Loving Meditation More and More
I have just meditated for an hour, longest ever. It's been about 6 months I started meditating (try headspace app and read "Why Meditate" by Matthieu Ricard if you want to start) and not only did I stick to doing it at least 20 minutes a day but it's become a must do. If I do not "go into that personal, protected space" for one day, I miss it. It doesn't do much the first days or even weeks, but after a few months I started to understand the benefits.
I am quieter and relaxed. I am much more focused. When I meditate I always switch off my phone and anything that can interrupt me around, that taught me how nice a feeling it was and it's very addictive. No incoming emails, no calls or text messages. Just you and your mind. Like watching a sunset over the ocean with nothing else between you and that sunset.
It's a space where I start thinking about the present, how my day is going, how it should go (what I'd like to do with it, I highly recommend the "Lift app" for that) or how it went. I try to meditate in the morning just after I wake up and just before going to bed. That's when I found the best results. I never quite had problems to sleep but I feel I sleep better if I meditate before sleep.
We all have that "crazy monkey jumping all around" in our brain with the non-stop flow of ideas. Some are very persistent, others just go. If you're annoyed with something it is extremely difficult to not thinking about it. If you're sad about someone or something it's even worse, it's persistent. What I noticed after a few months is that even the most persistent positive or negative thoughts pass like clouds in the sky at one point or another. "Everything shall pass" right? Now I can take some distance with anything and "notice" that I am sad or "notice" that I am going to get upset and I generally avoid getting upset. Thinking about something while meditating helps me "register" it and now it generally doesn't come back a second time, or it comes back less and less, like if my mind had noticed I was thinking about it and can now let it go.
I took a habit after about 15 minutes to review eyes closed what matters the most in my life, or at least what I think it is. Family, best friends, friends, things I'd like to do, work of course, my health and how I take care of myself (or how I don't). Then I try to think about lifetime goals. What matters the most? What was the most important so far over the course of my entire life? What would I like to happen before I die? Some people hate thinking about death, I actually do think often that I could die tomorrow and it reminds me that I should focus on what matters the most and not waste time. Of course we all have to "waste time", for work for example, you just "have to". Some people have to waste more time than others and of course success helps you spend more time on what matters. I am starting to really hate email for example, it feels like it's one of the worst use of my time quite often. Still, I run the content of LeWeb so I have to invite speakers, coordinate with the team, so I have to email, of course, no way around. But I like spending time in emails less and less as I discover how great I feel not being interrupted all the time. Your email inbox is a to do list other people decide for you, it sucks. Don't get me wrong though, I like doing the LeWeb content it's just that I would love to avoid emailing whatsoever.
I am much more focused and I definitely have ideas I would have not had otherwise. Especially in long meditation sessions, I just meditated an hour and I had amazing ideas. I just keep a notebook and a good pen next to myself and write some of them down as I "wake up" from meditation.
I know this must sound really weird to some (most?) of you but I feel that I'm changing daily thanks to meditation, that I'm improving. How Matthieu Ricard puts it, it's like fitness for our brain. Why would we care so much about running and sports to improve our bodies but not at all about our mind?
