The Dalai Lama once said, “When there is too much stress or worry, look within.” 2020 has been a very tumultuous year so far, with countless individuals experiencing more frequent (and more severe) bouts of anxiety. Although meditation has been practiced for centuries to calm the mind, it has been embraced even more passionately in recent times. During this age of anxiety, meditation can prove to be extremely beneficial to your overall well-being.

Learn to understand your anxiety

The first step to take on your journey of managing your anxiety is to gain a deeper understanding of it. Anxiety is a cognitive state we experience when we are unable to regulate our emotions. Everyone feels anxious from time to time. When this feeling does not dissipate, however, it is time to actively address it. By engaging in frequent meditation, we can become increasingly familiar with our anxiety triggers and thoughts. We learn how to identify them, analyze them, and let them go. Once you understand your anxiety better, you will also know what mindfulness practices to employ to help calm your emotions and refocus your mind.

Meditation can calm your chaos

Although we may all experience anxiety from time to time, the source of our emotions may vary like night from day. While we work at eliminating the cause of our internal chaos, meditation can help us calm it to an extent. As meditations stem from peace and quietness, they can transport you away from the breeding ground of your anxiety. While you are meditating, your awareness becomes stronger than your anxiety, leaving you feeling at peace with yourself and the world. Apart from helping you deal with your anxiety, meditation can also help you grow as a person. It can help you adopt a sense of acceptance, boost your self-love, and widen your perspective.

Let go of the drama

One of the biggest causes of anxiety in our lives is the anger and drama we inadvertently attract. Although we may feel like we are entitled to hold onto our anxiety, it will undoubtedly end up causing great anguish. Making use of visualization techniques during meditation makes it considerably easier to define drama. Visualize your anxiety as a physical object such as a book or pillow. Imagine yourself picking it up and putting it down again, and letting go. Inviting drama into your life tends to be a very hard habit to break. Through regular meditation, however, it becomes easier to break these habits by addressing the habitual patterns that created them. 

Anxiety has become an increasingly prevalent presence in our lives this year. Thankfully, frequent meditation will effectively help us to address it with ease.