Have you got self-belief – if not try Meditation
Introduction
You could instead ask, do you believe in yourself? Whatever your answer, you will still be asking what has this got to do with meditation. The answer will no doubt surprise you. It is surprising just how many people are in fact unsure of themselves, the reasons at the moment are not important, the fact is, it is true.
Let us then get back to the subject matter.
Have you got self-belief – if not try Meditation
Believing in yourself is very important, if you do not think enough of yourself to believe, why should anyone else.
Let us look at how you react when faced with a challenge. Is your first thought, to map things out in your mind, or on paper working out how you will respond, or do you in fact find yourself taking a quick look and saying that has no chance of working. If this is the case why do you find reasons for the task to be a failure, before you have even studied it.
Looking at self-belief, there is a marked difference between those who are not successful in life, (even if it is life itself, health or business) and those who are a success. Those who succeed are determined to make it work whatever they are doing. This is self-belief, not education, who they know, not who Mum and Dad are, or even luck. These can contribute to success it is their self-belief that matters more.
We must also be realistic and accept that not everything will work out. You will find that if you believe in your plan, or yourself, this will not only alter, but improve your self-confidence. Some people find it difficult to understand that no matter how hard you try, the brain can and will play trick. The reason is simple, the brain is not in the least bit interested in your ambitions or plans, it wants to keep you alive.
It is a fact that we all suffer from self-doubt, negative thoughts, procrastination and anxiety, to name but a few. By you believing in you, these problems can be overcome. It is fair to admit that I procrastinate too much, but I recognize this, and am able by meditating to deal with it. Let us be honest we all dream of winning the lottery and spend time deciding what we would do with the money, instead of concentrating on the job or problem in hand.
Believe in Yourself
You cannot expect people to believe in you, if you do not believe in yourself. You must convince yourself that you do have the ability or talent to do what is required, at any given moment. If you cannot do this, then do not expect others to believe in you either.
There are times when our self-confidence is at a low ebb, therefore we struggle with what we wish to achieve, it is as though a mountain has suddenly appeared in front of us. We have to look to our inner self, this is where your self-confidence comes from, you must learn to start believing that you can succeed.
Imagine that you are in a race, picture the finish, in your mind think of the steps or paces that you need to get there. If you think that is too far, compartmentalize it, image it as so many hundred meters, this is more achievable, so you can now start realizing that you have the ability, you can do it.
When I left the Air Force my first job was in sales, above a photograph on the wall opposite my desk I had a poster which had three letters on it. PMA, these stood for Positive Mental Attitude, if you do not have this you will not succeed. Whenever I was a bit flaky over going on a call, I took inspiration from those letters believe it or not they helped.
A Positive Mental Attitude
You will have self belief if you have a positive attitude. A person with negative thoughts will always fail, whereas a person with positive thoughts would not believe you if you told him that he would fail.
A positive person realizes that any failure is only temporary, it is part of life, do not let it stop you, just keep trying until you succeed, even if you have to rethink the method which you used.
Negative thoughts will drift away if only you will believe in yourself, let them go, replace them with thoughts that are more positive. If we are honest we often tell ourselves that we cannot do a certain job, the excuse or reason do not matter, but this gives a reason to doubt your ability and ends up slowing down your brain to think positive.
Let your brain be filled thoughts of self-belief, continue to build up nothing but positive thoughts. Doing this will remove from your mind any negative thoughts. When you do have the odd bad vibe, and you will, allow your self-believe to remove them with positive ones.
Try Meditation
So how do we get into this positive frame of mind? Why not try meditation!
The look on your face could be a picture, I can imagine you saying OK, he really is barmy, or I have heard of that I will read a bit more.
We accept that the modern world is full of stress, we are constantly bombarded with any manner of stressful almost every minute of our waking day. Meditating allows the mind to be calm, almost peaceful.
A peaceful mind means that we are able to experience true happiness and be free from our worries. Practicing meditation we are able to be in control of our minds and emotions, rather than have them control us.
It can seem heavy expecting you to just accept the fact that if you learn to meditate you will not only understand how simple this art is, but that you will be a lot happier in your mind.
To help you understand more about meditation here are ten suggestions to make it easier for you.
Ten Tips for Beginners to Meditation
- Know where to meditate. Pick somewhere that you will use for meditating, ideally it should have no distractions, and if needed can be made into an area that has a nice relaxing air to it. I use the summerhouse which I have turned into an art studio, here I can get away from everything and everybody. It really is ideal. When I am sat in my chair the family think that I am resting, not meditating, so I do not get disturbed.
- Get the timing right. The time that you practice your meditation is important, try to almost make it a diary event, with the same time every day. Some people prefer first thing in the morning to give them peace for the day. Others at the end of the day, as they like a good night’s sleep. Me I do it around late afternoon before preparing dinner. It does fill me with calm.
- Sit Upright and Relax. As long as you are sat down it does not matter what you sit on, you can even adopt the lotus position if you so wish. What is important is that you remain still, whilst you should be relaxed, it is important that your spine is upright. This ensures both you mind and body are together, a slumped body and the mind will drift.
- Start with Five Minutes. You need to accept that meditation takes practice, so try not to go mad to start with. If you can manage just five minutes a day to start that is fine. Gradually build up to longer as you feel able too.
- Observe your Body. When you begin to meditate, as the meditation begins, notice your body. When the mind is quiet, concentrate your mind on your body, starting at the feet, move up the whole length of your body, include everything including your internal organs.
- Ignore Frustration. It is quite common among those who are new to meditation to feel frustrated, do not allow this to happen as you quiet your mind. Try, instead to concentrate on your breathing, allowing any frustration to vanish.
- Pick a Focal Point. To enable you to get your mind to the quiet stage is to focus on something. You can pick an object, concentrate on your breathing or even play some meditation type of music. Which method you choose to give your complete attention to it, let every detail sink in, making the mind see nothing else. This enables you to have complete over your mind.
- Forget Perfection. How you meditate is up to you, nothing is right or wrong. Just learn to chill out and meditate.
- Do not be Frightened to Change. Whilst meditating if anything distracts you, change what is causing the problem, is it you position or where you are, do not be frightened to experiment until you have the perfect requirements for you.
- Completed then Smile. This may sound silly or childish even, you are smiling because you have concentrated on you, if only for a few minutes. You matter to you, so smile, you are important. Hopefully by following these ten suggestions it will enable you to sleep better, be happier, give you help with pain and have more inner peace. By learning to meditate, you will be able to control your emotions, enabling you to inject peace and happiness around you.
Conclusion
I do so hope that you have enjoyed the second of my blogs on meditation, if you have any comments I will be more than happy to hear from you.
Until the next time, may you have peace.
Stuart