Maybe when you think of meditation you think of a person sitting in the lotus flower position while breathing deeply for long periods of time … Although it is a way of meditating it does not have to be this way exclusively every time so that you can get all of its benefits. benefits like being a nicer person.

If you have ever arrived after work and you feel that everything is going wrong even though it is not like that, or that you have argued with someone for no apparent reason or simply when Monday morning arrives and you don’t even have the strength to get up … then you will have What to think about if there is something that is failing in your life. Do not worry, because there are very easy ways for you to stop feeling the pressure that suffocates you in your life, that you have room to breathe and that you can be more pleasant with yourself and with others. Do you want to know how? Keep reading…

The meditation

By now, the positive effects of meditation are well known. A simple meditation focused on the breath decreases symptoms of anxiety and depression and increases self-esteem. It also reduces activity in the part of your brain called the amygdala, which creates the fight or flight response (when under stress). If you have less stress you will be able to breathe better and therefore, you will have less bad mood.

Mindfulness meditation improves the quality of your sleep . We all know that when we don’t get enough sleep, we’re not exactly the kindest or most open version of ourselves, are we?

Recognize your mental patterns

Recognizing your own mental patterns gives you great power.  It means that you have the opportunity to change that pattern or break that habit . If you can learn to recognize a thought pattern as it occurs, then you can experience a brief “pause” between that thought and your automatic reaction. 

That pause gives you the opportunity to choose the way forward. The fight or flight response, which is reduced with meditation , has to do with automatic reactions. You may need fight and flight reactions in an emergency, but they aren’t exactly conducive to opening up and connecting with other people.

You become more compassionate to others and to yourself

One of the key messages of the type of meditation I practice is delicacy. Once you learn to be truly kind to yourself, then that kindness will spread to others in the form of compassion. 

There are also some meditation techniques that specifically cultivate compassion , these techniques really enhance feelings of connection and positivity towards others.

Enhance your senses

Meditation can enhance your senses, allowing you to fully experience whatever it is you are doing. When you give yourself time and space to sit and basically do nothing, you notice and appreciate the smallest things: you hear the birds chirping, you see the colors vividly, you taste the food completely … When you live in the present and appreciate the details , that extends to the people around you … and everything changes, for the better.

You will be able to better regulate yourself

Meditation increases activity in the part of the brain associated with self-regulation, or the ability to purposefully direct attention, suppress knee-jerk reactions, and adapt behavior to the situation. People who meditate train to return to the present moment when their minds wander, so they know how to deal with rapidly changing distractions and conditions. They have practice in regulating their emotions, which can help in tense situations.

You accept your thoughts and emotions … whatever they are

Meditation involves allowing thoughts and emotions to surface, being aware of them, and then gently returning to the present moment. When an emotion arises, you are not hiding it or hiding it, you are feeling it, even for a brief moment. 

During a meditation session, you will feel a lot of what is happening in your life at that moment. The key is not to insist on that, so when you encounter similar situations outside of meditation , those emotions will not feel as new or dramatic and you will be able to respond to them in a positive way.