk as to why meditation is important, or anything that comes suspiciously close to something supernatural or the divine, people shut off their minds. And that is on a good day.
On a bad day, you get somebody who would verbally actually attack you. They would think that you’re stupid. They would think that your IQ is very low. They might even accuse you of having extra chromosomes. It can get quite nasty. That’s just the world we live in. It’s very secular.
The other predictable objection I get about why meditation is important is that they simply do not have the time. It is obvious that for too many people, time is a luxury. There are only so many hours in a day and they have basically overbooked their day. This is a fact. If they could, they would split themselves up and be found in different places at the same time. That’s how busy they are.
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Given this context, do people have the time or the energy to meditate? Well, if you can overcome your initial suspicion that meditation is somehow some way linked to religion and give it a shot, then the next problem is simple time management.
Why Meditation Is Important: Believe it or not, you have the time for meditation…
First of all, you only need fifteen minutes or less. In fact, if you can invest five minutes or more in meditation, you’re in a good place. You don’t have to spend half a day. You don’t even have to spend a full hour. Fifteen minutes is plenty.
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You may be thinking, “Well, I don’t have fifteen minutes.” Think again. Do me a big favor. List down all the things that you actually do at work. You’d be surprised as to how unproductive you really are. Sure, you’re putting in eight hours a day, day after day, week after week, month after month.
That much is obvious. You’re overstressed. You’re overworked. You feel tired. However, look at the nitty-gritty of the stuff that you’re actually doing. I can bet you that you’re not actually doing eight full hours of work. I’m talking about productive work here. I’m not talking about you checking out your social media updates. I’m not talking about you looking at your mobile phone to see what’s on Instagram or checking your e-mail.
I’m talking about actual work here. I’m talking about work that puts food on the table or at least the kind of work that your boss is paying you to do. I know it’s uncomfortable to hear this because it is a moment of truth. If you were to compress those eight hours or filter it in terms of productivity, you probably would be lucky if you have two hours of actual work.
So please, don’t tell me that you don’t have time for meditation and mindfulness. You have the time. You just have to free up some of your unproductive activities.
Focus on the fact that meditation and mindfulness deliver a lot more benefits than whatever cost they bring to the table. Sure, you’re out of fifteen minutes every day but can you really put a price tag on the sense of calm, inner peace, and harmony that you get? Can you really put a price tag on why meditation is important and the sense of calm, inner peace and harmony that you get? Can you really put a price tag on the amazing feeling of liberation that you often get after meditation?
You have to understand that you’re carrying a lot in your mind. You’re worried about a lot of stuff in the future. You may even be carrying emotional baggage from the past. Those are precisely the kinds of things mindfulness will liberate you from and on a very real level of why meditation is important. So, stop looking at the price you have to pay and focus instead on the amazing mental and emotional riches that you stand to gain.
Why Mindful Meditation Is The Best Time Management Tool
Regardless of what you do with it, there are only twenty-four hours in a day. No matter how hard you try, you can’t make more time. You can, however, find more time using a mindful method.
With mindfulness, you can take control of the time that you do have and by managing your time, you’ll feel as if you do have more than twenty-four hours in a day. Mindfulness is the key to time management that not only lets you get more done with the time you have, but you’ll also be less stressed.
To start, if you’ve learned about a complicated time management system that never seemed to work for you in the past, you need to stop striving. Using elaborate time management methods aren’t what you need, especially if they only add more of a burden.
You need something simple, which is why people find that mindfulness works for them. With mindfulness, there are several tips you can follow to manage the time that you do have. First, stop. Stop trying to run full speed ahead every single day followed by falling into bed exhausted only to have the whole thing start again the next day. You need to focus on what it is that you have to do.
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Take a few minutes to think about the tasks without stress and without feeling pressured to get them done. By using mindfulness, you create a calm oasis in the middle of the busyness that can give you clarity when it comes to making decisions or choosing what has to be done.
