Finding Balance in Life

Executive Summary

In recent years, neurological studies have been proving what meditators have known for six thousand years. Researchers from the Carnegie Mellon University from Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania discovered lower levels of stress-related hormones in people's blood having practised meditation for a period of 4 months.

Our way of dealing with challenging situations in life can lead to stress. But not the situation itself is equal to stress. As this should be good news for us, on the flip side this means that we can no longer blame a person or event for being stressful and that we therefore need to find the right way of response for demanding situations in life.

Stepping out each day and finding the way back to you while meditating enables you to see things from a distance. Like a satellite moving in space and watching your life from far away unattached and not distracted from your daily business. This can help you to set new priorities in your life and to do the right moves that are fully aligned with your inner self.

Introduction

In recent years, neurological studies have been proving what meditators have known for six thousand years. Scientific studies discovered that the corpus callosum, the structure that connects the right and the left side of the human brain, is growing when practising meditation. In today's life we tend to be very left brain-driven. The left side of the brain is managing analytical thoughts (languages, reading, logic, doing calculations, and keeping track of our daily to-do list etc.). The right side of the brain is managing the creative activities (intuition based actions, body language, artistic abilities, creative problem-solving etc.). So Meditation enhances the connection between both sides of the brain, allowing the brain to work in full harmony and making our thinking more flexible when connecting the analytical side with the intuitive side.¹ Researchers from the Carnegie Mellon University from Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania discovered lower levels of stress-related hormones in people's blood having practised meditation for a period of 4 months. Furthermore they realized the fact that the participants in the study had less inflammation values in their blood. Inflammation is a great danger in our modern society that can be caused by stress and malnutrition.²

Stress vs. Productivity

We do know that chronic stress is making us brainless, unproductive and finally sick. In today's world with modern information technologies available we are challenged with constant availability and permanent information overload which can easily lead to stress.

A lot of people think that becoming stressed and always working is the right way to adapt to modern life. But running in a hamster wheel makes you sick but not productive. By stepping back and making smart decisions you discover shortcuts, smarter alternatives or you are able to set new priorities and get rid of unnecessary tasks.

Responding elegantly to demanding situations and not tapping into the habitual fight or flight reaction can make the difference.³

It therefore becomes clear that our way of dealing with challenging situations in life can lead to stress. But not the situation itself is equal to stress. As this should be good news for us, on the flip side this means that we can no longer blame a person or event for being stressful and that we therefore need to find the right way of response for demanding situations in life.

How to Meditate

There are several different meditation techniques. I would like to share the Z Technique from Emily Fletcher and after that introduce you to how I apply my daily meditation routine.

In her book "Stress Less Accomplish More" Emily Fletcher presents her twice a day 15 minutes meditation practise:

• Have a seat (anywhere). Close your eyes if you want to.

• Come to your senses (1 to 2 minutes): bring your attention to the easy flow of your breath. Draw your attention to all your 5 senses in the following order. Listent to the sounds around you (even if it is the mouse clicking of your co-worker). Then, focus on a sensation in your body that you are feeling right now. Next, bring your attention to your eyes (even if they are closed), your taste and to your smelling. Finally sense into your awareness of all 5 senses at once.

• Surrender to an expanded awareness (13 to 14 minutes): expand your awareness to the fact that the nature/universe has more information than you do. Enjoy this deep healing rest and state of devotion/surrender. Don't try to get rid of your thoughts but allow them to happen but don't get attached to them.

• Manifestation (2 minutes): before starting your manifestation, take a moment to ask yourself: "what am I grateful for right now?" After that, create your mental blueprint of your next goal. How you will make it happen and how you will feel when you have achieved it.

Using meditation myself, I am enjoying huge benefits in my professional life and private life also. Having a leading role in the financial services industry, meditation is helping me deal with demanding situations every day. After Practicing meditation for some time now, I realized that each morning spending 5 minutes is time enough to handle my days with ease. I can also recommend meditating when waiting for a train, during a train ride, in a queue or during a boring lecture or unnecessary meeting etc.

Meditation Benefits

Meditation is an easy way to release stress. Less stress leads to better decision making and being more productive.

Meditation deliberates you from injuries and illnesses that you carried around with you due to stress's long-term effects on the body in the form of lost or disrupted sleep, systemic inflammation connected to chronic acidity caused by malnutrition, decrease in mental alacrity, and body tension.⁴

Taking a regular time-out and watching from a distance upon your life may put you in a state where you realize that everything is okay and that things are playing out exactly the way they are meant to be. This state can be called bliss. Even if you are sad or feel lonely, you can feel blissed. As you mediate this state of bliss gets stronger and can be accessed easier even during challenging times.⁵

From External Chasing to Internal Fulfillment

The awareness that in fact internal fulfillment and not external chasing makes us happy can be accessed by stepping out of the daily routines by taking a time-out each day. Not the new job, the promotion, the new apartment with an ocean view are the true sources of happiness. Happiness lies inside of you and can be accessed anytime when you just take a moment to do so.⁶ Stepping out each day and finding the way back to us while meditating (Way back to you) enables you to see things from a distance. Like a satellite moving in space and watching your life from far away unattached and not distracted from your daily business. This can help you to set new priorities in your life and to do the right moves that are fully aligned with your inner self. You can apply meditation also to step back a moment before making a strategic decision in Life.

Meditation Makes You More Attractive

As soon as you realize that a lot of your answers to your questions lie within you, and you have found a way to access them also through meditation, you will become less dependent on other people's opinion. Knowing what you want in life makes you more self confident which will be recognized immediately by the people you are interacting with. To all the single persons out there looking for a partner, you should realize that being self confident is sexy and attracts the opposite sex like a magnet.

Conclusion

Stepping out each day and finding the way back to you while meditating enables you to see things from a distance. This can help you to set new priorities in your life and to do the right moves that are fully aligned with your inner self.

A lot of people think that becoming stressed and always working is the right way to adapt to modern life. But running in a hamster wheel makes you sick but not productive. By stepping back and making smart decisions you discover shortcuts, smarter alternatives or you are able to set new priorities and get rid of unnecessary tasks.

Meditation is an easy way to release stress. Less stress leads to better decision making and being more productive.

As soon as you realize that a lot of your answers to your questions lie within you, and you have found a way to access them also through meditation, you will become less dependent on other people's opinion.

The Author

Thanks for reading this article and may meditation be introduced into your life also. Kind regards, Bruno Sonderegger (founder and CEO of Way back to you).

Bibliography

Fletcher, E.: Stress less, accomplish more. Meditation for extraordinary performance, HarperCollins Publishers, New York 2019, p. 26-110. 1 cf. Fletcher 2019, p. 26, 2 cf. Fletcher 2019, p. 28, 3 cf. Fletcher 2019, p. 46, 4 cf. Fletcher 2019, p. 96, 5 cf. Fletcher 2019, p. 109, 6 cf. Fletcher 2019, p. 110.

Sincerely yours, Way back to you team

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