Meditation: The Most Fundamental Habit

‘ To meditate does not mean to fight with a problem. To meditate means to observe.’ ~Thich Nhat Hanh By Leo Babauta It’s no secret that I advocate meditation as a great way to start your day, deal with stress, live in the present and more. But what many people don’t realize is that meditation is perhaps the most important habit if you want to change other habits. Recently I wrote about the Four Habits That Form Other Habits — and you might recall Habit 2: Be Mindful of Negative Thoughts How do you learn to be mindful of your negative thoughts? Simple: you practice. And how do you practice mindfulness of your thoughts? By far the best method I’ve found is meditation. Let’s look at why meditation is so good for helping to change your habits, and how to form the meditation habit. How Meditation Helps Habits When we are unaware of our thoughts and urges, which arise in the back of our mind mostly unnoticed, they have a power over us. We are unable to change if these unbidden thoughts control us. But when we learn to observe them, we can then release their power over us. Meditation is practice for observing those thoughts, for being more mindful of them throughout the day. I will give you several examples in my own life, though actually there are dozens: When I quit smoking, I would get an urge to take just one drag on a cigarette, and it would get so strong I had a hard time beating it. At the same time, I had these ...
Source: Zen Habits - Category: Life Coaches Authors: Tags: Habits Source Type: blogs