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Meditation techniques are one of the main tools to develop mindfulness. Mindfulness is a quality which enables you to relate to your environment, your life, and your emotions effectively. When we “lose touch”, we approach life reactively… kind of like Pavlov’s dogs! Meditation techniques work to gain consistent “oversight” of what is going on in your mind, in your emotions, and your physical senses. This state of mindfulness or “place” is where you want your intentions and actions to come from… it give you a balanced and centered position to relate to your world.
When we know what is going on inside ourselves, we can better react to others quirks, seemingly irrational behavior…even their antagonistic and aggressive outbursts. We will be able to become more understanding, more empathetic, and more willing to adjust our thought and actions, and understand that others might not be coming from the same balanced “place”. Here, we will share ways in which you can strengthen your mindfulness capabilities, or what Victor Davich, author of 8 minute meditation: change your mind, change your life calls “mindfulness muscle”.
Mindfulness Training – Know Yourself
There are several ways to exercise your mindfulness. Each of the following meditation techniques exercises different aspects of your sensory and mental experience. If you consistently do the stuff we mention here we are positive that you will be able to relate to the world around you in a more effective way, leading to…plainly…a happier time while you are on this earth. Here are some basic tools that you can put to use right away to realize “real” change:
- Be you — Accepting your self is the first tool to real change. Because of our circumstance, our parents, our upbringing, our friends, our schooling… we ARE! Like it or not, there are things we are wonderful at, and things which to say the least, we would not admit to our mothers. It is absolutely vital to accept ourselves at face value, pun intended. Only starting from who we are at this very moment will we be able to drive any meaningful change.
- Happiness – A key realization when we look at others, whether it is our loved one or humanity, is that absolutely everyone wants to be happy. That is a fundamental fact that joins us all as humans. If you are able to keep this in mind through your day, it gives you a different perspective on others actions. People do what they think will make them happy! Regrettably…most of the time they are wrong.
- Bad Habits — Unlearning what you have learned and understanding your reactions are two key things to keep in mind. Why do you do the obviously destructive things that you do? How can you change them? Recognizing your bad habits and establishing effective action plans to change them, is an absolute necessity to building deep and intimate relationships.
- Relaxation Meditation – This meditation technique focuses on actually allowing yourself a period of relaxation in which you can effectively “calm down” not only physically, but also mentally, from any type of emotions that you may be finding particularly uncomfortable. Although we call it relaxation meditation here, this can also be active (walking, running or dancing)…what is most important to relax here is our mental wandering.
- Mindfulness Meditation – In this type, you become aware of your own thoughts and try to focus your attention on a specific thing. This can be the breadth, or a word or sound. As you do this you will notice that your mind is like a waterfall of never ending thoughts. The idea here is to step out of the stream…in doing this you “move” to a more peaceful and stable “place”.
- Analytical Meditation – This is the process by which you carefully analyze your thoughts and motivations and/or the thoughts and motivations of others. Through this process you gain important insights. This type of meditation is also used to actively and with forceful intention develop a specific frame of mind or mental disposition.
If you make it a point to make all of the above suggestions a part of your day to day outlook, I can guarantee that your perspective will change and this fundamental shift will change your relationships. As a matter of fact you will likely change your entire life.
Types of Meditation
There are many different types of meditation. Here we have separated the meditation techniques into three basic groups: Exercises to get mindful of your physical senses, of your emotions and mental disposition, and also activities to exercise your analytical skills – pointed inward. Here I elaborate on each group:
If you are interested in being happy and developing sound relationships with others, meditation is an invaluable tool that will allow you to do just that.
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