Happy Meditation

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What do we all have in common? What motivates us? What is it that we’re all striving for? We’re all looking to avoid pain, difficulties, and dissatisfaction. We all want to be comfortable and happy, and experience a sense of well-being in our lives. But most of us are looking for happiness in the wrong places.

Relying on External Situations Results in Dissatisfaction

We constantly seek pleasurable situations that we think will bring lasting happiness. We’re attracted to wealth, power, success, possessions, relationships, security and the like because we think they can provide us with the stable happiness we crave. But most of these pursuits don’t lead to the desired outcome.

Maybe we’re looking for happiness in the wrong place because we don’t see the impermanent nature of these things we crave. In fact, every situation, every thing we might acquire to secure this happiness is going to pass. External things aren’t able to give us lasting satisfaction.

Suppose you’re in the perfect situation: you’re on the beach in the best company, you’ve just had the best meal you can imagine, everything’s going exactly as you want it – then a fly or a mosquito comes by, or you see rubbish on the beach, and suddenly your perfect situation is shattered and the only thing you can think about is the problem that makes it imperfect.

There’s always a limit to what external things can bring us. Once the fascination and newness wear off, or situations change (as they always do), our minds default to varying degrees of dissatisfaction, which is expressed as a form of agitation. We try to get relief from this agitation by looking outward for solutions. Deep down, we’re troubled and don’t see how we get trapped—we’re like a fish attracted to bait. This cycle can be called the “dissatisfaction default mode.”

Of course, this doesn’t mean that we should be pessimistic about our lives and the world. The world offers many very nice, pleasurable things like good relationships, meaningful work, good health and prosperous situations that provide comfort for a certain length of time. But the problem is that they are not totally reliable. Situations change. Friendships come and go, our children grow up and leave home, our finances change and our health becomes less robust.

We must become more realistic. No one wants to experience unpleasant situations such as physical pain, emotional pain, or death, but they happen nonetheless. There are many things we can’t change about the external world, but we can change how we relate to them. Much of the dissatisfaction we experience is due to our inner state of being, not just external conditions. And this is where meditation comes in.

Meditation Gives Us Access to Our Own Happiness & Well-Being

The mind holds innate qualities of well-being and clarity that lie waiting beneath the superficial level of dissatisfaction. The main purpose of meditation is to access, recognize and enhance the positive qualities of mind. The more we can do this, the less we need to rely on external situations for our happiness and the more we can rely on the natural, positive qualities of mind: love, contentment, well-being, and peace.

Accessing our natural happiness and inner well-being is one of the greatest achievements that can be attained. They’re always with us because they don’t depend on anything external: no one can take them away. They depend only on us and affect everything in our lives in a positive way. It’s like discovering that there’s a hidden treasure within. To access this treasure, we begin by focusing inwardly – and for this we need training. Meditation is this training. As we meditate more, we gain confidence in our basic, innate goodness and well-being; this unlocks our potential and gives our lives tremendous meaning. In this sense, the question “Does meditation make you happy?” answers itself. Meditation doesn’t make you happy – it unlocks the “happy” that has always been there for the asking.

This article was adapted from Trinlay Rinpoche’s Mind Talk video “The True Source of Well-Being.” Mind Talks are part of Mindworks Meditation Courses, together with progressive meditation programs, guided meditations, and much more.

A single day feels full to the brim with simple joys, beautiful moments, moving experiences, color, and brightness. It’s like the dust of groundhog-day-living has been brushed off my heart and mind.

If you’re sitting on the fence and need a little nudge over into action-town, here are 10 ways meditation (or mindfulness) can bring more happiness, health and wellbeing into your life.

1. Restful Sleep

Meditation can help you let go of those circling thoughts that keep you from drifting off at night. You’re also more likely to have deeper, more refreshing sleep, so you’ll wake up feeling energised.

2. Sharper Memory

Studies have shown meditation can improve your memory. This is particularly important in our digital world, where our attention spans are getting shorter and shorter (it’s a fact!).

3. Flowing Creativity

Meditation can help you awaken the creative parts of your brain (yep, even you non-creative types). Studies have shown that meditation can enhance your ability to come up with creative ideas.

4. Less Anxiety

Meditation can reduce your anxiety levels. Studies have shown it actually re-wires your brain so that the neural pathways responsible for fear and anxious thoughts are weakened. Take that, inner worrier!

5. Kindness to Others

This is one of the most amazing benefits of meditation – it can make you kinder and open your heart. Studies have shown that people who meditate regularly are more empathetic and compassionate towards other people. What a beautiful gift to the world.

6. A Healthier Body

Meditation is one of the easiest ways to improve your overall health. Studies have shown it can turn on genes that protect you from pain, high blood pressure and infertility, among other benefits.

 7. Less Stress

Feeling overwhelmed by a crazy week? Meditation can help you stay calm and centered during challenging situations, and relax after the storm has passed.

8. Mental Clarity

Meditation has been linked to better focus, concentration, and attention to detail. Studies have shown that it can re-wire your brain to strengthen the parts associated with attention and sensory processing.

9. Immunity Booster

Drinking green smoothies and going for beach runs, but still catching the winter flu? Meditation has been shown to boost your immune system, increasing your chances of staying well.

10. Greater Happiness

Meditation can increase your levels of feel-good chemicals, like endorphins and serotonin. Studies also indicate it may increase your capacity for happiness and reduce your propensity towards negativity.

Your Turn

There’s only one way to see if meditation has a similar positive effect on your life. Try it!

Set yourself a 7-day meditation challenge. Ten minutes in the morning and ten minutes at night. Use a calendar to mark down the days.

You’ve got nothing to lose – twenty minutes a day (or even ten) is not much to ask from a big juicy 24 hours. You’ll also be following in the footsteps of Oprah and Lena Dunham.

And if you don’t find it helpful, well, at least you had the courage to give it a go. And that’s what true living is all about.

By reading this article it’s clear that you’re interested in the practice of meditation and its results: making life more joyful and meaningful. And so are we! Mindworks is a non-profit organization with a mission to share authentic meditation guidance to you and our worldwide followers.

  1. How to work with the mind and appreciate every moment
  2. How meditation enriches your life
  3. How to integrate meditation into your daily routine

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