Meditate & Make Better Decisions

You’re motivated. You’re driven. You’re busy hacking your life and putting everything into your startup.  Yet you’re often besieged by doubt and sometimes even feel paralyzed when you need to make decisions. How do you know where to put your limited resources? How can you figure out the right strategy to implement to get where you want the business to go?

As counter-intuitive as it may seem, adding one more task to your daily to-do list may actually simplify your life and make challenges easier.

 

 

  • Meditation brings clarity of mind

 

One of the most useful and truly productive benefits of meditation is that it helps you to see things more clearly. Meditation cuts through the clutter. When we’re frazzled and stressed out then we’re not operating at peak capacity. It’s just like the problems that can arise when we’re hungry: The fuse is short and emotions run high, for no reason except that the blood sugar is down. A daily practice of meditation is kind of like having a protein bar as your mid-morning snack: It settles the nerves and gives you the extra energy you need to be most effective.

What’s even better though: Mediation lets you break free of the clouds of emotion. The most important decisions that we make are usually ones that are the most fraught: You have to make a trade-off between money or time; you need to decide who to trust, or who to partner with. You have competing priorities and they can’t all be the #1 Most Important, yet oftentimes it seems that they are. How do you evaluate? How do you hone the muscle of intuition, that sense of gut instinct that can quickly become corroded when you second-guess or are afflicted by doubts?

Setting aside specific time for meditation every morning is an antidote to the confusion that besets us. When you’re living a fast-paced life and are trying to make something happen fast, then even momentary confusion can create real obstacles and setbacks.

 

 

  • Okay then, so how do you meditate?

 

Meditation is super simple! Here’s what to do:

  1. In the morning after your shower, go sit in a chair. It doesn’t need to be on the floor. Just find a spot where you’re comfortable, in a place where you won’t be interrupted.
  2. Turn your phone on airplane mode or set it to Do Not Disturb.
  3. Use your phone’s timer. Set it for 5 minutes. That’s all you need at first!
  4. Sit up straight. Put your hands in your lap. Let your body find a comfortable position. Close your eyes.
  5. Settle into yourself by watching your breath. You can even count the breaths in and out if you need a way to stay more focused. As thoughts come up, let them. Don’t follow them or chase them, and don’t fight them. Just bring your attention back to the breath, and try to “feel” your inside space. Keep your eyes closed, doing nothing, thinking nothing, simply watching your breath and intentionally being calm, cool, and collected, not following the thoughts that come up but instead, setting them aside and coming back to your center…

That’s it! That’s all meditation is. Doing this for only five or ten minutes every day will begin to build this muscle of quiet and calm. It’ll make space within the depths of your mind for truth and knowing to blossom.

 

 

  • Meditation makes decisions easier

 

Meditation is subtle, but the benefits build over time and become more obvious. It’ll surprise you when it takes hold and brings new power to your life. After you’ve been meditating even for a short time, you may recognize that when you’re struggling with a difficult decision, or even an easy one like which freeway to take to get to your important meeting when you’re running late during rush hour, you’ll be able to spot the right answer that surfaces from out of the cloud of complicated thoughts.

Over time, you’ll get better and better with seeing what’s right.

This type of mental clarity is a natural byproduct of meditation. It does not take much time every day to nurture a practice. It only requires consistency, that you do it regularly. That means, as close to every day as possible. If you miss a day? No problem, just don’t miss two in a row.

You can use the “Don’t break the chain!” trick to keep you on track: Every day that you meditate, note it in your calendar with a specific icon. Maybe you just use a happy-face symbol. 😀 Keep those happy faces going! It’s one of the simplest ways to stay on track with a healthy habit like this.

 

About the Author

Lighten Up Meditation helps you to focus and gain greater life efficiency through meditation! Real meditation is like a workout for the mind, with just as many benefits as physical exercise brings – even with just five or ten minutes a day. Tips, tricks and truth available at https://www.lightenupmeditation.com and on Twitter at LightenUpMed