habits Archives - Page 3 of 22 - The Future Mindset

why you probably have been doing meditation all wrong — Shot of a young man meditating at home

Have you ever thought meditating is difficult and not for you?

I have too had my up and downs with meditation. The feeling of uncertainty that I’m doing it all wrong. Puts me off doing it further and I feel most people who try meditation have these feelings too.

For me, I imagined meditation as clearing all my thoughts away and being in stillness. Hoping to be transcended to higher consciousness.

Furthering my research on the subject of meditation I have come to the conclusion that meditation is made up of two practices.

Being consious of thoughts and sounds that are around you
Rewiring your brain through visulisation

I hope by sharing my findings in more detail it can help you on your meditation journey.

Using The Meditation Forse For Good

When I think of meditating. Yoda always comes to mind. When I was 8 I wanted to be a Jedi Knight and use the force for good. Unfortunately, meditation hasn’t given me Jedi mind powers yet.

But research has proved that meditating is a great way to exercise the brain. Every time you meditate and you are conscious of sounds or a thought. You have just done 1 rep which equates to meditation being the biceps of the mind.

Over time the part of the brain that’s self-aware gets stronger. This helps you to be more disciplined with anything you want to focus on. From food cravings or noticing when you get distracted. It can even help identify negative thought patterns that hold you back.

By understanding that when you meditate hearing sounds of cars going by the window or worrying about a job interview is exactly what meditation is for. To be engaged and conscious of everything around you.

I used to be annoyed by this and made meditating like pulling a seat belt too hard again and again. When I realised that sounds and thoughts are part of meditation it became an enjoyable experience. I started hearing morning bird sounds more clearly and any fearful or worrying thoughts I could let pass by or address later with journalling.

Be Consious Of The Now

The world we live in today is full of distractions like never before. Hours, days, months and years can pass by like a flash without any change in our circumstances due to the distraction we face.

The time for self-reflection, ideas to flourish and new paths to pave is blocked by the constant noise from the outside world. What meditation can help with is not blocking out all the noise but being aware of it. By being aware you can now start thinking. When you start thinking you are one with yourself.

The distractions we have around us is like being hooked up to the matrix. When we meditate it’s like taking the red pill where we see our life clearly for what it is.

This is life-changing and affects people on all different levels. For me, meditation helped me become a less reactive person, more productive and increased my self-belief.

When I understood meditation is just about being conscious of the thoughts and sounds that are around me. It allowed me to be present every day.

Train The Brain Muscle Daily

When it comes to meditation I hear a lot of people say it’s not for them after just doing it once or twice. It’s like they expect something spectacular to change for them in that one sitting. Like anything worthwhile, it takes time and consistency.

Developing a meditation routine is the most important thing you can do. Just like exercising or learning a new skill, it takes practice with highs and lows along the way.

I choose to do mine upon awakening where I can focus on the quietness of the morning sounds and shape my thoughts for the day.

But as long as it gets done is all that matters.

How Meditation Can Shape Your Future

Dr Joe Dispenza has taken meditation to another level. Where you can utilise meditation for visualisation of your future self.

This focus on creating the experiences you want to come true is explained by accessing the quantum zone. For further detail on accessing the quantum zone through meditation. His book Breaking The Habit Of Being Yourself is a must-read.

Entering a meditative state where you can visualise how a skill is developed or how you will entertain your guests at an event. Has been proven to shape the brain to perform this task just as effectively as if you practised it in real life.

Understanding our body is just a vessel and utilising meditation to work on the skill we want to develop and the experiences we want to have. Is a proven technique that can be highly utilised through meditation.

I have many experiences myself of picturing the future I want for it to come true. Meditating via visualisation techniques is like a director creating a movie.

What I Understand Now

I understand now that meditation is for everyone and it’s easy to get started. It felt like it was for a certain type of person and really hard but understanding that this is not true helped me enjoy meditating.

For anyone on their meditation journey here’s some of the things I do to get started and help myself make the most out of meditating.

