Why Meditation is so Critical to Your Well-Being and How to Start
by Kathy Best, September 21, 2018
Meditation takes practice and many choose to either give it up or dismiss it as being a waste of time. When starting out we may find it challenging to quiet our minds, as it’s become the norm for our mind to be in a state of constant chatter and endless thought. So why do so many people believe that meditation is critical to our well-being? Meditation can help us to reduce or eliminate stress, reverse chronic illness and anxiety, lose weight, expand our awareness, and increase our personal influence by connecting to Source, to our energy, and to our intuition.
Without this connection to our higher self, God, angels, the Universe, your Intuition, or your higher wisdom – whatever you want to call it – we hardly have any influence at all in our lives. We feel as if our life is simply a random act of events that we have no power and no control over. Nothing could be further from the truth. Once we are in alignment with our true nature, we have clarity of thought and we can tune in and connect to gain inspiration, understanding, wisdom, and guidance; this exponentially increases our own influence and our innate ability to co-create the feelings, experiences, and life we truly desire.
If you’ve ever listened to Esther Hicks, Wayne Dyer, or Louise Hay talk about meditation you know that when you’re not in alignment with yourself or with your Source you often tend to drag or attract other people to you that are discordant and disharmonious. These types of people often gather in groups to complain, spread discontent, gloom, and sometimes even hatred. The only way that you can be in alignment with these people is when your vibration or your thoughts and feelings resonate on the same level as these dense energies. Dr. Joe Dispenza and many scientific pioneers like Greg Braden, agree that every thought and word you think and speak vibrates at a certain rate, just like the atoms of energy in every particle of matter and space in our universe. These vibrations impact the earth’s magnetic grid, our physical cells, and the people around us. If you’re constantly thinking thoughts of anger and resentment, fear and annoyance, or gloom and doom, then you’re going to attract people and experiences that express those same thoughts, feelings and beliefs. People with dense or low energy that gather in groups are much more powerful than a solitary person expressing this low level vibration or resonance. On the other hand, a single person standing in their light and connecting to their Source energy can be 100 times more powerful than a crowd of negative energy. How can this possibly be you might ask? Think of it like a group of people standing in a room trying to get on the internet without internet or Wi-Fi service. When you’re disconnected from your source you expend much more energy complaining and promoting discontent and disharmony without actually investing in or creating a solution. The problems in your life cannot be solved by the same mental attitudes and beliefs that created them.
When you take up the practice of meditation you begin to align and connect yourself with a higher energy, a higher vibration, and with the source of your true being. When you make this a regular practice it becomes possible for you to turn off the mindless chatter that’s constantly distracting you from achieving this connection and opens you up to a level of awareness that can access the wisdom and knowledge to accomplish anything. The only way to solve the problems in your life is to look at them from a different perspective and work on them from a different energy than that which created them.
When you first begin the practice of quieting your mind during meditation, often random thoughts will pop into your head, this happens because your ego is uncomfortable with this new practice. It’s unfamiliar and it’s often a little scary because your ego is used to being completely in control of your mind and directing all of its thoughts, its beliefs, and its feelings; so when you are able to find a quiet space in your mind where no thoughts come, there can be quite a bit of resistance initially. Observe this resistance with acceptance and detachment. There is no need to get upset, frustrated, or angry with yourself when this happens. Simply look at the thought(s), recognize that it is only there to distract you; it only has the meaning you assign to it, and let it drift away like a cloud in the sky. This may take some time and effort to master but the rewards of maintaining this practice and learning to control your mind are unlimited and powerful. Don’t give up! This is a learned skill and takes time as does anything worth doing. The most important aspects of meditation are breathing deeply, relaxing the body, and expanding your awareness in the present moment. If the only thing you can do is focus on your breathing then you are doing well.
This practice allows you to take back control of your life and empowers you to tap into your Genius and become the most calm, capable, confident person that you could ever imagine. As Neale Donald Walsch says, you can become the grandest version of the greatest vision you can hold for yourself. The joy, peace, satisfaction, harmony, prosperity, confidence, and clarity you achieve from this practice is priceless and in time it will completely transform your life. You also gain wisdom, guidance, and the ability to take reliable action. By following clues that you receive repeatedly, which can come in the form of songs you hear several times, words and conversations that keep coming up, commercials on TV that seem to be speaking to you, thoughts that continue to recur in your mind over and over, or soft whispers that seem to come out of the air and fill you with love, excitement, and confidence that your dreams are just a few steps away.
A Heart-Centered Meditation to Get You Started
Try sitting or lying still in a quiet space.
Relax your head and your neck.
Let the muscles of your eyes, forehead, and jaws relax, let go, release any tension or tightness. Let the muscles in your shoulders and back, relax, let go, release all tension you might be carrying in those places.
Let the muscles in your arms, relax, let go and just hang loosely.
Let the muscles in your chest, abdomen, and lower back relax, let go, and release any tension or tightness.
Let the muscles in your pelvis, glutes, and thighs relax, let go, and release any tension or tightness.
Feel the muscles in your calves, toes and fingers relax, let go, release all tension or tightness.
Close your eyes if you have not already and breathe in deeply to a count of 3.
Breathe out slowly and deeply to a count of 5. Breathe in and out deeply and slowly 3 more times.
Now take your attention and focus it on your heart.
Feel your heart beating.
Listen to the rhythmic sound.
Feel it vibrate through your body.
Keep breathing in and out slowly and deeply.
There is nothing else you need to do in this moment.
Nowhere else you have to be.
Just be present in this moment breathing deeply and focusing on your heart beat.
