Ok, I think I'm officially proclaiming March to be "Your mind on meditation" month - for those who wish to let out a small, significant cheer with me...
Because you see, if think about it logically, your Mind is your greatest asset in life & according to the science and research, your mind on meditation rocks even more! Hence why I wish to celebrate this month.
So let's get this little party started with this well-known quote:
"Whatever the mind can conceive, it can achieve" - Napoleon Hill.
I think this famous quote captures the power of the mind best. That yes, the mind is our tool to create, conceive and achieve. Even, if you have not gotten all caught up in the self development world; it just makes sense that this is so. Your mind is indeed the greatest asset you have in life.
To give a small inspiring example of this, one of my all time favourite movies and life stories is, The Theory of Everything, the story of the late and great Dr. Stephen Hawking (such a great movie!). There is a scene, in the movie, that finds the young Stephen Hawking, played by Eddie Redmayne, sitting with his doctor after being diagnosed with ALS. Still filled with dreams of what he wishes to explore & contribute to his field of study, he asks his doctor what the disease will do to his mind. The doctor replies that it will do nothing to his mind, only his body will eventually be overtaken by it. In that moment, you witness a glimmer of hope from the young physicist; it always moves me to tears. He was given a glimmer of hope that he could still go on and achieve all that was in his mind and in fact, Dr. Stephen Hawking went on to contribute, some of the most ground breaking insights into our universe that have ever been published. I love this story and find it to be one of the best examples of our time of the power and potential of the human mind.
While my mind may not be gifted, in the same way, as that of Dr. Hawking, it makes sense on so many levels that it is the greatest asset I have in life. It is your greatest asset in life, if you choose to believe so. Your mind, like mine, may often be filled with too many thoughts and worries, but your mind is the place where dreams, ideas, concepts, goals and intentions come from. It is the mind that conceives an idea and it is the mind that helps us see it through or talks us out of it. It is the mind and the quality of the mind that will propel you forward or keep you stuck where you are.
If you, like me, believe this to be so, then wouldn't it make sense to put elevating this mind of yours to the forefront of your life?
I spent years in the world of fitness and I often witness, that we tend to put the body before the mind - feeding it, moving it, what it looks like, how it feels etc.etc. For me, over the years, especially as I age, it is putting the quality of my mind and my thinking at the forefront of my life, that I find makes the biggest difference in my overall performance & well-being. It doesn't mean I neglect the body, but rather I have found, the quality of my mind plays a role in how the body feels. Today there is also a growing body of research that sites that our mind and our thinking can play a significant role in our health and healing.
So now that we have spent just a bit of time on the mind as our greatest in life, here's something that also makes more and more sense when it comes to the mind:
The mind on meditation is just better.
The science of the mind on meditation is proving that this is so, which makes me very happy because for some reason, maybe because of the way I'm wired, anything that is grounded in a bit of research and science just makes it even more fascinating & credible. Here are just a few examples (and there are so many!):
Meditation develops certain parts of the brain & preserves the brain
For an activity that calms the human brain, there is a lot happening to the brain while you are meditating. The brain is a wonderfully elastic organ, meaning that it can change and adapt. When you repeatedly do an activity like meditation, you strengthen neural connections in the brain that can, through stress and age, deteriorate. While research is still in the early stages, studies have also shown that meditation, over time, can increase grey matter density in the brain - I don't know about you but I am excited about increased grey matter density, especially as I age.
Studies also show that meditation can be responsible for dialling down areas of the brain responsible for mind wandering and ruminating. Again, who would not get excited about less ruminating & mind wandering - which is, by the way, responsible for feeling less happy and satisfied in life. So bring that on...
There are other Studies that show that long term meditators tended to have better preserved brains - their brains aged better!
The better the brain works - the better the mind words. It makes sense. The mind essentially being the brain in motion - thinking & creating.
So maybe with these words, you can see why I get fired up about the mind and the mind on meditation. It's why today you'll find more humans doing it. You'll find more humans getting comfortable with it or shifting past their discomfort with it. It's why I love helping more humans with it. It's one of the simplest, most accessible and effective daily habits for the human mind.
Your mind dear human rocks and your mind on meditation rocks even more!
See you on the seat my friend...
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