17 Jun Ten Powerful Life Lessons From Mindfulness Meditation

I started my meditation at the age of 15. A passionate meditation teacher taught me mindfulness meditation. I ended up healing myself of anxiety, anger and depression issues by doing meditation and went on a great journey of self-discovery.

I discovered ten powerful life lessons through meditation.

     1. Handling Uncontrolled Situation

In the past, I used to spend most of my time in worrying and spending about things that I have little or no control over. By doing this I end up feeling very uncertain, overwhelmed, stressed and powerless. Moreover, it doesn’t help me in solving the situation, but it ends up affecting my physical and mental state of being.

Through mindfulness meditation, I identified what is within and outside my control and I  started to move forward more positively. I also started accepting the things that I have little or no control over me. I was so surprised to see how quickly I started to feel more in control. I started to choose how I think about these things and spending less time worrying about them I have more time to focus on the areas I can control.

    2. Remaining in Silence in an uncontrolled Situation

I discovered one more way to handle an uncontrolled situation, that is remaining in silence. When we turn our thoughts and focus inwards and gain the power we can refuel our minds. Our ego is temporarily switched off or at least made to be quiet for a bit, and we start to see the real world as it should be. Our thoughts get in the way of our reality sometimes and we don’t see the beauty of the world around us. When there is silence there is time for introspection and to allow our true self to speak not the ego or the conscious mind, but the true self-connected to the flow of energy around us.

    3. Real Wisdom lies Within Us

Many times in my life, I was hopelessly muddled in making decisions. I used to think that I should find help from outside source. But then, after meditating for so many years, I realized that inner wisdom is the great pool of source bundled with information. Inner wisdom will help you know when the time, the person, or the situation is right.

Do you remember Simba in The Lion King? Simba ran away and his father was killed while searching for him, Simba’s guilt would not allow him to return home. After many years of living in the wild Simba was called upon to make a choice. In order to make that choice, he was asked to remember one very important thing. He had to remember WHO HE WAS. Simba needed to be reminded of whose son he was. He needed to be reminded that he had a kingdom to rule. We all have a kingdom to rule. The kingdom is within each of us and we must claim it!

    4. Taking rest to Work smart

During my college days, I use to work for a longer time. I thought that working hard for longer hours will be the right way to attain success. My spiritual teacher was completely against this concept. He asked me to meditate for 1 and ½ hours morning and evening. Initially, I thought it is just a waste of time. Despite my unwillingness, I meditated. My inner wisdom made me realize the profound effect of resting the body and mind. If I meditate morning and evening for longer hours, I was very productive in my studies and work. Usually, If I take 2-3 hours to study or to do some work, after practicing mindfulness meditation, I was able to complete in an hour. That was something amazing I discovered through meditation.

By taking small breaks during work hours, will not only help to rest the body and mind, and also help to rethink the strategy we are working on.

      5. By Giving We Receive

Those who give, receive back in turn. By spending ourselves for others’ well-being, we enhance our own. In letting go of some of what we own, we better secure our own lives. By giving ourselves away, we ourselves move toward greater flourishing. This is not only a philosophical or religious teaching, it is a sociological fact. Giving is a privilege. It is a privilege for both the giver and the receiver. Both are honored and ennobled by the action of giving. Giving is a rare and precious energy resource, the energy of connecting. When we show kindness and generosity towards one another, we connect deeply and are enriched by the connection. The giver and receiver are bonded together in a state of delight and unity.

The most difficult time to be generous is when we ourselves are feeling poor. While some of us have experienced actually being in the red financially, there are those of us who would feel broke even if we had a million dollars in the bank.

One way to practice generosity is to give energy where it is needed. Giving money to a cause or person in need is one way to give energy. Giving attention, love, or a smile to another person are other acts of giving that we can offer. After all, there are people all over the world that are hungry for love.

