WHY MEDITATE?

WHY MEDITATE?

―Through effort, vigilance, Restraint, and self-control, The wise person can become an island No flood will overwhelm.‖

- Dhp. 25

Before embarking on a meditation practice it is useful to reflect on your reasons for wanting to meditate. Embracing meditative awareness in your life and committing to regular practice of meditation requires a significant commitment of time and energy. Although most people find immediate and long-term benefits to meditation, there can be periods of difficulty, painful insights, boredom, frustration, anxiety, grief, and significant internal and external changes in your life resulting from meditation practice. For these reasons, it is important to have a clear idea for yourself why you want to meditate. If you have not done so already, please reflect for a while on why you have decided to pursue meditation. It can be helpful to write out a list of reasons that you can refer to later in your practice.

The following is a list of some of the reasons why people meditate: 1) meditation can improve physical and mental health; 2) it improves concentration and memory; 3) it allows us to be more helpful and kinder to ourselves and others; 4) it reduces stress, fear, and anxiety; 5) it reduces chronic pain and helps people cope better with chronic ailments; 6) it improves connectivity to family and friends; 7) it provides a belief system and a blueprint for living that many people find comforting and skillful; 8) it shifts the focus from a chaotic and unmanageable

external world toward a peaceful and stable internal one; 9) it promotes self-awareness and self-acceptance; 10) it reduces insomnia, helping people to sleep more deeply, and to require less sleep; and 11) it increases one‟s appreciation for life. Having listed some benefits of meditation, it is important to know that not everyone experiences all of these. However, most people who invest the time in developing the skill of meditation find it a highly worthy endeavor.