Meditation

I started meditating back in 2014 during my first year of work. I had always been an antsy person and felt that meditation might help me relax, calm down, and be present.

It ended up being one of the best things habits I’ve formed.

Many of my friends who I recommend to meditation are almost always very skeptical. I think the problem is many don’t realize that meditation isn’t about blocking out your thoughts, but filtering and analyzing those thoughts in a more mindful way.

For example, one morning I can be agitated and easily irritable. Meditation helps me understand the reasons that made me agitated and irritable. It’s almost like teaching your mind to be introspective and forces you to analyze your thoughts.

This of course can lead to great benefits. Being self-aware of the reasons for me being a prick one morning may help me find the root cause of it, and not let it ruin my day.

The benefits for my sleep schedule have been great as well. We all have sleepless nights where we lay in bed thinking about work or something that happened the past day or week. I used to have mild to severe insomnia as my mind likes to run at a million miles per hour.

Nowadays, my mind still runs at a million miles per hour, but meditation helps me view these thoughts in a much different lens. In a way, it makes me realize that everything is okay and this is how my mind is and I shouldn’t let it bother me.

I started using Headspace many years ago to teach myself how to meditate. I’ve since switched to Calm and use it almost daily. Both are great products and I would highly recommend both apps.