Did you know that with technology today we can actually see the positive part of
the brain right here in the front light up when people are meditating?
and that studies have shown that people who consistently meditate over years
actually have more activity in the positive parts of the brain?
Today I'm going to talk about in this video how you can brighten your day and lift your
mood with a meditation practice and
how one of the important benefits of
meditation is boosting positive mood.
I'm Shirley Archer. I'm an award-winning author of 15 books on fitness and wellness.
I'm an award-winning trainer and I'm a mindful living coach.
I am passionate about empowering you to live the healthy happy energetic life that you deserve by
providing you with useful tips and information.
Today, we talk about how
meditation can help you have a happier mood.
Happy people are more likely to
have good relationships, enjoy their jobs, earn more money and live longer,
healthier, more enjoyable lives.
That's pretty amazing. Studies tell us that
these positive feelings are not just a happy accident, but the result of a
positive outlook on life.
A regular meditation practice can help you cultivate that
positive outlook in three ways.
It affects how you look at and experience your daily life.
The first important way that a regular
meditation practice helps you to boost your mood is that it helps you to have
less emotional reactivity.
What that means is that as you practice meditation,
you observe how frequently your thoughts and emotions change and when you realize
the temporary nature of how you feel in reaction to the variety of experiences
you have during the day, you can choose how you want to react instead of
necessarily going into that feeling of anger or frustration and escalating it.
You can say, "Oh, that made me angry but it's really not important for me to get involved with that."
And, you can breathe into it and let it go.
Acknowledge it and let it go.
So [practicing meditation] helps you to avoid this kind of reactivity
to every little thing that triggers an emotional response.
As you improve [your awareness], you will have more calm, more peace and more happiness.
That's why it's important to practice regularly,
even if only for ten minutes,
because we need to keep staying on top of our awareness of the tendency
to have this variety of emotions and find that space in which we can choose
how to respond.
The second way a meditation practice helps you be happier is that it lowers your stress levels.
You may have noticed that even one bout of meditation helps
you feel more calm and more relaxed.
Mantra meditation in particular has been
shown to stimulate the relaxation response.
What that means is that you
have a lower heart rate, you have lower blood pressure, you have a slower
breathing rate and lower cortisol levels.
Basically it is the relaxation response that is the antidote to the stress response.
So, instead of being in fight-or-flight mode, you practice meditation
and you transition into rest
and digest mode and when you feel physically calm in rest and digest mode.
You also are mentally calm and that's the mind-body connection at work and I
have another video that talks about the mind-body connection but healing your
mind really affects physiologically what's going on in your body
and physiologically what's going in your body also triggers and so the more you
can access the rest and digest part of the nervous system the more calm and the
more happy you're going to feel.
So the practical application of this, is that if
you've had a stressful day, make time to meditate for ten minutes so that you
can wind down and have a nice sleep.
Or, if you're going to go enjoy a family dinner,
but you've had a tough day at work, use the commute for a breathing meditation or
something to help you transition into family life so you don't take the stresses
of your workday with you.
The third way that meditation boosts
your happiness is that it helps you to live more in the present.
Meditation
helps improve our mindfulness which really means our awareness of what's
happening right here right now so that you spend less time daydreaming or
engaged in your thoughts thinking about what you're going to do next or worrying
or remembering something that didn't go right in the past.
A Harvard University professor did a very large study that showed that 50% of the time
people are typically not thinking about what they're doing.
When they are thinking about what they're doing,
when they are engaged in what they're doing,
they are happier.
It really is important that we increase our ability
to stay engaged with what we're doing right now instead of thinking about
something else.
For example, let's say you don't want to do a chore.
Sometimes I think, "Oh my God, walk the dog again?" because if you're a dog owner, you know how often
you have to do it - every day.
But, then as soon as I get outside and I
enjoy the weather and I see how happy [my dog Cheyenne] is and I think about
what a good time we have together and I'm so happy she's part of my life and I'm part of hers.
Then, I have a fantastic time.
So, as soon as I get into the moment, I'm having a great time,
but when I'm thinking about, "Oh, I don't want to do this, or do I not want to do this?" then then I'm not happy.
Think about that how that works out in your life.
You'll find that it really does help to be enjoying exactly
what it is you're doing.
The point is that happiness is really only available to us in the present.
We can recall pleasant memories.
We can look forward to things we're going to do.
But, we create happiness right here, right now.
So the more we can be mindful and in the present, the more happiness we will
experience.
Meditation helps you to bring your attention to the fact that
you're not present and and gets you to engage with your senses -
I am sitting here. I'm talking. I feel great.
I have a lot of energy. It smells good around me and
you can enjoy what it is you're doing.
Those are the three important ways
that regular meditation boosts your positive mood.
It reduces your emotional reactivity,
so that you have a more stable and calm emotional life and you
are less battered about by reactions to different situations.
It helps you observe more of the positive and it restores you on a physical level.
It actually boosts the relaxation response and takes you out of the stress mode.
When you're physiologically calm, you are mentally
and emotionally more likely to feel calm.
Thirdly, it helps you to live more positively engaged in exactly what you're doing and be happier.
I would love it if you practice meditation that you share in comments below how you found
that it's improved your happiness. If you have any questions, please ask.
I'm always happy to answer. I encourage you to subscribe, because this video is
part of a playlist on the benefits of meditation. If you are a subscriber
you'll know when the next one comes out. I put out a new video each week.
Until next time, stay healthy and happy.
Thank you for being here.
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