If you’re not into meditation already, you are probably very skeptical about it. I was, too. Even though it has become fashion to some degree in Silicon Valley, most people still regard it as some Buddhist-weird-living-alone-on-a-mountain-in-Tibet-thingy.
Either way, if you want to meditate, you are wondering how to meditate daily? Because, well, you got shit to do, right?
But y’all get it wrong. You don’t need to meditate, you just need to chill.
Why you can’t find time to meditate
See, this society is on full speed all the time.
You wake up, go to work, eat your lunch real quick while on the phone, go back to work, no time to shit, commute home really quickly, take care of kids, cook, or play video games, watch Netflix, go to bed. Repeat.
That’s how it looks for most people. (Find out how to quit your 9-5)
You can not be a conqueror of worlds unless you take time to reflect on your actions.
The conqueror
When do you ever reflect on your actions? Your life? Your relationship? You don’t. And that’s why your life is shit.
The great Naval has a fitting metaphor for this.
Your mind is like your mail inbox. And in your current lifestyle, you never read those emails. They pile up each day. You’re probably looking at 5,000 unread emails right now or something.
Your mind has no room to process it. If you keep doing it, you will eventually collapse. Inbox overload. Stack overflow. Or as we call it these days, “Burnout.”
How to meditate daily? You don’t need to make extra space
First of all, you don’t need to professionally start meditating. If something like that even exists.
Meditation is really just thinking in silence.
Doing nothing basically.
You can do that either by literally sitting in a quiet room, or you can do it while driving.
For example, when I was commuting to work, I would always turn of the radio, and just have thoughts flow through my mind.
This IS meditation.
When you’re out for a run, or doing some exercises. You don’t always need music or a Podcast to listen to.
Just let your mind flow.
How to meditate easily
However, if you really want to meditate the old school way, it’s not difficult.
Take time out of your day. Sit down in a quiet room without distractions for 5-10 minutes. Close your eyes and do nothing.
Literally nothing. Breathe slowly, and deeply, and wait.
Most people can’t even do that. It might feel unsettling at first because you’re so used to running around. Power through it!
The peasant runs about with meaningless tasks. The king does not move, for he is creating reality.
The conqueror
5,000 unread emails
Maybe immediately, but usually after a few days, your mind will start to unload the piled up emails. That’s not a metaphor.
All the thoughts you had in your mind. All the unprocessed feelings will pour into your consciousness.
This might be overwhelming at first. Which just tells you how heavily in need you were. Some are gone quickly, some stick.
Whatever you do, don’t judge your feelings and thoughts. Think about it like a busy street. Your thoughts are all the cars and trucks passing by. You’re just sitting on the side of the road, watching.
Eventually, it will settle down.
Why bother with meditation?
If you do it for long enough, you will eventually clean that stack of mails in your mind. But why? Why care? You still functioned as a human before that, right?
Were you, really?
You were a robot, going through the everyday motions. You didn’t have time to reflect if what you are doing is right. Or worth it.
Was it worth your time? Worth anyone’s time? You couldn’t judge if your life is on track with your goals since you never had time to judge.
A wise man knows that doing nothing shall teach you what to do.
The conqueror
Meditating will free you this time. It told me that I wasn’t on track with my life. That what I did wasn’t what I wanted to do.
The clarity came only after I started meditating.
And I am pretty sure, you will have similar thoughts. Maybe about other topics. Your wife/gf, kids, family, friends, job, your body, whatever. Take your time to think about them!
Do I need a meditation app?
Now, there are a lot of apps and shit out there for meditation. They are usually a bit different though. They teach you to control your mind.
Which has its purpose on its own, but if you start out, you don’t really need that. You need to clear it first.
However, if you have a hard time judging the time, and getting into the mood, they can help you get going.
For this, I would recommend Headspace. I started with this app. You can start with 3-minute sessions or more. It’s free to start out and truly easy to use.
I actually had the premium version for a year, so I can definitely recommend it.
There are differences in meditation.
- Meditate to be more present and control your mind -> Headspace
- Meditate to let go completely -> BrainFM App
How to have a transcendent experience?
Lots of people talk about their transcendent experiences with meditation.
You know the deep state of it. Where you leave your body and all that. Yes, it is true. I had that once in years of meditation.
So it can happen, but for most people, it is rare.
For me it happened in a visualization session, where I was supposed to visualize a flaming ball of warmth (like the sun) above my head, filling my body with that energy.
Suddenly, I was standing behind myself. The couch was floating in space, and I saw myself with that fireball above my head.
That was weird. Especially afterward, it took me a few minutes to be fully one with my body again.
It literally felt like my mind needed a few minutes to be attached to it properly again.
However, once you had that experience, it truly shifts your perception of reality, and you will never not meditate.
Which is good, because, these days, in this fucked up society, you are ahead of 99% of the population if you just take out 5 minutes a day to think about what you actually do.
–Alexander Graves
