Want to become a better person and leader? Meditation can help, and it is free and something you can start today. Meditation has been gaining in popularity in recent years, likely due to its positive effects.
The benefits of meditation are scientifically proven and plentiful, including:
- Decreased stress or anxiety
- Lowered blood pressure and improved heart function
- Improved positive emotions
- Pain management
- Increased immune function
- Improvement in chronic conditions such as asthma, headaches, irritable bowel syndrome
The benefits of meditation go beyond the physical and personal, meditation can also make you a better leader. The research about what meditation can do for leadership and is likely why major companies like Google, Nike, Yahoo, American Express, and Apple have integrated meditation into their workplaces.
It is commonsense that managers who are less stressed and who have the ability to manage stress will perform better and be less prone to burnout. Meditation helps combat feelings of anxiety and provides tools to deal with stressful situations. Meditation also improves self-awareness and emotional intelligence, which can be difficult traits to develop. Meditation is able to help you take a pause, a deep breath and react more calmly and thoughtfully. It can teach patience and introspection.
Meditation can also increase imagination and creativity, making leaders fresh with a new perspective. Creativity tends to be at its highest when we have a calm and relaxed state of mind. Meditation also promotes the ability to evaluate a problem from multiple angles and perspectives. Along these same lines of peak brain performance, meditation can improve our ability to achieve and maintain focus. Meditation isn’t about emptying your mind, but most practices involve some element of focus and when your mind wanders during meditation you gracefully bring it back into focus. In addition, memory seems to increase with regular meditative practice as well.
Meditation doesn’t need to take a lot of your time, it can be something that you practice daily for five or fifteen minutes. Even if it cannot become a daily practice, devoting what time you can to regular meditation can help you feel better and be a better person and leader. If you’re ready to give meditation a try, you can download any of these apps to get started.
