Thursday, May 9, 2013

Benefits of Meditation



The hectic modern day lifestyle exposes us to constant stress and tension. Office deadlines, traffic gridlock, environmental pollution, unfriendly people and other reasons increase our blood pressure and make life difficult for us. The antidote to stress and tension is practicing a relaxation technique like meditation. In this article we reveal the benefits of regular meditation and a few tips to practice it effectively.

Easy Meditation Techniques
There are two types of basic meditation techniques: One is concentration meditation where you silently chant a simple mantra to direct your mind inwards and help it rest peacefully in the deeper inner layers. The other is awareness meditation during which you detachedly watch the thoughts as they flow by inside your mind.

Benefits of Meditation

  • Regular meditation practice makes you more relaxed and easy, and you cruise through the day without experiencing too much stress or strain.
  • You become more aware of the shenanigans of the monkey mind. This can help you realize the moments when negative thoughts afflict your mind. You can then detachedly observe these thoughts so that they become sublimated gradually without causing any adverse effects.
  • Today’s hectic lifestyle is a leading cause for the increasing prevalence of ailments like hypertension, diabetes, etc. Many research studies have proved that regular meditation lowers blood pressure and slows down the breathing and heart rates. Therefore, yoga and meditation are becoming popular to treat psychosomatic diseases caused by stress and tension.
  • Meditation helps you take it easy and gives you great peace of mind. You learn not to take life or disappointments personally or too seriously.
  • With regular practice, your emotional stability improves and you experience tranquility and equanimity even while facing troubling circumstances.
Tips for Practicing Meditation
  • Start with meditating for about 10 minutes every day and gradually increasing the time period.
  • Don’t worry about the wandering monkey mind. As soon as you catch it wandering away from the mantra, bring it back slowly and gently.
  • Do not worry about the quality of meditation. Just try to be as regular as possible to ensure you reap the above mentioned benefits.
  • Do not be serious about it. Approach meditation playfully and learn to enjoy the peace of mind and bliss you experience during the meditation sessions with awareness.
Summary
We hope this article motivates you to meditate regularly to enjoy immense physical, psychological and spiritual benefits. With regular practice, you will become cool, calm and relaxed, and cruise through the vicissitudes of life with tranquility and equanimity.

Wednesday, May 8, 2013

How to Enjoy Work



Ideally, we should choose our career based on our personal preference and aptitude. So if you like writing or painting, and have an aptitude for these activities, then you should hone your skills and become an expert so that you can make a living by practicing your cherished hobbies every day. Not all of us are lucky enough to get our dream job in terms of personal preference. Many people opt for vocations that pay top dollar but do not necessarily give job satisfaction. Such people can adopt the attitude of ‘Love what you do and do what you love’ to do their best and enjoy their daily work.

Do One Task at a Time
Multi-tasking may be in vogue today, but it is a fact that if you try to do too many things at a time you will lose focus and will not be able to give your best to any of the tasks. To give your best and to enjoy your daily work, you should do only one task at a time and focus fully on it.

Don’t be in a Hurry
Quality is more important than quantity. So don’t be in a hurry and try to finish your work quickly. Try to enjoy the journey a little bit. This is more important than blindly hurrying to reach the destination.

Do it with Awareness
Do the job at hand with full awareness and concentration. Enjoy every little nuance of it to get job satisfaction. For example, if you are a writer, try to embellish your prose with puns and other creative tweaks to make it more interesting for the reader. Ensure the end copy is free of all errors. A job well done can thus give you creative and professional satisfaction.

Identify the Positive and Negative Aspects
If you are stuck in a job because you have to pay your bills, try to love what you do. Identify the positive and negative aspects of this job. See if you can glean a silver lining somewhere. By thinking positively, you can approach your job more confidently and even begin to enjoy it.

Be Committed
Don’t do your work in a haphazard manner. You should display exemplary professionalism and dedication which would make the management put their full trust in you. Your high quality work and selfless dedication can win you accolades from your boss and colleagues. This will serve to spur you to give your best to your job and help you enjoy doing your allotted duties.

Take a Break to Relax
If your work is taxing, then take breaks as often as allowed to relax. Rub your hands together and practice palming to experience instant coolness and relaxation. You can also do brief meditation, deep conscious breathing and a few yoga stretches to loosen up physically and mentally, and get recharged for the next session of work.

Summary
Remember that you have control only over the effort you put in, and not the results. So give your best to your job and enjoy the rest. When you enjoy doing your duty, work becomes play and you will relish every minute of the workday.

How to Face Problems



The first thing we need to understand is all of us have to face problems at some point or the other. Even the son of God, Jesus Christ, faced plenty of trouble when he came down to Earth. So we need to realize that we cannot control what happens to us. What we can control is our response and attitude towards problems.

Everything Happens for the Best
We should have faith and believe that everything happens for the best in God’s divine play. God controls our essential bodily functions like digestion, breathing while sleeping, etc and provides us with inexhaustible oxygen that keeps us alive. So we should put our entire trust in this magnanimous entity and not worry about anything because God is taking good care of all of us.

The Positive Side of Problems
Whenever something bad or sad happens to us, we should take a grip on ourselves and objectively look at the positive side of it. Many people become disillusioned and disappointed by persistent problems. The positive side of this is you can become more detached and spiritual, and start devoting more time to activities like meditation and introspection, which can spur you on faster on the spiritual path to enlightenment.

Analyze the Problem Objectively
The ideal way to handle a problem would be to think about it objectively and not feel negatively about it. Think about the worst case scenario and how you would be affected by it. Get to the root cause of the problem and think about positive and concrete ways to solve it. If the problem is not solvable, then cheerfully accept it. What cannot be cured must be endured, if not enjoyed. Such a positive and light attitude can help you handle any problem with felicity and ease.

Don’t Take the Problem Personally or Too Seriously
If you have not created the problem yourself by some injudicious action, then don’t take it personally or too seriously. We are here on this planet for only a short while, so it makes no sense spending our time in sadness. Try to face the problem with light-heartedness, and with a carefree attitude. Think out of the box and try to solve it without getting affected too much by it.

Go with the Divine Flow
Ups and downs are part and parcel of existence. If we faced no problems in life, then boredom could become a big problem. So take the good and bad things as gifts from God. If something bad happens, then try to forgive and forget and move on with your life. When we face problems with positivity, calmness and confidence, then they would cease to have any adverse impact on us.