How to find peace and happiness with meditation.
My mom suggested I should start meditation to help with the anxiety. I downloaded the Calm app and tried it. I felt stupid. How in the hell was sitting with my eyes closed and paying attention to my breath going to help my anxiety? I didn’t understand how it worked and expected instant results. That go-round lasted five days, then I quit. I few days later I made a promise to myself. I would meditate every day for 30 days no matter what. No excuses. I was going to commit to this and see if it was worth it. If not, after the 30 days were up, I was allowing myself to quit. At this point in my life, I was willing to try anything. There were two undeniable facts that I needed to fix and a magic genie wasn’t going to show up and fix them for me. I needed to fix my reputation at work, and I wanted to be happy. As of this writing, I have meditated for 20 years . I cannot imagine my life without meditating every day. It’s weird how meditation works. I remember it was a few weeks into my daily meditation practice, and I was cut off by a car on the highway. The old me would have started blasting the horn, throwing up a middle finger, tailgating the person, and end up being pissed off all day. This day, I remember just thinking Oh, this dude’s in a hurry, and let it go. That was the moment when I knew meditation was going to be life-changing for me. Awareness was the gateway to peace. All of the lessons that I’ve learned and continue to practice on a daily basis have been the secret sauce to my happiness — gratitude, impermanence, equanimity, non-judgment, non-reactivity, acceptance, non-resistance, loving-kindness, and embracing uncertainty just to name a few. I’ve also incorporated several phrases that help me whenever my emotions start to run rampant. My favorite phrase is Right Now, it’s like this. Some others are this, too, will pass, and surrender to the now. I recommend anyone who has anxiety to start meditation and give it time. It will change your life.
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