“The body benefits from movement and the mind benefits from stillness.” (Sakyong Mipham)
One may stress the importance of staying physically active and the benefits it has on the body but I think society forgets that taking care of the mind is just as important. In a world, full of things that are out of one’s control, natural disasters, and mass shootings it is difficult to find peace within the mind. When the body become overworked, the mind becomes stressed and that can lead to a person feeling overwhelmed, unhappy, and frustrated. Personally, I find comfort in meditation, something I recently started doing this year in August. Meditation is so much more than “turning off” your thoughts but more so of allowing yourself to feel okay with whatever emotions that are trying to come through at that present moment. Some may find themselves “busy” from the time the sun rise and way after the sun sets thinking there is zero time to carve out to meditate. However, meditation doesn’t have to require taking up most of your time a quick ten to fifteen minutes every day could make a big difference in your life.
Being honest and vulnerable with yourself is the key to being happy. To an extent this is why most people are unhappy or confused about themselves and about life, because instead of dealing with their emotions it’s “easier” to let things fall by the wayside. People tend to keep doing this until it finally begins to affect their daily living. I recently came across a website (www.howtomeditate.org) it says, “Meditation can also help us to understand our own mind. We can learn how to transform our mind from negative to positive, from disturbed to peaceful, from unhappy to happy. Overcoming negative minds and cultivating constructive thoughts is the purpose of the transforming meditations found in the Buddhist tradition.”
“The purpose of meditation is to make our mind calm and peaceful. If our mind is peaceful, we will be free from worries and mental discomfort, and so we will experience true happiness; but if our mind is not peaceful, we will find it very difficult to be happy, even if we are living in the very best conditions.”
Meditation is learning how not to let everything that doesn’t go your way affect your emotions. Sure, life is sometimes unfair and the bad things that will happen to you are sometimes inevitable, but you also have to remember that one’s attitude play a significant role in that as well. I’ve always heard that, “life is 10% of what happens and 90% of how you react to it,” do you agree with that? Referring back to the website I mention earlier it states that, “By training in meditation, we create an inner space and clarity that enables us to control our mind regardless of the external circumstances. Gradually we develop mental equilibrium, a balanced mind that is happy all the time, rather than an unbalanced mind that oscillates between the extremes of excitement and despondency.”
“Peace; it does not mean to be in a place where there is no noise, trouble or hard work. It means to be in the midst of those things and still be calm in your heart.” –unknown