Now see if you can visualize your heart with a door on it.
It doesn’t matter what kind of door, but picture a door, with hinges, and a handle and a lock. What color is your door?
What is it made out of?
What kind of handle does it have?
What type of lock is on the door to your heart?
Now become aware that you have the key to that lock in your hand.
Hold the key up in your mind and look at it.
Picture it clearly in your mind.
Now take that key and put it in the lock in the door of your heart and turn it until it unlocks.
You hear the sound of the lock as the key springs open its safety mechanism.
In your mind see yourself putting your hand on the door handle and opening the door.
What does it feel like?
Is the door stiff with inactivity, is it hard to open, or does it swing freely and easily wide open?
As the door opens you see and feel this beautiful light with rays of magenta pink, emerald green, amber gold, and opalescent white flooding out of your heart and into every organ, cell, and atom of your body.
These rays of light fill your body and mind with a love and peace so profound you seem to melt into them, becoming one with them as they become one with you. Relax and revel in these feelings and let your body and mind express them fully.
You feel cradled in a cocoon of safety, compassion, joy, and connection with all of Life….
Now the rays of magenta pink, emerald green, amber gold and opal white begin expanding outside your body and encompassing everything around you.
They spread outside the room you are in and begin expanding outward in all directions encompassing everything and everyone in your building, on your street, in your neighborhood, your town, your state, your country, and all over the planet.
Once the planet is engulfed in these pulsating rays of color and feeling, you see and feel them explode out into the atmosphere, the galaxy, and the universe encompassing all of the stars, planets, and atoms of energy throughout infinity.
You know instantly that this is the core of your being, the true essence of who and what you are and that you never need fear opening your heart to anyone or anything again.
You are Love made manifest and to this same Love you will return when your service on this planet is through.
You have nothing to fear and everything to gain by experiencing Life in all of its contrast and color…
You thank your heart and the Life Force that created you for sharing this beautiful reminder with you as you remove the key from the lock on your heart’s door, leaving the door wide open to continue showering your mind, body, and the world with Love and Peace.
You slowly return your consciousness to the room and to your body, moving your arms and legs, wiggling your fingers and toes, opening your eyes and taking a deep, heart-felt breath into the first moment of the newest, most glorious experience of living your heart-centered life.
You know that you can return to this place anytime you need to remind yourself of your true power and purpose and connect to your Life Force energy.
For Those Who Just Can’t Seem to Turn Off Mental Chatter
If you absolutely cannot quiet your mind for 10 or 15 minutes each day to meditate I would suggest trying affirmations as a type of active meditation. If you try them and they don’t feel comfortable at first please don’t give up. You may just need to try some different meditations that feel more compatible with your current beliefs. The affirmations are going to feel a little challenging at first because they tell you things that you’re not used to saying to yourself; but they are things that you need to say to yourself and that you should have been saying to yourself all along; so try practicing these at least once a day if not twice or three times a day.
Affirmations (say these out loud or in your mind with as much feeling as you can):
The reality of my being is that I am loveable.
Life loves me every moment of every day.
I forgive myself for all of the times I feared I was unlovable.
I forgive myself for all judgements I placed upon myself and others.
I forgive myself for not believing in my goodness.
I am loveable and life loves me.
I forgive myself for feeling unworthy and undeserving of love.
I forgive myself for all of the times I have attacked and criticized myself.
I forgive myself for giving up on myself and for rejecting myself.
I forgive myself for not trusting in me and for doubting myself.
I forgive myself for all of my mistakes.
I ask for forgiveness so that I can learn and I accept forgiveness so that I can grow.
I am eternal, immortal, universal, and infinite.
I Am what I Am and what I Am is beautiful and strong.
In this day I express love to everyone I meet, for I know that I am truly love and loveable.
The universe is abundant, therefore I am abundant and all my needs are met.
I feel successful and confident.
People respond positively to my radiant energy.
I feel creative and loved, because I love and respect myself.
I feel directed and organized and I attract balance and calm to me at all times.
My creativity flows from within me at all times and I attract all that I need to me effortlessly.
My body is not who I am and release all judgement about my body.
I exercise absolute control over my time, my thoughts, my behavior and my appetite.
I crave only foods and drinks that nourish, heal, and strengthen me.
Everything I consume is processed easily, effortlessly, and perfectly.
My body absorbs only the nutrients, vitamins, and minerals that it needs to create and maintain perfect health.
I am fit, strong, energetic, confident, and vibrantly healthy in every way.
I love the way my body looks and feels.
I am the perfect weight for my body and I look great.
I love and nourish my body and my mind with healthy food, healthy thoughts and healthy beliefs.
I am an unstoppable force for good and abundance in my life and in the world!
Final Thoughts
Your meditation can be as short as 10 minutes to start out, but you will want to increase it every few weeks and work your way up to about 30 minutes per day. You can break that up. It doesn’t have to be all at once, but if you can do 30 minutes at one time that’s great! Whatever happens do not beat yourself up. If you can’t keep a regular practice or if you have a hard time focusing and you get distracted that’s okay. Your mind and your ego or going to try very hard to dissuade you from making this a regular practice. You just have to do the best that you can do and keep doing it. It will get easier, I promise. It’s kind of like dieting. Just because you eat something that you feel like you shouldn’t have doesn’t mean you’re just going to throw the whole diet away. It just means you start again tomorrow. That’s all you need to do here as well. When you slip, start again tomorrow. Just take it one day at a time and if you have any questions or you need any help feel free to reach out to me for guidance, support, and encouragement.
