What Meditation Really Is

I promised last week to share more on how you could improve your coping skills. I mentioned the biggest actions you could take include a wellness lifestyle, particularly exercise and meditation. 

Now, most people are accepting of exercise. But meditation? It gets a rough rap.
I use to poo-poo meditation. It seemed woo-woo. It seemed soft. It seemed like something that couldn’t do much because I wasn’t doing anything. 

In hindsight, I was probably just afraid about what people would think and embarrassed that I felt like I couldn’t do it very well.
But, the more I learned about how meditation actually works and what it means to practice it, the more undeniable it was that I needed to start practicing. 

I love what Nicole Sachs said June 10 about meditation on the Trained podcast: Anyone can do it, if you let go of the need to do it perfectly. 

I had to let go of doing it perfectly. I also had to accept that I completely misunderstood what practicing meditation meant. It didn’t mean you have no thoughts. It is the actual practice of becoming aware of your distracting thoughts and redirecting the attention back to the breath or the mantra or whatever your attention was meant to be on. 

And it is that redirection that is the skill you are continuing to hone. So that in daily life, when distraction thoughts interrupt your flow, your redirection skills are sharp enough to act.

This is just one benefit of meditation. I mentioned at top that it improves your coping skills. It’s because of this redirection muscle that you develop the ability to pause and plan, then respond appropriately. Rather than react emotionally. This is a problem-focused, healthy coping approach. 

You can start meditation with just one minute. Start small, meet yourself where you’re at, and see what happens.