Not everything that ends up on the to-do list is a top priority
You can gain this brief respite with mindfulness by practicing some deep breathing exercises. This will help to focus your mind and relax any anxiety you might have over needing to get stuff done.
Once you focus, make sure that you’re being compassionate with yourself. Don’t allow those negative thoughts that tell you that you should have started earlier, should have worked harder, etc. Become self-aware of what you are doing and practice treating yourself kindly. Once you’re focused and aren’t judging yourself for what you need to do or for any past time management problems you may have had, you need to look over what you have to do.
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It can help to write a list. Look at whatever is on your list that’s causing you to feel pressured or anxious. If those are things that you can’t let slide, then do those things first to get them out of the way – things that weigh on you can cause mental weariness. Then, decide what will happen if you don’t do everything on your list. The purpose of this exercise is that far too many people have a list of “must-do” when those things aren’t necessary at that exact moment.
You can only do what you can do. By practicing mindfulness and really understanding why meditation is important, you can focus and gain clarity about what you must do with the time that you have. It will help you to see what you can put off, what you can do less often, and any areas where it might be more beneficial to hire someone to complete the task. Mindfulness and understanding why meditation is important gives you the perspective to know what must be done
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It can also help you to see the things that will only drain your time but offer no real benefit to your life. These are things like surfing the Internet mindlessly, which can often lead to an abundance of thoughts racing through your mind and most of those being negative.
Take time between a fully loaded day to focus on your surroundings. These mental breaks are mindful awareness exercises that help you relax. Some people find the use of mindfulness bells helpful. These are bells that will ring to help you to take a moment and focus on the present and what you’re doing at that moment. It helps you to practice mindful awareness.
Why You Should Replace Multitasking with Mindfulness
Multitasking means that a person is doing more than one task at a time. Because so many people are incredibly busy, multitasking has become a way of life. On any given day at the same time, you’ll see people who are simultaneously walking, updating their Facebook, texting, and talking to people.
Because all of these tasks are going on at the same time, the brain is forced to react quickly, moving back and forth, constantly changing focus. Studies have shown that not only do those who multitask not get more accomplished, but they’re more apt to face burnout, higher levels of stress, and a poorer quality of life.
Your brain was not meant to deal with an overload of material in so little time. When you multitask, just like you’re splitting your attention between things on your to-do list, you’re also splitting yourself figuratively. You might be checking things off that list but no one thing has your full focus and neither do those you love. When you’re in a relationship and your partner is speaking and you’re on your cell phone sending a text message, you’re not really listening to them.
There’s A Downside To Multitasking
Multitasking has helped to cause people to feel less empathetic toward others because people don’t really hear and aren’t really aware of the full scope of the situations they’re seeing or hearing about.
When you’re not fully present with what you’re doing or who you’re spending time with, you miss things. You’ll discover that you have a tendency to spend a lot of time and energy on things that don’t really matter.
Multitasking keeps you perpetually distracted. The cure for multitasking and really learning why meditation is important is the meditation method of mindfulness. This means that you’re focused on the present. You’re giving whatever task you’re doing 100% of yourself. It means that whoever you’re interacting with is not having to compete for your attention because you’re 100% present with them. Being fully present can help to deepen relationships with those you love.
It can also make you better at your job, more understanding of your coworkers, and happier in all aspects of your life. When you’re being mindful, you’re focused. You’ve got your mind and your emotions fully engaged.
By being focused, you’re aware of the task. Getting it done will be easier and you won’t be nearly as stressed. When you focus on a person, you’ll be able to have a deeper connection to why meditation is important without multitasking. You’ll be fully engaged in your own life and in the lives of the people you interact with.
Mindfulness can teach you how to keep your focus on the moment. It can show you how to enjoy the day to day tasks and situations even if they’re mundane.
Plus when you practice being mindful, it’ll help you to recognize why meditation should be apart of your life. You’ll gain the intuition to know when something doesn’t really have your full attention.
These life-enhancing meditation practices have been around for thousands of years, and virtually every spiritual path and religion uses some form of meditation. That alone should give you a clear perspective on why meditation is important.
