Meditation's secret ingredient

“You should sit in meditation for twenty minutes every day — unless you’re too busy. Then you should sit for an hour.” — Zen proverb

Every day, new research suggests that meditating for just twenty minutes a day can make you smarter, more productive and kinder. It can even be used to improve your sex life! With such glowing reviews, from everyone from Oprah to Star Wars creator George Lucas, you’d be forgiven for thinking it’s too good to be true.

It’s not all bibbidi-bobbidi-boo

When you get down to the heart of the matter, meditation’s secret ingredient is simply its ability to increase your self-control.

But how?

I did some research and found this interesting article by best-selling author Peter Bregman. In it, he takes himself back to when he last sat down to meditate. I did the same and could relate. Hard. Whether you meditate sitting up in bed after having just woken up, or with your earphones plugged in on the bus, you probably find yourself concentrating on the flow of your breath and trying to free your mind of everything. What usually happens next? Do outside thoughts start to demand your attention? Maybe. Something, somewhere starts to itch and you want to scratch it? Probably. You remember the name of that one actor and you want to tell your friend before you lose it again? Definitely.

The point is, you really want to follow all those thoughts or do all the things but you don’t (hopefully). You stick with your meditation practice and keep coming back to your breath. And therein lies the magic!

Think about it...

By practicing self-control, you’re better prepared to resist the urge to procrastinate. If you procrastinate less, you’ll be more productive. Managing your time better makes you more creative and having the space to create makes you more contented. We all know that happier people have more sex (or is it the other way around?). There you have it! It’s a snowball effect – and what a crazy, beautiful snowball it is.

There's an app for that!

My favourite meditation app is Insight Timer and guess what it's FREE! Home to more than 14000 guided meditations, talks and courses. On repeat is anything by Sarah Blondin. Seriously, her Live Awake podcast is so from the heart it breaks mine again and again and again.

Happy meditating!