Large numbers of people all over the world meditate – many daily. However, many polls show that the vast majority of people are unhappy. Almost all of my personal development clients meditate – but a lot of them still find themselves stressed, worried and all over the place during the course of their everyday life. So the important question is can meditation give you peace of mind?
First of all, many people don’t even discover peace of mind while they’re meditating! Their minds are all over the place, mind wanders or often they end up overwhelmed by completely useless thoughts. All too often, when they meditate, they become even more frustrated than they were before they sat down because they think that they don’t know how to meditate. However, even if you’re an expert at meditating and get real peace of mind while you’re practicing it, you can take it for granted that that same clarity and peace of mind doesn’t follow you as your day progresses. You fall back to your stressed out state of mind.
As normal people we are conditioned to be mentally all over the place – it’s just who we are. And that’s how we’ll stay unless we take concrete steps – not just while we’re meditating but during each and every day. The first thing to realize is that meditation should be regarded as source of mental discipline. Basically, even if you are all over the place whilst meditating, the determinationto see it through to the bitter end disciplines your mind. You shouldn’t get hassled, you shouldn’t stress, you should just get on with your meditation.
Even more to the point, I believe that most people don’t understand the link between meditating and what’s going on in their daily lives. You must stop yourself during the day to evaluate your state of mind. Chances are, you’ll be all over the place in comparison to the peace that can embrace you during a good session of meditation. After you’re established your current state of mind, you need to act to bring yourself back towards the optimum peaceful state of mind. You don’t have to take drastic action. It can be something small, like getting up from your desk for a few minutes to have a breather – read those words carefully, pay attention to how you’re breathing in and out, no one else will know the difference. Or you could head outside for your habitual cigarette and really smoke it – yes, even smoking can be a meditation. The key point is that you need to pause, check up on your state of mind and tune back in to the reality of the moment.
As I mentioned, meditation is a discipline. Discipline your mind repeatedly – not just with a quick session of meditation before the day gets going, but during the day too. If you don’t, the peace of mind that you experience during meditation (even if it’s only once in a blue moon) will be of no practical assistance to you during your everyday life. And, if meditating doesn’t make a practical difference in your life, what’s the point?
