Why does mindfulness matter so much? Why is every guru out there, harping about meditation, and its benefits? And why is everything nowadays laced with this idea of being present and being in the moment? Is it really that important, this mindfulness idea? For freedom seekers it is.
I used to wonder about all of this, as you probably have. I couldn’t understand why it is so important for all of us to become present, and come back to stillness and silence at least once a day.
The more I meditate though, the more I realize what all of the fuss was all about. Ah, I see now, I think to myself, every single day, as the cobwebs in my mind get cleaned up, and I see more clearly.
Mindfulness Gives Us Time
What mindfulness does is so important that it cannot be taught in books. That’s why mindfulness is such a hard practice to understand and take on. Because no one can actually tell you the benefits of it, by outlining a list. It does have some physical and mental benefits, but all of that is moot, in comparison to its biggest benefit.
What mindfulness does for us, is that it gives us time.
How, you ask?
Well, this is the basic idea behind mindfulness. Every single day (hopefully), you sit down in a quiet, dark corner of your room, and meditate. You sit in silence, watching your breath, and watching your body. And you do this for a long time, maybe years, maybe decades. After a few months of this, you start noticing patterns in your life. You start seeing trends in your character. Your personality quirks start becoming more clear to you. The cobwebs in your mind, the muddiness of your mind starts disappearing.
But more than all of that, mindfulness helps you clear out all of the non-essential tasks, thoughts, people, and ideas from your life. You will notice this for yourself. Little by little, you will start decluttering your space, your life, your friends, your relationships, your ideas, your mind, and everything else.
All of this will lead to more time in your head, and more time in your life.
Time Gives You Freedom Through Improved Choices
The great thing about time is that it gives you freedom. The most important thing in the world right now, the most valuable in my opinion, is time.
Everyone seems to have an equal amount of it, but some people manage to do a lot with it, whereas others, do very little indeed.
Meditation and mindfulness practice, through the act of sitting down every day, gives you a lot more free time, and through that, it gives you the capacity to make improved choices. These improved choices made effectually over time, give you a lot of freedom.
This freedom is the ultimate benefit of mindfulness practice, without which meditation and mindfulness practices would be fine and dandy, but not the absolute elixir of life that they truly are.
I am so grateful that I started my meditation practice. But it took me eight years of practice to get to a point right now, where I really understand why meditation and mindfulness practice is so important.
It’s because of my continued practice of meditation every morning that I keep on cleaning up my act, my life, and my choices. I say no more often to things that don’t matter to me, and yes more often to things that do. Instead of spending all of my precious time on things that don’t matter, I am spending them on things that do.
All of this leads to a better, more idealized life. An ideal for everyone, I presume.
Start meditating now. Do ten minutes every morning if you can. Or start with a minute a day. But start. It’s one of the most powerful practices out there, and it’s free to take on.