Sometimes when we practice generosity, we practice it conditionally. We might be expecting to “receive back” from the person to whom we gave. We might even become angry or resentful if that person doesn’t reciprocate. However, trust in the natural flow of energy, and you will find yourself practicing generosity with no strings attached. This is the purest form of giving. Remember that what you send out will always come back you. Selflessly help a friend in need without expecting them to return the same favor in the same way, and know that you, too, will receive that support from the universe when you need it. Besides, while giving conditionally creates stress (because we are waiting with an invisible balance sheet to receive our due), giving unconditionally creates and generates abundance. We give freely because we trust that there is always an unlimited supply.

6. Over-thinking does not lead to insight

In the beginning of my career, I end up spiraling with a lot of thought patterns. I use to overthink about my career, financial and emotional security, and what not, well about everything. I felt trapped with my thoughts. Over a period of time, I become obsessive with  over thinking. Unfortunately, there is not a switch in the brain that can be easily flip off the over thinking mind. After practicing mindfulness meditation on the regular basis, it started acting as an in vitro switch, to turn off my over thinking mind. It greatly helped to give a break for our over-thinking brain, Remember, over thinking does not lead to insight. Instead, it kills the neurons (brain cells) in the brain. Eventually, it will make the brain inefficient in processing the information. So, whenever you find your mind being over thinking, pause for a moment, do a simple 2 minutes awareness meditation, that will bring freedom from your over thinking mind.

7. The Power of Forgiveness

Forgiveness is the act of compassionately releasing the desire to punish someone or yourself for an offense. It’s a state of grace, nothing you can force or pretend. The healing power of forgiveness such as murderers, rapists, ex-spouses, parents, bad children, etc. are often excluded as candidates for forgiveness. No person is innately bad. What they have are deep unhealed wounds, and so do the rest of us. Whenever you feel hatred for someone, you bless them with love. Even though you might feel the hatred for others in your heart, this practice will eventually help to wade off the wound from your heart. Moreover, this practice will open up all possible positivity into your life.

8. Our Mind is the Best healer

At the time of my post graduation, I discovered that I am a career for a rare genetic disorder. I have inherited a mutated gene from my mother. My mother reached her menopause at the age of 28. I started developing all the symptoms at the age of 24. I was completely heartbroken. I was helpless, as there is no cure for such genetic disorder. At that time,  I heard a story from an old woman, about her experiences in overcoming cancer. She said, she never believed that she’s having a dreadful disease like cancer. She simply said to herself that she will remain a healthy person until her death. Surprisingly, with proper diet,  without chemotherapy, and a heavy dose of medication, she transformed her life. Hearing this story made me change my perception. I fed my body and mind with healthy food. I meditated morning and evening on a regular basis. I was so amazed to see the result. Within a month, all my symptoms started fading away. Now, it’s been 8 years, I still remain hale and healthy.

9. Mindfulness Meditation makes our Brain more active

During my early days of meditation practice, it looks absolutely pointless on the surface. The real magic of meditation happens on the inside. Mindfulness meditation completely reprograms our mind by creating new pathways in the brain. Meditation practices increase the blood flow to our brain, calm  down, and allow us to better handle stress. They also make our brain younger by increasing our brain’s gray matter and help our mind defragment its thoughts.

Sometimes, I assume that doing a particular task will consume a lot of energy and time. But then after practicing meditation for 40 minutes in the morning will make me complete the task with the minimal amount of energy and time. Through my experience, meditation made me work smarter, instead of just harder.

10. Mindfulness Meditation improves Response Flexibility

I often have a fairly limited repertoire of how I respond to a situation that just “set me off.”  I use to blame myself for such kind of behavior. The habits of our nervous system can seem like electrical surges, leaving us vulnerable to making a real mess when we don’t mean to. Having an emotional circuit breaker makes a real difference – creating the space for us to have a more mindful, conscious response. Meditation, by beefing up areas which essentially buy us a tiny bit more time before we respond in a knee-jerk way, improves response flexibility.