I felt lost, all alone in a world almost filled to the brim with people. Lost in my thoughts, not sure of who I really was or how I wanted to spend the rest of my life.
If this sounds relatable then keep reading, because I was in the same position you are not that long ago. Stressed from school alongside two full time jobs with everything else life likes to throw at us in between. It doesn't matter what causes it, only 28 percent of Americans claim to be handling their stress well. That leaves 72 percent of Americans who are not living their life to its full potential. 72 percent of Americans who are a little less happy. Lets change that statistic. Because you are more than a statistic.
Meditation is thought to have originated in India around 1500 BCE. The dictionary defines it as: "to spend time in quiet thought for religious purposes or relaxation". I define it as a way to reset my internal navigation. A way to cleanse all of the external conditioning that we are drenched in every single day. It's a way to remind my ego why I am on this earth and the passion I have for my goals. You may give it another meaning but that's okay. That's the whole point, to find out who your individual self is.
Doubting my abilities has always been one of my most blaring character flaws, alongside caring too much about what others thought. These things were enough to cause depression and social anxiety, until there came a time when I no longer wanted to leave my room. You know that feeling when your brain feels as if it is thinking a million miles a minute and you just want to turn everything off? To just be at peace, free from stress and the weight of life? Meditation does that for me. Once the realization that there is the me that other people see, and then there is the inside me who only I see, was attained; I finally felt at peace with the world. I finally felt that tug at my soul, I knew how I wanted to spend the rest of my life.
Now I can't force meditation upon anybody, but I can share my experience and hope to enact positive change in the world. Because when it comes down to it you can learn something from every single person you meet. It's just if you choose to listen to your internal navigation and open up your ears, as well as your eyes.