Ask yourself what you want out of meditation
Set out a daily routine you can easily do every day
Be conscious of the sounds and your thoughts around you and embrace the good and release the bad
Utilise journalling straight after to get your thoughts onto paper to forgive, release, create or remember
Pick a separate time of the day to meditate on your future self.

Finally, mediation is not about being perfect or stopping all noise from outside and inside your mind. Meditation is about being conscious of our past to learn lessons and let go of unwanting emotions. The present to feel them now and create the future you feel and believe to be true.

Any questions or help just ask away in the comments or more personally contact me at adam@thefuturemindset.com

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How A Minimalist Mindset For Goal-Achieving Helps Avoid Distraction

Have you ever created a to-do list for your day that’s so long you never do it or planned multiple goals that pull you in all different directions? If you responded yes. Then this is the article for you.

When it comes to goal-achieving understanding the human brain is important. When the mind is at its best is when it’s singularly focused on one task. So when you have to focus on multiple goals you can end up falling short. Plus when you understand simple maths that when you concentrate on multiple goals you can only give a percentage of energy and time to it.

I too was this person having all the ideas and plans but never amounted to anything significant. The reason why is because I was overcrowding my mind with too much energy. Whist watching minimalist expert Matt De’Avella. It came to me that if I can make my goals and everyday tasks I do each day more minimalist. I could give it my full energy. Like anything in life when you keep it to its simplest form it normally has far-reaching results.

By the end of this article, you should be able to get all of the goals and things you want to do written down and then create a minimalist mindset for goal setting.

Why Minimalism Is Important For The Mind

The minimalist movement first started in the 1950s within the art world. It then expanded to homes and lifestyles. Where now it has become very popular with many youtube channels discussing the benefits of habits and productivity.

Studies have shown that when a human mind is cluttered full of thoughts and emotions it’s not very effective. That’s why journaling, forgiveness and gratitude exercises can be so effective at decluttering the mind.

For me when I have an untidy home or workspace I feel less likely to be productive but when I tidy up my mind feels focused and clear.

That’s why utilising the minimalist strategy to goal setting can help you become more productive and start to achieve your goals.

The most famous investor in the world Warren Buffet understands this approach. He uses the 5/25 rule. Where he writes down 25 goals he wants to achieve but then picks only 5 to focus on. This shows the importance of minimising your goals so you have enough mental capacity to focus on achieving your goals.

How To Create A Minimalist Mindset For Goal Achieving

Write Down Everything. The first task to find what goals and tasks you need to focus on are to have them all written down in front of you. I would get a fresh writing book and write down all your goals.

Bucket list
Career goals
Self-care goals
Skills you want to learn
Health goals
Relationship goals
Travel goals
Business ideas
Wealth goals

This is a great process to understand what you truly want out of life.

Create Your Headings. Once I have all my goals on paper I create the headings from the list above. This helps me to understand the areas of my life I want to focus on.

Pick 1 Goal For Each Heading. Now you have to ask your two questions.

What goal do I truly want to achieve?
What’s the timeframe to achieve this goal?

Both are important because one finds what you want to do and the other gives you focus and discipline to actually achieve the goal.

Get To work In Your Mind. Studies have shown that performing an action in real-time vs performing in my mind offers up similar results. By entering a meditation state of visualisation you can start to imagine the goal you want to achieve as already being done. As long as you believe it and feel it to be true your goal will be achieved.

This has worked countless times and you can see it in sport all the time. Richard Williams instilled this into his daughter’s mindset from an early age. His daughters were Venus and Serena Williams.

Daily To-Do List. When you’re setting up the daily goals you want to achieve all you have to is pick 1 goal that will help you achieve the overall goal you want to achive. Again just one. One is manageable, one is doable, one is motivating.

Minimalism Creates Productivity & Focus

By following the plan above. Achieving your goals will become the norm. The days of procrastination over what goal to do or perfectionism of not starting at all over the fear of not achieving any goal will start to decline rapidly.

You will have your mind back clear and focussed and back in the driving seat of goal achieving.

Final Note – When you achieve your main goals from your headings. Go back to your notebook and write all the other goals that you can add to your list and start the whole process again.