Prayer is when you talk to God; meditation is when you listen to God. - Diana Robinson
Why Meditate
These days we live in a frantic world. The speed at which we absorb, filter, and process information is overwhelming and accelerating. Bills, junk mail, email, phone calls, text messages, Internet, newspapers, magazines, and 24-by-7 newscasts all contribute to information overload. We are constantly bombarded by the science of marketing which works hard to convince us of everything we must have. Finally, add the pressures of family, friends, and the workplace, and you have a recipe for massive stress levels.
The benefits of meditation are very subtle at first. Indeed, the experience of meditation is tough to describe, and attempts at a description rarely do justice to something that can only be experienced. With regular practice, however, you will find that the magic of meditation is revealed to you in several ways. You will become more sensitive to your physical, emotional, and mental states. This sensitivity will allow you to experience things that have always been there but have been occluded from your senses.
I have personally found that the benefits manifest in several ways:
- Relaxation
- Stress Relief
- Improved Concentration
- Enhanced Creativity
Major universities have been studying the benefits of meditation for years. Without citing references here, I will list some of the benefits that have been studied and shown to be impacted by meditation:
- Stress Relief
- Lowered Blood Pressure
- Chronic Pain Reduction
- Reduced Insomnia
- Reduced PMS symptoms
- Improved Fertility
- Increased Self-Esteem
- Increased Productivity
- Greater Orderliness of Brain Functioning
- Improved Memory
- Greater Creative Expression
- Deeper Level of Relaxation
- Improved Perception and Memory
- Development of Intelligence
- Decrease in Stress Hormones
- Lower Blood Pressure
- Reversal of the Aging Process
- Improved Immune System
- Decreased Cholesterol Levels
- Increased Self-Actualization
- Increased Strength of Self-Concept
- Decreased Cigarette, Alcohol, and Drug Abuse
- Increased Relaxation and Decreased Stress
Now that's quite a list! I cannot personally attest to all of these benefits but suffice it to say that they have been studied and found to be positively impacted by meditation. What I do know is this. The only benefits that matter are the ones that you experience for yourself. All that is required is for you to commit to trying meditation long enough to judge the impact if you take the 100X challenge (covered on the
When
page). This will be long enough for you to perceive the benefits.