I have spent the past year meditating for 30 minutes a day and sometimes up to an hour. I wasn't initially consistent in my practice, but gradually it became a permanent fixture of my daily routine. My conclusion after well over 200 hours: 🤯 I should get everyone I know to do this, too!

It's one of those ideas I've heard about throughout my life as something beneficial to do but I didn't really start paying attention to it until relatively recently. I felt that I was too busy with work and other things to really give it a fair shot. "It's just a fad," I thought. How wrong I was! I now recognize how profoundly it would have helped me throughout my life had I started earlier.

For my part, I did try meditating a few times here and there but it never seemed to amount to anything, and worse – it seemed like I was just wasting time. Knowing what I know now, I couldn't have been further from the truth. I now realize that meditation is exercise for the mind, and just like any exercise it's going to be challenging the first time you do it. Imagine never having run any significant distance in your life and then being asked to run a marathon. It'd be really challenging! This is what meditation can be like when you first start, except the limits aren't your muscles and stamina but rather your ability to focus your attention.

I want to next describe some of the various benefits of meditation because that is exactly what I would have wanted to know before I committed my time and energy to the practice. However, I have to say it may be difficult to truly grasp the extent to which meditation can help until you've practiced it enough yourself. I say that not as an evasion but only as a disclaimer in case my words fail to motivate you. Think about the difference between the description of the most delicious dessert vs. the actual experience of eating the most delicious dessert. I will do my best to describe what meditation offers, but it is really something you have to try and commit to in order to fully understand it.

Also remember that I'm just a beginner. The insights and benefits I am about to share while personally discovered by me in my practice are likely just one tiny drop in a vast ocean of potential I have yet to discover.

With that said, allow me to share what I feel to be some of the major benefits of meditation that I've discovered so far.

What meditation offers

First of all, when I talk about meditation here I'm referring to insight meditation, also known as vipassana or mindfulness training. It is not the same as Transcendental Meditation which enjoyed immense popularity in the USA for a time but apparently devolved into a capitalistic cult. It is also not really a single practice so much as a collection of variously related practices as taught by different institutions and teachers. However, in my understanding the overarching goal is the same, which is — according to neuroscientist and philosopher Sam Harris — "to cultivate a quality of mind called “mindfulness,” which is simply a state of clear, non-judgemental, and undistracted attention, moment by moment, to the contents of consciousness."

Now, the previously stated goal of meditation may seem a bit abstract, so let's step back for a moment. Consider that your mind right now is the way that it is not only because of your genetics but also due to your experiences — your experiences at this particular time period in history, at a particular geographical location, in a particular cultural context. It's easy to never really reflect on how this has impacted us and to just go about our lives assuming that the way our minds are — the way we think about the world, how we frame things, our patterns and habits, etc. — is completely normal and healthy. Normal, yes — in the sense that it is a common occurrence for our minds to be a certain way given the state of the world — but can we truly say it's healthy or optimal or even desired? As you will hopefully discover, the answer to that is no.

Think of your mind like the bottom of a beautiful, pristine river. As the river flows, debris collects on the bottom: different colors of sand and minerals and leaves and sticks and so forth add more and more layers over time. Some of these layers add depth and beauty to the river bottom while others — perhaps some nasty toxins from a nearby factory, or plastic refuse that swept in from a city sewer — detract from it. To not meditate — to not take the time to examine your mind — is to allow whatever crud that has settled there to remain there, even though it may not benefit you (or worse — directly harm you).

Mindfulness training helps you weed through all the clutter that has been added to your mental experience and recognize the "baseline" state of things in your mind. Clutter like habitual patterns of thinking, our tendency to ruminate in our suffering, our tendency to get lost in thought, to react impulsively, or spiral in our fears. The ability to see through this clutter eliminates all of that and more, and thus can be incredibly liberating.

