Could Meditation Change Your Life?

Copyright (c) 2011 Willie Horton

At the end of one of my personal development workshops, many years ago, a participant came up to me and asked "How long have you been teaching your clients meditation?" At first, I didn't quite understand the question! What I discovered was that he was referring to what I've always called my "mental exercises". Having explored meditation in great depth in the intervening years, however, I have discovered just how powerful a mental training tool it actually is - if it is applied in the proper practical way throughout the course of the day. Would you like to know a little more?

Most of those who come to my workshops either own their own business or run major corporations. The question must be asked: what could these kind of people possibly want with meditation? The answer to this question is blindingly obvious when you begin to understand what meditation really is. Meditating brings discipline to their currently undisciplined mind. Meditation provides them with a practical training ground to develop their mental focus. Meditation enables them focus their mind on the present moment. Take a good look again at those last few sentences - mental discipline, focus and presence are the outstanding hallmarks of all highly productive, highly effective, super-successul and happy people.

Of course, there are plenty of people who simply avoid the whole subject of meditation because they do not understand what it's all about. Many people have said to me "Me meditate? I think that my religion would frown on it!" or "Peace and love is only for hippies!" or "I'm not into relaxation, I have to be on the go all the time!" Meditation isn't the copyright of some sect of religion - it can, it goes without saying, bring you to a greater appreciation of who you really are at a spiritual level, if that's what your seeking! Meditation is not about 'peace and love' in the 'Flower Power' sense - it most definitely is about "peace of mind" - a state of mind that people are always searching for but rarely find - and about understanding who you really are with the result that you come to love who you are - something that you have to come to terms with before your can love anybody. And meditation is certainly not about relaxing - sure, you can feel peaceful and calm but it's the kind of mental calm that enables you take real action, swiftly, decisively, effectively.

Let me get straight to the point. Meditation can enable anyone - and that includes you - to take control of their mind and change their business and personal lives. It's essential to come to terms with the fact that, as things stand, your currently undisciplined mind is in control of your life. You are not in control. In your default state of mind, your subconscious creates your version of reality by automatically dictating how you feel and how you behave. All this is done reactively. You must understand that this whole automatic response system will always, always prevent you from taking any real action. As a result, the average life is routine, habitual and repetitive. And that really does make me wonder how people think that they're lives are going to improve or be different. Nothing's ever going to be different if you keep on doing the same thing day in, day out!

Presence of mind, clarity of mind and focus - and the consequential real action that flows from that state of mind - are the qualities that bring about real change in people's personal and business lives. If you cannot focus your mind you will never achieve anything worth talking about - you won't even be in a position to raise your own children in a way that will enable them develop into successful and truly happy adults. The key thing to understand is that this level of mental focus has an impact on every single aspect of both your own life and, indeed, all the other lives that you touch.

So, are you prepared to simply settle for the normal not-too-bad life? Would you like to achieve effortless business success, career success, personal success and happiness? Yes, I've quite deliberately used the word "effortless". For starters, that word grabs people's attention. More importantly, "effortless" is what it actually is. A truly focused mind simply takes the kind of action, that a normal mind would run a mile from, with absolute effortlessness - no effort, agonizing or struggle involved. A focused mind never does anything brave or courageous - it just takes the necessary action, no effort required. Only normal people look on this kind of real action as bravery or courage. A focused mind simply doesn't see any barriers that cannot be scaled. A mind that is fully focsed simply lives life - in all its facets - to the full. And, unless you focus your mind, none of this can be yours!

Meditation is one of the most important 'tools' that you could have at your disposal. Of course, many of them won't admit to meditating - but that's what they're actually doing. Thomas Edison called it "mental exercising" and top sports people call it deep breathing - watch them meditate before your very eyes on the sports channels. And the other thing is that I've found that even people who regularly meditate also misundertsand it. In my many years working in this area, plenty of people who already meditate have told me that they would view their 'morning session' as something completely separate from every other aspect of their lives. The point is that the biggest benefit that anyone can get from meditation is the practical results that it can bring about in every aspect of your life. And, finally, in case you're wondering if science has anything to say on this, the breakthrough science of neuro-psychology is constantly confirming that meditation activates parts of the brain that are almost never otherwise activeted. In fact, the only time these parts of the brain are activated would be the couple of times in our lives that we might have a spontaneous 'peak experience'!

In short, meditation is rocket-fuel for an otherwise plodding mind. I bet that you'd like to get your hands on some of that?


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Willie Horton enables his clients be highly effective, happy and successful. He launched his acclaimed Personal Development Seminars in 1996. His clients include Pfizer, Deloitte, Nestle, KPMG, G4S & Allergan. An Irishman, he now lives in the French Alps. His Online Personal Development Seminars are available at Gurdy.Net