Science May Save Us, But Meditation Changes Us

When we achieve silence in life we look at ourselves and the world in a different light. We build a stronger bond within ourselves and when we do this, we stop fighting to change ourselves. Instead, we focus on what is changing for us. We step out of our heads and stop solving the equations to our problems. We stop answering how to manage our lives and start questioning how to live. When we get along with ourselves, we realize we belong to something much stronger than we once thought. We no longer have to wait to feel better.   

We can finally answer the question of what we can do to move forward.  When we choose to take action we make moves in life that we’ve always dreamed of. We finally let go of finding answers.  We become the answer and taking action is the first step. Would you rather wait to feel better?  Would you put off tomorrow or the next day because you haven’t answered your own question? If you live life feeling like you’re the question without an answer you will likely never find a meaningful way to live. So stop waiting to feel better and start doing what makes you feel better; now this is the science being silent. 

The Science Of Becoming One

The practice of meditation is the science of being silent. Although I’m not a neuroscientist, I believe mindfulness meditation is scientific. One reason why meditation is scientific is that mindfulness meditation allows us to ponder our beliefs as human beings.  By discovering who we are; moving breath by breath, we can begin to refresh our minds and become one within ourselves.  When we become one within ourselves, we become one as a world. Something that as a society, we view as the ultimate goal?  

The Benefits Of Meditation

We are inquisitive people searching for answers.  Science is an objective experiment and meditation is a subjective experience.  Meditation, like science, has an objective. Meditation is a subjective experiment in that it is a pathway of exploring what it’s like to exist within yourself.  Illumination is the same pathway for both science and meditation in that the purpose is to find solutions that are beneficial. 

Meditation changes the brain in numerous ways.  Scientific studies show that when we regularly practice meditation, there are brain changes on a physical level.  Established scientists from Stanford University explain how meditation creates lasting changes in the brain.  A research scholar at Stanford connects meditation and the brain together, so that we can begin to understand how meditation helps us when we are faced with real world challenges.  Matt Dixon, a scholar from Stanford University explains, “Meditation affects two main pathway changes in the brain. One is in the default mode network, the brain region involved in rumination and construction of thoughts about the past and future. Hello, anxiety! That network becomes less active in people who practice meditation. On the flip side, a part of the brain called the insula (responsible for body awareness, among other things) becomes more active in those who meditate, leading to increased awareness of their emotions and bodily sensations.”  (Lit, 2023) “What Happens When You Meditate.”

Matt Dixon explains further, “Becoming more attuned to ourselves, Dixon says, ultimately can have an uplifting effect on others. Meditation might help us have improved attention at work, more patience with family members, or a greater capacity to be present when spending time with friends. “You can learn the piano, and that’s wonderful,” he says. But that skill “doesn’t necessarily change how you deal with work situations or relationship problems.” Learning to be more present with our experiences, and to let go of thoughts that make us feel bad about ourselves, can naturally improve how we function in our daily lives, he says. “We’ll be more attuned to our own needs and the needs of other people.” (Lit, 2023) “What Happens When You Meditate.”  Dixon explains further, “Meditation might also help us deal with our increasingly challenging world. Dixon says that playing witness to our experiences without judgment helps us portray negative emotions and hardships as temporary events, rather than allowing them to become all-consuming. “It’s not that ‘I am my anxiety’ or ‘I am the depression,’” he says. “By observing them as just an experience that comes and goes, they lose their concreteness.”  (Lit, 2023) “What Happens When You Meditate.”

Matt Dixon’s research explains perfectly digestible and tangible ways that meditation can be helpful.  Now that we know how meditation can help us, we can start today.  When the practice of bringing awareness to our breath is executed we get to feel better.  Wouldn’t you sign up to feel better?  Who wouldn’t sign up for that?  I would, and it’s free.

Silent Words Of Advice

Now that we have discussed the benefits of how meditation cultivates changes in our brain, I’ll explain how meditation works in relation to living a balanced life.  We learn to handle our problems by doing what we value instead of thinking of strategic ways to handle our situation, we become the observer of our actions.  Instead of asking ourselves why we feel a certain way, we create space to feel better by accepting our challenges and putting our values first.  First, we become in line with our unique values, we become one with the silence of living life. We work with ourselves instead of against ourselves. 

In many ways, when we are inspired to do something, the only way to feed our inspiration is to be proactive. Aspirations only come alive when you commit to your goals. What is your goal?  We all want to overcome what we once thought we could not overcome, but doing so takes time. If we learn to embrace our struggles we can finally live with grace and gratitude. So let’s embrace our struggles because practicing life only bonds us closer to the diligence it takes to be human.

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Citations

Lit, R. (2023, March 13). What happens when you meditate. STANFORD MAGAZINE. https://stanfordmag.org/contents/what-happens-when-you-meditate#:~:text=Faster%20brain%20waves%20are%20linked,,%20deep%20focus,%20and%20sleep