As most of the individuals in my life know, I can be quite a “freak” when it comes to health. Bringing in green smoothies and kale salads to work have gotten me plenty of remarks, such as “that looks gross” and the popular “you eat like a rabbit”. Even through the criticism, I have stayed mostly true to the values of my eating habits. Eating clean is now my eating habit, but it was once only just a choice. I had to decide to eat this way, because I knew it was a step to get me closer to mental, physical and personal freedom. I wasn’t born this way, vegans aren’t born vegan, paleo-dieters aren’t born paleo – they learn, they decide to change, and they make dieting a habit. So I decided to make it a habit too.
After making my diet a habit, I chose to also change my relaxing habits. These new habits included stretching, reading and, most importantly, meditating.
I started by meditating and stretching specifically in my room. I would close my door, put on some instrumental music and just relax. The big difference between just stretching and stretching while meditating is the absence of thought. Well, not every thought. Humans are pretty much always inclined to think, but meditating teaches you to think about thinking. It sounds like a weird paradox, but it’s easily explained when actually experienced. For understanding purposes, here is an example:
You have a big test coming in 2 days that you have yet to study for. You are quite stressed and, instead of effectively studying, you worry. An hour passes by and you can’t retain any of the information you just studied, which makes you even more worried. You finally decide enough is enough and begin to meditate. While meditating, you breathe in and out deeply, thinking about what has been stressing you out. Thoughts seem to slow down, until you are able to pin-point the problem that has been causing you the most stress. You sit there, thinking about that problem, and decide it shouldn’t be a problem anymore. You throw away the problem. The issue creeps back a few minutes later, you notice you are worrying again, and you throw away the thought for good. You now decide to stop meditating and start studying. The problem is completely erased from your mind and all you can think about is the material at hand. You are going to ace this test.
This is a hypothetical example, but is definitely based off of many true stories from my life. You can almost think of it as juggling. Whether it be family, school, work, cars, friends, health issues or something else, you are always juggling. No matter how many items you juggle, you have the power to focus 0n any item you are juggling. You have the ability to focus on the problem or on the solution. You have the ability to focus on family or friends. Whatever it is, we all have the ability to focus.
Focusing on one thing, whether worried or not, has always been extremely hard feat for me to accomplish. I mean, the World is so big and interesting – I just want to be a part of everything! Even though optimistic, this isn’t always a realistic goal. In most situations, I can’t be everywhere, doing everything, all at the same time. This is definitely a hard task to complete. I can tell you what I can do though – I can think I am everywhere, doing everything, all at the same time. It’s called not-focusing, day-dreaming and focusing more on the future than the present. It’s not healthy, it’s not realistic, it’s not productive. I had to learn the hard way that focusing in the now is the only way I can obtain a better future. I mean, if all I can think about is the future and can’t even finish my homework, how am I going to get to the future? Meditating helped teach me to relax my mind and stay more in the present, the most important, the now.
There are many reasons I put meditation on the top of the list of relaxing techniques most beneficial for health. Through personal experience, meditating made me an overall better person. Better focus, less stress, calmer attitude, higher tolerance for collaboration and higher work output. I mean, it’s one thing to have physical health, but it is another to have mental health.
I wrote this article not to persuade anyone to diet or meditate, but more to help people understand the importance of overall well-being. Unlike what many people believe, well-being is a combination of knowledge, discipline and persistence. One must be knowledgeable of the activities that bring health into the body, as well as the activities that damage the body. One must be disciplined to sacrifice short-term things (such as cupcakes) for long-term well-being. One must also be persistent, sticking to values and moving forward even after the every-now-and-then cheat day. Health and well-being are not about being perfect, but they are about being more considerate to what’s most important – you.
James
Online Marketing Intern