When Stanford researcher, Emma Seppälä, published her blog, 20 Scientific Reasons to Start Meditating Today: New Research shows meditation boosts your health, happiness and success, I thought the definitive case for meditation had finally been made. Seppälä’s blog hyperlinks to accredited studies from every field. She is far from the first (my long-time resource has been anything published by Richard Davidson), but her blog was straightforward and accessible. It does not hurt that her research credentials are substantial, and she has a wide mainstream audience that includes a column in the AARP Magazine. Yet, from time-to-time, I hear coaches and other personal development professionals apologetically suggesting mediation might be a helpful tool for someone to add to their life skills.
Directing Your Life
Let me be as direct and clear as I know how (and as one of my readers you know, I know how to be direct–even when not clear!):
If you do not have a daily meditative practice based in any tradition, you are holding yourself back from greater life satisfaction. It is that simple.
I am currently designing an online learning program for groups. A pre-requisite to joining this group: a participant must have an established meditative practice. Why? The group members will be on an equal footing when it comes to potential problem solving. The ability to focus on next levels of learning and achievement will be easier for the group members.
Can someone be successful economically and in life, in general, without meditating? Yes. And, taking your life to the next levels of success is easier when you have an established reflective practice. Over the years, I have set out many Dr. Success Challenges that focused on establishing a meditative or reflective practice. The time for challenges is over. The time to make your life easier as a result of developing a daily practice is now!
Meditation as a Livelihood
Here are some questions I posed to Rev. Marquita Pierre-McAlister in a recent webcast:
- How does your spirituality impact your chosen role in the world?
- How does your spirituality or religious beliefs inform how you earn an income?
- How does your spirituality or religious beliefs merge with your life at every level?
Watch and enjoy this segment of Serving Your Success, as Marquita, Kait Kellogg and I share how and why we are daily meditators. In the coming weeks I will let you know how you can access the meditation Marquita mentioned, but for now, sit back, watch and enjoy.
Andrea, just finished watching your webcast on meditation. How wonderful. I so appreciated the fact that you were expressing to your listeners the importance of daily meditation practice, which when boiling it all down, trains the mind in presence. Bravo again!