Stated another way: mindfulness training helps you discover the intrinsic tranquility and openness of consciousness and embody the deep sense of well-being therein. When going through life we often get so wrapped up in our thoughts and our emotions and we lose awareness of all the other things going on around us and within us. For example, we might get sad and we stay sad for hours replaying some past tragedy or future anxiety in our head over and over. We might get angry and without recognizing it let this anger wash over us, causing us to yell at our kids or break something or do something else we later regret. We might get jealous seeing our partner interact with someone from a distance and make up a story in our head that they are flirting, that they don't love us any more, getting lost in all manner of dreadful thoughts for hours only to find after talking to them they were just catching up with a co-worker. Without a meditation practice, you will just continue to be pulled in one direction or another by the whims of your mind.

Sam Harris nails this idea perfectly near the end of his introductory meditation course:

Many of us have thought about what we would grab from our homes in a fire. Just imagine, your family is safely on the street and you have a chance to grab something — what would it be? Photos? A computer? Your father's watch? You can't fit much in your hands. In some sense, we're always in this situation. We're always deciding what to grasp — what matters.

What is worth paying attention to in this moment? Because you can only pay attention to one thing at a time and it's only meditation that gives you a choice about what to grasp and want to let go of. It's as though we continually wake up in the burning house of the present only to find that we're holding — and even struggling under the weight of — some worthless object. That's what bickering with your spouse is like; that's what rumination is like; that's what most of our worrying is like; that's what comparing ourselves to others is like; that's what envy and regret are like; that's what pride is like.

I mean really, the Tate gallery was on fire and rather than rescue a Picasso or DaVinci you risked your life to grab some chairs from the coffee shop? Without a meditation practice you will just find yourself holding something, staggering under some burden again and again; reacting to something; brooding about something; fixating on something; helplessly, without a choice, without the possibility of choice.

Meditation is nothing more or less than the art of choice. It's the art of paying attention to what really matters. Sam Harris (Waking Up app, "Space, Time, & Attention")

When we meditate, we learn to recognize emotions, thoughts, sensations, etc. as merely transient appearances in consciousness which we can simply let arise and pass without holding onto them, without judgment. We learn to become the arbiter of our attention, which grants tremendous freedom from psychological suffering. Sadness, anger, fear, anxiety, grief, loneliness, envy, regret, shame, frustration, disappointment, guilt, jealousy, despair, insecurity, resentment, embarrassment, apathy, nervousness, boredom, eventually even physical pain — we learn how to be at choice to experience them or not, and if so, it's on our terms.

To be clear: mindfulness is not about eliminating negative emotions. Emotions are important indicators that your body is trying to tell you something and it's wise to pay attention to them. However, we don't have to let those emotions control us, to hold us in their grip and bring us suffering. No matter how experienced a meditator I become, I'm still going to cry at the end of the Lord of the Rings when Frodo leaves the Shire and all his friends to sail to the undying lands. It's a sad moment, and it's okay to be sad — when that scene occurs, it'll be my choice. Meditation is how you train that choice.

There's another side to this coin as well: through meditation, we also learn to experience our positive emotions — and in general, any desirable state of consciousness — more deeply. When you're fully present with an experience it can become so much more profound. Think about the difference between eating your favorite food while you're absorbed in your favorite TV show vs. when you have nothing else to do but enjoy that food. If you don't know what I'm talking about, try it. Grab any food, and drop everything and eat it with your full attention. What are the range of textures it has? Can you identify the flavors? Is it sweet, tangy, spicy, salty? You only need one bite. You'll discover there really is no comparison to when you eat the same food inattentively, when your mind is wandering somewhere else.

Have you sat down to watch a TV show and brought a snack with you only to find at the end of the show you've devoured most of it? Where did it all go? You ate it, but you barely experienced it. Being present when you eat allows you to experience the pleasure of eating much more deeply, and it works in the same way for other positive experiences. Your love, your joys, your gratitude, your pleasures, etc. will become a richer experience.

