You may have been drawn to meditation for a variety of reasons: to reduce stress; to heal from anxiety or depression; increase productivity; or just create a better life for yourself. The beauty of meditation is even if you begin your practice for a specific reason you will quickly start to experience unforeseen benefits in all areas of your life. What I’ve learned is meditation has the uncanny ability of seeking out exactly what is broken or unbalanced within you and fixing it. This allows you to become the best version of yourself, the greatest gift you could give the world.

The series of events that led me to meditation began when I was in my early twenties. My diet was bad, I wasn’t exercising, and I was making poor life choices until eventually, a terrible depression set in. I was going to college at that time and ended up dropping out rather than subject myself to the embarrassment of panic attacks during presentations or class discussions. The panic attacks grew to be so random and so severe that I eventually stopped socializing and became afraid to leave the house. This crippling limitation that appeared to come into my life so suddenly baffled and angered me.

In hindsight I understand that anxiety and depression actually took root in my psyche over several years. Each time I backed away from a fear and didn’t stand up to it the fear got a little worse and gained a little more power over me until the point it had full control.

One summer night, in the middle of a deep sleep, I had an experience that forever changed my life. At the time the extraordinary experience left me with more questions than it did answers. Over twenty years later I’m just beginning to understand it. Although I’m not ready to share the full details of this experience yet I can say that I’m sure it was the catalyst that led me to this spiritual path. It was terrifyingly transformative, consciousness-expanding, and in hindsight very sacred. Afterwords I developed an intense curiosity for all things spiritual and an unwavering desire to fight against anything that was holding me back from living my best life.

In the following months I spent countless hours reading self help books, some of which were slightly beneficial but only provided a temporary fix. After a few months of searching I drawn to a small book on meditation in a local bookstore and it changed my life. I developed a regular meditation practice and stuck to it faithfully every day, even if it was only fifteen minutes.

Soon and idea came to me. I began to desensitize myself to the panic attacks by purposely putting myself into situations that I feared would trigger the anxiety and panic. Each time I did this I became stronger and the anxiety and panic attacks became less severe until they eventually subsided and I started to get my life back.

What I quickly learned is meditation is the best way to liberate you from whatever barriers are keeping you from being the absolute best version of yourself. We have simply forgotten how awesomely powerful we really are. Through the gift of imagination and the intelligence to bring our ideas to fruition, there is literally nothing in this world that we can’t accomplish. Ask yourself, what would you attempt in life if you knew, in your heart, that you could accomplish anything? How would you live each day of the rest of your life if you had no fear of failure?

The sad truth is many people in life never achieve come close to achieving their true potential. There are many external roadblocks put in our path to relearning exactly how powerful we are. But none of these external barriers can compare to the damage we inflict on ourselves, often subconsciously, through negative self talk. Most of us are truly our own worst enemies when it comes to living the life of our dreams. Meditation will quickly make you aware of the quality of your inner thoughts and how they impact you.

As you begin a daily meditation practice you will also start to notice that you are so powerful that your own inner thoughts and expectations are creating your reality in every moment. If you constantly dwell on negative thoughts you will no doubt have a horrible day. Think good, positive thoughts and despite what life throws at you it is easier to find your calm center work through the challenge more quickly and easily. Perception is so vital to our happiness and success that I’m devoting an entire chapter to it later in the book.

Before I found meditation negative self talk looped in my head almost constantly. By continually thinking negative internal thoughts and comparing ourselves to others, many of us become . “I’m not smart enough”, “I’m not as good looking or successful as they are”, “This certain person doesn’t like me”, “This idea will never work.” Sound familiar?

Nelson Mandela said, ”Our deepest fear is not that we are inadequate. Our deepest fear is that we are powerful beyond measure. It is our light, not our darkness, that most frightens us. We ask ourselves, who am I to be brilliant, gorgeous, talented, and fabulous? Actually, who are you not to be?”

This quote is important because I’ve come to realize that subconsciously most of us know exactly how powerful we are and it terrifies us. Why? If we admit that we have the power to transform ourselves and accomplish anything in life it’s impossible to blame anyone or anything else for our own unhappiness. Think about this for a moment.

Most of us have heard of the word, “institutionalized” and know its meaning but few of us realize that we have become institutionalized ourselves. Nothing illustrates this concept better than my favorite film, “A Shawshank Redemption.” As unbelievable as it seems it is common for prisoners who have been incarcerated for decades, upon their release, to find themselves unable to deal with freedom. Freedom terrifies them. Some even end up breaking the law to get back into prison. These people, who at first grieve because their freedom has been taken from them, strangely begin to find security and comfort behind bars keep them in bondage.

The same phenomena occurs in our daily lives. When we’re young, most of us have clear dreams and aspirations but if we’re not mindful, as the ocean erodes the sand, the routines of life slowly wear our dreams away. After a few years our dreams are pushed back into the farthest corners of our minds and are likely labeled as naive illusions.

As our daily routines literally become etched onto our brains, even though we may be miserably unhappy in our lives, we lose our ability to even imagine a different way of living. We become so dependent upon the routine itself that we forget that other options that would make us far happier exist and are just a decision away!

As you will experience, meditation is many wonderful things but first and foremost it is a process of relearning who we really are and unleashing the awesome power that each and every one of us possess. We are like sleeping giants that merely have to be awakened.

Stay tuned, there is more to come….

Related posts:

https://steemit.com/money/@ericvancewalton/the-secret-to-a-happier-life
https://steemit.com/life/@ericvancewalton/synchronicity-letting-life-become-your-greatest-teacher

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This article is an excerpt from my soon to be released book, “The Perfect Pause: Meditating Your Way to the Optimal You”, which will be available in September on Amazon.com in hardcopy and eBook format.

I’ve been practicing meditation for over twenty years and actively teaching meditation for the past year. Meditation has completely transformed my life beyond my wildest expectations.

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All material in this article is provided for your information only and may not be construed as medical advice or instruction. No action or inaction should be taken based solely on the contents of this information; instead, readers should consult appropriate health professionals on any matter relating to their health and well-being.

The information and opinions expressed here are believed to be accurate, based on the best judgement available to the authors, and readers who fail to consult with appropriate health authorities assume the risk of any injuries.