“May you be happy. May you be peaceful. May you be free from suffering.” How would you like to keep those thoughts present in your mind throughout your day each and every day? It’s very possible if you choose to meditate on a daily basis like the Buddhists do. The above mantra is one of many meditations found in Stephan Bodian’s best selling book “Meditation for Dummies”.
According to the book, Buddha taught that in order for us to be free from suffering we must liberate ourselves from ignorance and eliminate fear, anger, greed, jealousy, and other negative mind-states. That sounds like a good idea to me! Buddha taught the importance of gaining direct insight into the nature of existence and into how the mind creates suffering.
Does that mean that we create our own suffering? Does that mean that we choose our “negative mind-states”. If that’s the case that means that we can create our own happiness, peacefulness and positive mind-states too.
In a related topic, BBC News published an article focused on mind-states on August 10th which was based on an American study published in the journal Circulation that says “Women who are optimistic have a lower risk of heart disease and death”. It aligns perfectly with an earlier study by a Dutch team which found that “optimism reduces heart risk in men”.
“Optimistic women had a 9% lower risk of developing heart disease and a 14% lower risk of dying from any cause after more than eight years of follow-up. Optimistic women exercised more and were leaner than their pessimistic peers. Cynical women who harbored hostile thoughts about others or were generally mistrusting of others were 16% more likely to die over the same time-scale”.
A spokeswoman for the British Heart Foundation says in the article: “We know that hostile emotions can release certain chemicals in the body which may increase the risk of heart disease, but we don’t fully understand how and why”.
Since the BBC News article focused on optimism, I thought that I’d look up the definition of pessimism: 1. A tendency to take the least hopeful view of a situation. 2. The doctrine or belief that this is the worst of all possible worlds and that all things ultimately tend toward evil. Think Eeyore from Winnie-the-Pooh. “Things are lousy and they’re only going to get worse”.
Okay, let’s review:
- Buddha taught that to be free from suffering we must eliminate negative mind-states
- Studies show that optimism (positive mind-state) reduces heart disease in men and women
- Cynical women with hostile thoughts are 16% more likely to die than their optimistic counterparts
- Meditation helps reverse heart disease, reduces stress, calms the body and relaxes the mind
So, how can we eliminate our pessimism, ignorance and negative mind-states and create positive, optimistic mind-states?
Meditation is a practice that can allow us accomplish each of these objectives. I’ve learned from psychology that the mind is incapable of holding two conflicting ideas at the same time. I can’t love you and hate you at the same time. I am never patient and impatient simultaneously. Meditation is a tool to help us reprogram our minds and eliminate the negative, destructive emotions and create positive emotions for the future. It’s a very healthy cleansing process for our minds, hearts and souls!
I know what you’re thinking-this is going to take time. Yes it is. It took many years for us to create our negative, pessimistic attitudes and it will take a little time for us to change them.
Are you willing to invest about 15 minutes per day to give meditation a try?
If you thought that it would help you become more optimistic would you do it?
If you thought that it would help you lower your risk of heart disease would you invest the time?
Not only does Stephan Bodian’s “Meditation for Dummies” give complete instruction on the “how” and “why” to meditate but, it also comes with an audio CD that can get you started in the practice of meditation today. Were you aware that you could meditate while exercising? I’ve done it while on a cardio machine with my heart rate above 130!
May you be happy. May you be peaceful. May you be free from suffering.