Another aspect of mindfulness that I want to touch upon is how becoming more mindful can lead to a warmer, gentler, and more compassionate perspective on life. You may have already noticed that a lot of meditation gurus radiate that kind of energy. This is no accident. Once you begin freeing yourself from your own psychological suffering, you will find you have more capacity for others. In learning to be fully present, you will more readily notice how much other people are struggling under the weight of their own burdens, and you will easily be able to connect with that struggle because you too were once in that place. So while you may begin mindfulness practice as a tool to help yourself, invariably it will help you open your heart to others.

There's a final aspect of mindfulness — one that I am only recently just beginning to discover — that it makes it feel as if anything we give our full attention to is worth doing. Perhaps it is because in mindfulness practice we are honing our ability to choose what what is truly worth doing, and thus we will more likely tend to feel good about it (versus, for example, "choosing" to eat a whole box of cookies and later regretting it).

But there's more to it than that. When you free yourself from being lost in thought, when you keep yourself in the present, you start to notice little details that you missed before. You discover that previously mundane tasks that you used to race through now invite you to look closer. For example, I folded laundry earlier today and I later reflected on how for most of my life I folded my laundry hastily so I could move onto the next task I wanted to do. That urgency didn't even cross my mind today, and I took a few extra seconds here and there to smooth out creases and pull off bits of lint that I would never have cared about in the past. I even folded the laundry of the person ahead of me, whereas a few years ago I probably would have just tossed it into their bin as soon as I took it out of the dryer.

Somehow I'm developing a deeper appreciation for the little things, the small details that I previously missed, that are around us in every moment. It's like wiping away layers of grime which have long obscured my vision, allowing me to see things for the first time with true clarity.

As you are probably now gathering, mindfulness is a powerful tool. As far as I'm aware, there is no other single practice in the world which offers anywhere near the number of simultaneous benefits to well-being than meditation does. It's the super-powered Swiss Army Knife of mental training, and you can do it without any special equipment, at any time, any where in the world. When you consider how central your mind is in determining the character of your experience, you'll find there really is no practice more worth doing than meditation.

It's never too late to start

How many times have we put something off we know we should do for one reason or another? We think we'll do it in the future after we finish a project, when we get more time, when we're not so busy. However, it's just a mirage. There are always new problems to solve, new projects to work on, new deadlines to meet — it never ends. The way to become less busy isn't by putting things off until later, it's by using our time effectively, it's by paying attention to what really matters, and meditation is precisely the tool to do that.

It was really hard for me to get into meditation when I started so I completely understand the temptation to give up or put it off. I would often meditate for a few days then stop for a week, then I would try again, then stop again. It was difficult to see progress and difficult to understand the value of it. Worse still, the introductory course in the meditation app I was using also felt a bit stale at the beginning. Know this will probably be similar for you too and just keep at it.

I set an alarm for 6:30am every day, I get up immediately when I hear it and do a 30m workout routine followed by a 30m meditation and I'm done before most people have had breakfast. This wasn't meant to be a plug for exercising but hey — why not? That's how I built my habit for both useful practices — by anchoring them to each other and getting both done early in the morning as soon as I get up.

I assure you that with consistent effort, after a few months you will start to notice a difference. Just be mindful that focusing on meditating to reach a specific goal or obtain a specific benefit may in some ways defeat the purpose and hinder your progress. If you are fixated on reaching a goal, your mind will not be truly open. So just remember: it's not a race to a finish line. Like eating healthy and exercising, it's a lifelong practice — and it's never too late to start.

