Meditation: Less Problems, More Happiness?

I saw a poster outside a meditation centre a few days ago that read “Less Problems - More Happiness”. They were referring to meditation and the benefits of meditation of course. Now, does meditation practice give you less problems? The quick and simple answer - no, it does not.

What meditation actually does, is change your perception of the problems you have (we’ve all got issues going on in our lives, right?). It doesn’t give you less problems, but it does make you feel more in control and therefore your perception of the severity of your issues will be lessened.

Does meditation bring you more happiness? According to the poster, yes. First of all, I don’t like the term or descriptor - happiness. It’s vague and essentially can have many meanings to different people. I prefer the word ‘content’ or ‘contentment’. A much more descriptive word that people can actually relate to. For example, if I asked you “are you happy today?”, most people including myself would find it difficult to answer that question. Whereas if I asked you “do you feel content today?”, it’s a much more tangible question and you could probably answer it.

So, going back to the poster, does meditation give you less problems and make you happier? No. Will it change your perception of your problems and life in general, and will it make you more content with your life as it is right now in this moment - yes, definitely.

If you already have a meditation practice in place, well done, I congratulate you and you might be aware of what I’m talking about. If you don’t have a meditation practice in place yet, why not start today. It’ll give you a much better sense of what I’m talking about and it’s a very simple habit to implement. Meditation at its core is a very simple practice and it has to stay simple. Too many people overcomplicate the process and it shouldn’t be that way. Start out with just 60 seconds of focused breathing each morning, and build up your practice over a period of months until you get to a point where you realise that the time you’re spending in meditation practice is beneficial. For myself currently, it’s literally just seven minutes of stillness. That’s it. I do then follow up with a personal practice of gratitude, positive affirmations and abundance practice - but you don’t have to do that in the beginning, if at all, if you don’t want to. Keep it simple has and always will be my motto for life, business and anything in between or outside. I urge you to take on that motto too - it will serve you well.

#youhavealltheresourcesyouneedforchange #courage #strength #resilience #wisdom #selfassurance #selfbelief #selfconfidence #samueljcornell #samuelcornellcoaching

Photo by Léonard Cotte on Unsplash