image source: Pixabay
Hello and welcome to the sixteenth day of the June 30 days writing challenge. If you want to know all the details about this specific challenge, have a look at the introductory post. In short, I will be posting every day a short tip, or technique, or opinion, something that you can call a "life hack". Feel free to join the challenge and post your own life hacks. I will do my best to upvote each day at full strength (about $3 at the current STEEM price) 3 posts tagged #challenge30days (leaving a link to your posts in the comments will also help).
Planting The Seed Of Tranquility
In yesterday's post I was hinting at a new life hack, related to meditation. Today I'm, sharing my thoughts and experiences with this surprisingly simple and widely misunderstood self-improvement technique.
In the West, meditation is broadly associated with the exotic. It's like trying to adopt some sort of a new language that never existed and you have to learn it. Truth is, meditation has no boundaries and no "inventor". Great spiritual masters were all practicing some sort of meditation, although the name they were giving to it may have been different.
Also, another misleading representation for meditation is the spa-like approach, often leading to escapism: "silence your mind, leave your troubles behind for a while". Sorry, but it doesn't work like this. First, because your troubles will never end (one of the 4 Noble Truths of Buddha: "Life is suffering"). And second, because meditation has nothing to do with being in a spa. If anything, it's closer to a mental martial art, than to a spa.
So, what is it?
In short, meditation is the ability to keep your mind focused to an object. And the underlying truth is that whatever to focus on, comes to existence. In a way, it's like your focus doesn't just separate a slice of reality, but it actually generates the reality you're experiencing. And the ability to keep your mind focus will make what we call reality more stable.
I'm not going into very complicating details about what you can eventually achieve with this, because you may never want to go that far. But, as a simple person, living in this modern world, you want a little more peace of mind. And here's where just 5 minutes per day spent in meditation can really make a difference.
Just find a quiet place, without too much noise and without any interruption potential (put your phone on airplane mode and make sure nobody can interfere with your physical space). Sit comfortably (on a chair or on the floor, doesn't really matter) and start breathing. Just focus on your breathing. If it makes the whole process easier, you may start by counting your breathes. I do that often, and it became some sort of a second nature: every time I want a bit of focus, I just put aside 5-10 minutes and breathe from one to 100.
That's it. Nothing more. For starters, of course, because, as I said, if you really want to practice, you will find your own ways.
But even this 5 minutes of relentless practice will be enough for your peace of mind, just like from a small seed, a big, beautiful tree eventually emerges.
I'm really curious to read about your life hack today. Leave a comment with a link to your post, if possible.
Previous Posts In The Challenge
- June 30 Days Writing Challenge - Life Hack - Day Fifteen: Create - And Maintain - A Morning Phrase
- June 30 Days Writing Challenge - Life Hack - Day Fourteen: Improve 1% Per Day
- June 30 Days Writing Challenge - Life Hack - Day Thirteen: Get Rid Of TV. For Good.
- June 30 Days Writing Challenge - Life Hack - Day Twelve: Save 10% Of Your Income - No. Matter. What.
- June 30 Days Writing Challenge - Life Hack - Day Eleven: Set - And Keep - A Monthly Personal Expense Budget
- June 30 Days Writing Challenge - Life Hack - Day Ten: Set A "Main Task" For Each Day
- June 30 Days Writing Challenge - Life Hack - Day Nine: Keep A Journal
- June 30 Days Writing Challenge - Life Hacks - Day Eight: Keep An Activity Log
- June 30 Days Writing Challenge - Life Hacks - Day Seven: Implement A New Habit With A 30 Days Challenge
- June 30 Days Writing Challenge - Life Hacks - Day Six: Put It In Front Of The Door
- June 30 Days Writing Challenge - Life Hacks - Day Five: The Pomodoro Technique
- June 30 Days Writing Challenge - Life Hacks - Day Four: Keep A Clear Mind By Unloading Ideas Immediately
- June 30 Days Writing Challenge - Life Hacks - Day Three: Intermittent Fasting
- June 30 Days Writing Challenge - Life Hacks - Day Two: The "2 Minutes" Time Management Rule
- June 30 Days Writing Challenge - Life Hacks - Day One: Avoid Fighting With A Simple Visualization Technique
- Announcing The June 30 Days Writing Challenge - Life Hacks
I'm a serial entrepreneur, blogger and ultrarunner. You can find me mainly on my blog at Dragos Roua where I write about productivity, business, relationships and running. Here on Steemit you may stay updated by following me @dragosroua.
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Meditation is necessary, how you can do medidation,
Just sit where you are alone, resist the voice around you as much as possible, try to listen to your inner voice, first of all you will much voice like, birds, insects, but after focusing you will start listening to your inner voice, that will give your relief and peace.
Wow...i have had issues understanding meditation. I always thought it as escapism as you said, i guess i will try out the breathe focus. Here is my hack for today. Sorry it came late. Had quite a very busy day.
https://steemit.com/life/@t-flames/30-days-life-hack-day-16-the-art-of-laughter
Meditation is one habit that I took with me wherever I've been for the past 11-12 years and I have to say that it's easy to carry, tax free and highly efficient for almost anything that one can imagine. For me today's post for your writing #challenge30days is about frustrations. Feel free to heck it out and again Thank You for this challenge. It's some of the best and inspiring things that I've done since I joined Steemit. It's really challenging.
https://steemit.com/challenge30days/@acesontop/june-30-days-writing-challenge-life-hacks-day-sixteen-dumping-frustrations-to-garbage
For starters, One Moment Meditation book by Martin Boroson and his accompanying video and smartphone App, are a good way to understand how meditation can be even started with one minute a day.
Hello here is my entry! https://steemit.com/challenge30days/@emdesan/june-30-days-writing-challenge-life-hack-day-sixteen-silence-for-5-minutes-60cbf771a1631
Nice post , thank you .
Good job , carry on .
Thanks for sharing @dragosroua
Upvote you .
Just find a quiet place, without too much noise and without any interruption potential (put your phone on airplane mode and make sure nobody can interfere with your physical space). Sit comfortably (on a chair or on the floor, doesn't really matter) and start breathing. Just focus on your breathing. If it makes the whole process easier, you may start by counting your breathes. I do that often, and it became some sort of a second nature: every time I want a bit of focus, I just put aside 5-10 minutes and breathe from one to 100.
meditation cAn be done in a calm place relaxing your mind keeping it empty and hearing our own heart's voice
Those are the best 5 mints i have every day
The beach is the best place for that
Nice post Drago, meditation is really essential for today's generation which works mostly on screens and other tech stuffs. You should consider writing article about meditation and workplace.
I found that for me meditation is an exercise to let my heart and mind be at ease within their existence. The need to focus in meditation never could solve the problem of letting my mind being at ease. Once that is achieved I am usually able to find the next level of focus very easily.