Practicing meditation and mindfulness has become more and more popular now there is so much information out there about the many benefits that it can bring. Meditation can be used as a powerful tool for personal growth, and research shows that it can help to greatly alleviate symptoms of anxiety and depression as well as help people to overcome long term addictions. This article will look at how meditation has the power to help people to kick bad habits and overcome addictions.
The Benefits of Being in the Present Moment
The power of meditation lies in its ability to help us bring our mind and awareness back to the present moment. When someone is depressed or anxious, the mind is often overrun with anxious thoughts, worries and concerns about the past or the future. The mind is either dwelling too much on past events that have occurred, or worrying about what might happen in the future. Meditation however can combat this head on.
The meditative process involves calming and stilling your mind and not allowing yourself to get carried away with thoughts, but instead, ensuring that you are firmly rooted in the present moment. With time, patience and practice, people who meditate regularly find that their mind is much clearer, they feel calmer and they are happier and more content in life as a result.
Raising Your Self-awareness
Another important part of the process involves learning to become more self-aware and developing a deeper understanding of the way that your mind works, i.e. what do think about the most? Are there any recurring anxious or worried thoughts that are unhelpful and regressive? By becoming aware of any negative thought patterns, we can learn more about ourselves, and with that, identify the things we need to work on, change or overcome.
Understanding the Link Between Our Thoughts, Emotions and Behaviours
It also helps bring close attention to the link between our thoughts, emotions and behaviours. For example, any unnecessary anxious or worried thoughts about say, things that happened in the past, or something you have no control over, can trigger a whole host of unpleasant and quite intense emotions such as fear, upset and anxiety. When we feel like this, it can make us more prone to engaging in avoidance or escapist behaviours in the pursuit of relief from these thoughts and feelings, this can vary from person to person, but for some individuals this could result in extreme behaviours such as heavy substance abuse.
By bringing more awareness to what our minds are doing and the way we think, and consequently learning to let go of any negative or anxious thoughts and emotions and not letting them define or talk hold of us, we can stop the process evolving to engaging in avoidance behaviours. Regular meditation can help someone to channel the inner calm, understanding and strength that is needed to achieve this.
Regular Meditation Can Change Your Life
Not only is substance abuse severely damaging to health, relationships and our chances in life, but it is ultimately a vicious cycle that will repeat itself and increase in severity until someone reaches breaking point. Meditation involves confronting ourselves and our minds, and while this can be a difficult, emotional, and painful process to start with, it’s an extremely important one to go through if you are serious about overcoming your addictions. if you have the strength and support in place to help you push through any difficulty or discomfort you may experience at the beginning, with regular practice you can take back control of your own mind again so that you are back in the driver’s seat and empowered to change your life for the better.
Meditation is an Important Path to Personal Growth
Another benefit of meditation when it comes to fighting addiction is the positive effect it can have on the way we view ourselves and the world. Connecting with ourselves and learning to appreciate the beauty and the calm that can be found in the present moment teaches us to become much more compassionate, as well as grateful and content for the small things in life, which helps reduce our attachment to external and in some cases harmful sources of gratification or release. Prolonged meditation will make you want to be kinder to yourself and your body, as well as help you to become much less impulsive and much more of a considered and thoughtful person.