A lot of us spend our lives weighed down by the chaos of what’s going on inside our heads. A curious part of being human is jumping from one impulsive thought to another. It normally feels like we’re in control of our own thoughts, but closer introspection might prove otherwise. Think about the mishmash of thoughts going through your head right now. What are they? How do you feel them? And most importantly, where do they come from? Sometimes we can think of reasons why we feel like we chose to think about what’s going through our heads, but for the most part, we really can’t account for why we’re thinking about what we’re thinking about. Neuroscience agrees. More and more often, experimental evidence seems to indicate that our subconscious brains are making decisions and churning out chaos for us to sift through while we are none the wiser, trying to take credit for every thought we have.
How do we put this chaos to rest? Mindfulness meditation seems to be the best answer we have. Maybe you’ve heard of this before from friends or online. It is becoming more and more popular in western culture as its positive results become more and more well-known. This isn’t necessarily a religious or superstitious practice, but it certainly can be spiritual. In fact, that special “spiritual” feeling that so many religions claim to only be able to give you through worship of their idols can be tapped into manually simply by adopting a practice of meditation.
Regularly meditating is an opportunity to give your brain the relaxation it deserves and is seldom actually given, even when resting. It acts as a conscious way to shut down all of the unconscious thoughts our brains constantly churn out. Rather than focusing on these subjects and the out-of-control feelings they cause, meditation offers the opportunity for this conscious machinery to turn in on itself and allows it to slow itself down.
Hitting the brakes on thinking for a little while, or rather, focusing our attention on the present moment can allow feelings of anxiety and stress to be replaced by those of calm and control. Though this can be described many ways, this is the fundamental spiritual feeling that was discussed earlier. It’s real, and I am speaking from personal experience when I say that you can turn it on yourself. Now it is up to you to try it!
How does one meditate? There are many variations that people practice, and you can learn how to practice these yourself through many guided processes online and in person with certain meditation groups. Different practices put a different level of superstition into it, but I would recommend going for a practice that specifies the thinking that science has shown to be beneficial to your brain.
Some basic factors seem to give the best results. One of them is being in a quiet place with minimal distractions. It is important to have some point of focus to quell your brain with when you first start. Often this subject will be your breathing, which offers an opportunity to slow down the other machinery in your head. The most important aspect is to slow down the buzz of the day.
After spending some time—in my experience, about 10 minutes—focusing on breathing, you may notice a feeling of really being in the moment. Time isn’t racing. You can start to experience who you are and where you are. For at least a few precious moments, you will experience it: Peace. Regularly giving yourself this time might be just what you need to get through the day.
Of course, this only scratches the surface of how great meditation is for you and your brain, so please put some research into it! It has helped many people I know as well as myself, and I hope that it can help you too. I hope you enjoy it.
