Reasons for meditating vary from person to person but here are the reasons I personally started meditating and why it works for me.
I have always struggled with being present and grounded in my surroundings. Meditation is a practice where you can use a tool such as mindfulness to train your attention or awareness to clear the mind and bring it to a mentally calm state. Mindfulness is a quality that is defined as bringing awareness to your thoughts through paying attention in the present moment. It is essentially a way of training your attention to bring it back to the object of focus each time your mind drifts or wanders. You’re bringing your mind to a state of consciousness and avoiding absent-mindedness.
It was only because I needed to use meditation to help me improve my presence in my day to day that I discovered all the other benefits of meditation (peace, happiness, stress relief etc). I learnt to be aware of nothing other than my body, to go within and to recognise what my body is feeling. Guided meditation was key for me to improve my presence in my daily life and actually be in the room I was meant to be in, instead of being a million miles awayyy.
I always remind myself that meditation is a practice, that takes time and commitment. Its important to practice without judgement. When I firsts started, I tried meditating and I couldn’t even bring myself to commit for just 5 minutes because I would struggle to quiet my busy mind and racing thoughts. It took me months before I actually decided to try a different guided meditation and realised there is so much out there that you can use for free and you will most definitely find a guide with a soothing voice that works for you. When you do and your deep in it, you’ll have a pivotal moment. At least I did and I know many people that have. I saw the benefits impact me immensely and felt happy, calm and still. Happiness is now. It is in the present moment. So if you can learn to be more present through meditation, you will become happier in your daily life.
There are still times now, where I slip up or can’t get into it fully and struggle to calm my busy brain, but I have made huge progress and have more tools and awareness that I did before. I can learn to bring awareness to my body, how it’s feeling and slow down my thoughts so I can apply these techniques to become more present and focused daily.
If you’re struggling to meditate, be persistent and try as many different guides as you can. Keep trying and remember it’s a practice.