How Meditation Made Me A Happier Person
Sometimes we get so involved in the busy-ness of the day that it feels as though we are swimming under water, rarely coming to the surface to gasp for fresh air. Over the years, I have worked for both a large international company and for myself, so I know how pressure can build whether it’s under the direction or imposition of company management, or as my own taskmaster.
Creating space in the day is something I have found to be hugely beneficial in terms of my levels of happiness, not just because of that specific, dedicated time taken out, but because of the greater benefits it gives me.
Giving myself permission to take just twenty minutes twice a day to ‘be’ and not ‘do’, and to allow nature to run the agenda during that time, allows me to take the multiple benefits of meditation out into the day, into my “eyes open state”.
Learning to trust myself, to depend more on intuition and less on ego and intellect, means that my happiness is not dependent on outside factors such as the desire for things or people or zeros in the bank account. It is not a case of “I will be happy when [I have a Ferrari on the driveway / have a relationship with that particular person / have a positive seven-digit bank balance]”.
I can’t tell you how liberating it is to disregard the absurd idea that the more we can control our environment, the more we think we can determine the outcome of our lives and ultimately, our happiness. By surrendering to ourselves, by learning to trust our feelings, by ensuring we talk to ourselves kindly and helpfully, and by being mindful of the way we consider ourselves and others, we find greater fulfilment because ultimately no person or thing is going to make me happy.
Complete understanding of the self is the basis upon which happiness is created: everything else is out of our control.