If there was one thing I could choose to tell everyone that would benefit them in their daily lives, it would be the importance of practicing meditation. Meditation can be beneficial to anyone. No matter how young or old you are, what you have going on, or how much time you have to give. Practicing meditation helps you connect with your innermost essence. It allows you to exist fully in the present moment. Through doing this you will find yourself more at peace with yourself and the world around.
If you are not familiar with meditation, it can be hard to believe that such peace can be achieved during times of hardship. But it is nothing short of the truth. Especially during times of hardship, being in control of your mind can give you a seemingly unattainable level of power and clarity in your life. I will discuss 5 helpful resources that have personally helped me in my meditation practices.
1. Guided Meditations
One of the first things that helped me during my beginning stages of meditation was the Headspace App. The Headspace app has free guided meditations on the basic plans. You can repeat the basic plans as many times as you like. I have gone through the basic plan again and again, and I still love it. This app also has very helpful visuals for what to expect when you are a beginner to the practice of meditation.
The guided meditations on Headspace have shown me how to be present in the moment and how to become consciously aware of my thoughts. As you begin to go through the guided meditations, it is common to struggle in the first few tries. You are actively challenging the never-ending stream of thoughts flowing through your mind. I’ve learned through these guided meditations that you want to first become aware of this stream, but don’t jump in. It is okay if the tide pulls you in from time to time, but try to stay on top of things and just observe your own thoughts.
As you progress through the discipline of guided meditations, you will have more control over your own thoughts. Slowly but surely your thoughts are not able to hijack the steering wheel and take you on a ride. Having gone through these guided meditations, I know now that when you are the driver of your own mind and thoughts, you will find yourself able to make conscious decisions based on the present moment. No longer will you make decisions based on fear, irrational emotions, or past experiences.
2. Self Awareness Books
In my journey, I have read several texts that have helped me discover the peace and happiness that is within myself. If you are looking for more visual material to help you with meditation, I would strongly recommend picking up a copy of either of these two books: The Power of Now, by Eckhart Tolle, or Conversations with God, by Neale Donald Walsch. Neither of these two books are religion-based.
The Power of Now was the first spiritual guidance book that I read. It has terms and concepts that are easy to understand. This book has taught me how to practice conscious awareness in my day to day life. As you become more consciously aware of the way you function on autopilot, you are able to exist more in the present moment. The Power of Now focuses on teaching you to be present in the moment, or as the author says “the now.” I have learned through this book that the present moment is all there ever is.
Conversations with God may be a book for more advanced readers. Some spiritual concepts discussed in this book may be harder to grasp if you are just beginning on your self-awareness journey. The book is in a question and answer format, as the author is having this conversation with “God.” If you are someone who has strong religious views, this book may seem blasphemous to you and difficult to accept. On the other hand, if you have an open mind, this book can help you overcome many obstacles you currently face in your life. I have read this book from cover to cover, and it is one of the most eye-opening and inspirational books I have ever read.
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3. Positive Affirmations
Positive affirmations are a great thing to have in your back pocket as a beginner with meditation. If you are not familiar with positive affirmations, they are short and simple phrases that we repeat to ourselves. Almost like a mantra. Positive affirmations are usually self-directed and focused on something we are currently doing. An example would be “I am strong,” or ” I am letting go of things that no longer serve me,” or even something as simple as ” I am happy today.”
What positive affirmations do is help focus your thoughts on your self and the present moment. This transfers into meditation practices as it is also something that helps us discipline our minds to think positive thoughts. Our mind is our biggest obstacle when it comes to meditation. For more examples of positive affirmations, check out my article on 15 Positive Self Affirmations.
4. Mindfulness Practices
As I mentioned, our minds can sometimes be our biggest obstacle when practicing meditation. The Headspace video I included earlier in this article, does a fantastic job of explaining how our minds usually function. After learning a little about our minds, things like the law of attraction and manifestation don’t seem like outlandish concepts.
If you are unfamiliar with the law of attraction and manifestation, it is essentially a practice of the mind that sends out the energy it hopes to bring back to itself.
Learning to recondition the mind can be very beneficial for a beginner in meditation. As you begin to change the way your mind automatically thinks, you open up your mind more to positive energies. Positive energy helps us achieve the things we strive for in life. From something as simple as becoming a master of meditation, to something like becoming a millionaire, the law of attraction is used to wield the power of your own mind.
5. Creating an Immersive Experience
When you are at home practicing meditation, life’s daily distractions can sometimes get in the way. Maybe it’s the kids playing in the room, a busy street outside your house, or the dog playing outside barking up a storm. For beginners, these kinds of noisy distractions can be hard to get past.
For me, an immersive meditation experience not only helps limit these distractions but also allows for an incredibly deep meditative state. It is spooky guys, it can make 1 hour feel like 5 minutes. Creating your own immersive meditation practice can be as simple as purchasing some noise-canceling headphones, and an eye cover.
With Jessy being a gamer, I had access to his awesome and might I say comfortable headphones he uses for his streams. These are the headphones I use, with a removable microphone piece.
What I usually do is find some nice meditation music like these healing hertz on youtube. Next, I will find the darkest place in my house (which is usually a bedroom closet). Then I will sit and meditate with these headphones. This kind of meditative experience always leaves me feeling relaxed, and empowered. I would strongly recommend this type of meditation practice to anyone who has trouble quieting distractions.
When meditation becomes apart of your daily life, the difficulties and daily struggles in your life will gradually begin to disappear. This is not to say those same difficulties will cease to exist. What will change is your natural response and view of those difficult situations. Those same situations won’t even merit a second thought anymore.
You will be able to choose what grinds your gears and what doesn’t. No longer will you continually losing yourself time and time again in frustrating situations. This is choosing to live positively, and meditation is a practice to help you get there. If you are interested in living a life filled with peace and happiness and want to learn how to meditate, read my article on How to Practice Meditation for Beginners.
Affiliate Disclosure: This post may contain affiliate links that earn me a small commission, at no additional cost to you. I only recommend products I personally use and trust, or think my readers will find useful. As an Amazon Associate, I earn from qualifying purchases.
