Meditating has been a life-changing experience for me in many, many ways. It’s my first best addiction, second best being the use of marijuana. For a long time, I used marijuana to treat my stress and depression because it is a psychoactive drug and it has the capability to cure our mental problems such as stress and depression to a significant degree if it is used in its raw form, read this article here. However, meditation has acted as a game-changer. I no longer roll a joint when I’m stressed, I sit in the designated corner of my room for fifteen minutes, and everything changes completely. The problems seem to disappear, and I encounter this wonderful peace which replaces the feeling of unsettlement. Let me briefly tell you about the few ways in which meditation can alter your whole life.
1. Instant Dose of Happiness:
My first ever meditation practice was guided and my yoga instructor helped me with it. Before I even hit the point of feeling serene and in peace, I felt happiness. It was as if a dark cloud has left the sky and it’s sunny everywhere. But it wasn’t just something I felt; there is a medical explanation for this phenomenon. Our left prefrontal cortex is active whenever we are feeling happy. But when everything is going downhill, you can safely assume that this part of your brain is dormant. Meditation can make it active, and positive emotion can flow through your body by the simple act of mindfulness. It also aids with decreasing activity in the right prefrontal cortex which encourages negative thoughts and emotions. Regular meditation can make you mindful of your day-to-day routine which can be especially beneficial for inducing positive thinking patterns.
2. Your Lifestyle Will Change:
Another major change that you’re bound to notice is that you’ll start living a healthier life. Meditation can change your life in many ways, for example, it can fix your sleep cycle. You won’t suffer from diseases like sleep apnea and insomnia anymore. You can meditate and do yoga side-by-side, so in a way; you can start working out because of meditation. Meditation promotes positive thoughts in our brain, as I have explained already. So you’re likely to give up bad habits like smoking cigarettes and pot etc. It helped me get rid of pot addiction; I can vouch for the rehabilitating effect of this activity. You might as well start eating healthier meals if you practice meditation regularly.
3. It Helps Battle Anxiety & Stress:
It is especially useful when you have to combat anxiety and stress. It might as well save you a trip to the psychiatrist. Regular meditation can turn you into a happier individual because it aims to reprogram your whole thought process. So, if you are suffering from anxious thoughts meditation can help you combat these thoughts very effectively.
The most devastating of all effects that anxiety can have on your brain is reducing the size of your hippocampus, which is responsible for keeping your memory sharp. But here’s the deal, meditation has the capability of reversing any damage that has been done to your brain, and it can even fortify your brain to combat anxiety in the future. Those who meditate regularly are less likely to be anxious. Does this explain the peaceful lives of shamans to you?
4. Age Gracefully:
Meditation can lead to graceful aging. Aging is a process that every individual has to go through, and while it seems unlikely that sitting straight for minutes, even hours, it could slow down the process of aging. You can find more than enough evidence of this fact now. Meditation has the ability to slow down the aging of cells of your body. Let me explain to you the whole process. When we stress out or suffer from diseases like diabetes type 2 and dementia etc. the length of our telomeres which are the DNA caps reduces. If this process continues, the chromosomes division process could be inhibited because they no longer have any protection from these telomeres. On a cellular level, your body has now started dying. Since practicing meditation can keep your stress and other chronic illnesses at bay, you are sure to keep increasing the age of your cells thereby ensuring a long and healthy life for yourself.
5. It Helps Your EQ:
Just like IQ, your emotional intelligence is measured by the Emotional Quotient, and trust me, you might survive this world without a high IQ, but success without emotional intelligence is a tough call. Since meditating more often can lead you to develop a better awareness of your surroundings, you would be able to read the emotions of others. This will give you an edge over the others, and you can succeed at many things in life by having a higher emotional intelligence level.
Read Also:
1. Easy Ways To Live A Healthier Lifestyle.
2. 10 Tips On How To Ditch The Stress And Start Living A Peaceful Life.