How to get started

Here's a few tips to help you make your mindfulness practice into a long-term habit:

1. Make it easy: Don't say you're going to meditate for 30 minutes/day from the start. Start with 10 minutes, maybe even 5 minutes. It's less about how much you do so much as how consistent you are. If you can meditate for even just 5 solid minutes per day, you'll far more likely build a habit than inconsistently meditating for longer periods of time.
2. Anchor it: Set an intention in your mind to anchor your practice to a specific moment or event. For example, you might say, "After I put my kids to bed, before I do anything else I will meditate for 10 minutes." For me it's "As soon as my morning alarm rings, I'm going to immediately get up and exercise" and "As soon as I'm done exercising (and optionally showering), I'm going to meditate". The more specific you can get the better, because specific moments are easier to recognize and they will act as trigger points for you to carry out your intended habit.
3. Setup reminders: You can add reminders to your calendar or your phone, or you can even just put the chair or cushion you use for meditating in an obvious spot that will remind you every time you walk by it.
4. Track it: Consider tracking your habit by writing down on your calendar or in your journal when you do it. The satisfaction you get from checking off each completed session will be further motivation to continue. You might even write a contract for yourself with your spouse/friend/kids as witnesses to help you stick to it.
5. Have an accountability partner: Since your friends and family will benefit from meditation as well, you could all do it together and help keep each other on track. Even if you live alone, find a friend who is also willing to practice and each day you can help remind each other to stay on top of it.

Also, having a meditation app on your device will be indispensable unless you have essentially daily access to a live instructor. I recommend the Waking Up meditation app by Sam Harris. I haven't used many meditation apps so I can't really offer a comparison at this time but I can say I've found the Waking Up app to be extremely valuable. You can get a free month of access with my invite code, and honestly at $10/month this app is very reasonably priced for what it offers. That said, if you are truly financially strapped you can request a scholarship after your one-month trial ends.

I like Waking Up because first of all I respect Sam Harris as an intellectual, but also because he provides both guided meditations and theory discussions, the latter of which can really deepen your understanding of the practice. While I occasionally do my own self-guided meditations, for the most part even after a year of meditating I'm still using guided meditations because there's just so many different approaches and things to learn from the various teachers on the app. And side note: I get absolutely nothing from promoting Waking Up — honestly it's just a great app and is worth promotion simply because it's such a valuable tool.

A tip for absolute beginners

In meditation, it’s not the technique that’s important. It’s the attitude—the attitude of ease, and openness.Adyashanti

It's important to not to judge yourself for getting lost in thought when you meditate. It will happen, a lot. The point of meditation is not to stop thoughts, but to get better and better at recognizing them and letting them naturally pass before they pull you down a rabbit hole. Remember that the practice is about embodying an attitude of ease and openness — trying really hard to not get lost in thought so much that it frustrates you or saddens you defeats the purpose. You will get lost in thought, so it's best to accept it now and be at peace with it.

I still get distracted all the time, and some days are easier than others, especially when there's a lot going on in my life. Is a task you have to do later in the day on your mind? Did you have a fight recently with your friend or spouse? Are you anxious about the results of an election? The days there's more on your mind — the days it's harder to focus — you may eventually come to find them the best days to practice, but either way, when you discover that you are lost in thought, no matter how often it happens, don't judge yourself, don't say to yourself "I'm worthless. I'll never be able to do this..." Just ever-so-gently pull your awareness back to your breath and begin again.

In fact, the moment you discover you are lost in thought is the very skill you are training. When you have recognized your distracted mind, that's a success! At that very moment you are no longer subject to the whims of your distracted mind and you are now empowered to direct your attention back to the present. That is the practice. Getting distracted, recognizing it, and pulling your attention back to the present — again and again and again until it becomes second nature.

Over time, you will notice your distractions happen less often and you will stop them in their tracks sooner. You will notice your practice beginning to blend with your daily life — quite literally, in fact. While as a beginner you typically learn to meditate seated with your eyes closed, eventually you learn to meditate with open eyes, and then while walking, all the way until you can practice essentially in every waking moment. If there is an end goal of meditation practice, that's it: to practice until there is no difference between practice and life and you are able to permanently harness the full power of choice and attention. 🙂

And with that, I hope you find this invitation to meditate helpful and I wish you the best in your practice. ❤