Nearly 1 in 5 people in America, about 18% of the population is estimated to be suffering from mental health issues, but that number is extremely small because in reality just about everyone around me has suffered from some kind of mental problem like depression, PTSD, anxiety, or chronic stress. These strong emotions produce a chemical reaction, that over time, can cause more serious mental problems if the issue is allowed to fester.
According to Harvard Medical, the chemical response also known as the human “flight-or-fight” response, chemically changes our body by quickening the heart rate, making us feel out of breath, can cause our muscles to tense, and even makes our bodies sweat. On the inside, the combination of the chemical response and our own worries and anxieties physically harms our bodies. This response was useful in ancient times but in modern times this reaction does not produce the best outcomes.
Our bad habits are habitual and our brain produces memorized behaviors. These behaviors can help us or hurt us, anyone remember the movie Click? Because our brain is a muscle we can rewire the brain to work differently. See the mind-blowing amazing book by Joe Dispenza, Breaking the Habit of Being Yourself, we each have the power to train our brain to be the future self we want to be. We all want to grow and become something different but sometimes we fail to realize that we have create the future self by cultivating habits that help further our personal goals and work on our inner selves.
If our mind is chronically in a stressful state of mind our thoughts feed one negative thought produced by fear, anxiety, or doubt which will lead us to another negative thought which then leads to more doubt which leads to anxiety which can ultimately paralyze us from reaching our full potential. When we stop to breath and reflect on our minds we can disrupt the cycle and work to improve ourselves. We all have this constant storm brewing in our head, full of our problems, our fears, and our insecurities. The only way to break this cycle is to intentionally disrupt these habitual thinking habits that are not serving you.
The mind is in desperate need of a break, CNN published an article discussing the trend of companies who are giving their employees a mental health break for self-care and ultimately contributes to workplace productivity.
Practicing meditation can provide the brain with the space necessary to reflect, grow, and change. A chemical reaction also occurs when we calm the mind and body which counters the natural fight-or-flight response. Calm has easy to follow 10-minute daily mediation and a course on the introduction to meditation and other useful practices for anyone interested.
Meditation changed my life. In 2016, I was a parent, part-time student, full time law office manager, and wife. I was overwhelmed, stressed and anxious. My phone was ringing all the time, I would break down in tears every other day. My boss at the time verbally harassed me at all hours and would always belittled me, I was on the edge. After years of this I decided that enough was enough I was tired and could not go on like this.
I always heard about the benefits of meditation but I took it seriously after listening to a podcast by Tim Ferriss on Meditation, Mindset, and Mastery, you can listen to the episode here. Tim Ferriss and his frequent discussion of meditation gave me the proper background to build and then utilize the art of meditation.
Energy is real and as Tony Robins says, “where focus goes, energy flows.” Our thoughts cause us to relive stressful situations over and over again until we take calculated steps to change. In modern society our daily stress about our personal problems are best addressed with a centered mindset not a fight-or-flight response. If we constantly live in this fight-or-flight mode we are basically killing ourselves.
Meditation is a good place to start when working on your inner self, by investing time in ourselves we exercise the mind and can produce the power to heal ourselves. You can intentionally build the person you want to be in this world.
In the mind we all have a constant storm brewing 24/7. Meditation helps us observe the mind, we can use meditation as a tool to calm our inner storms we are currently living in. Only after you have tamed the storm in your mind, can you still the waters of the mind to see what is truly important in life. Do not assume this is easy, it took me about one month to feel the benefits of meditation and a full year of practice to truly see truly amazing effects of daily or semi-daily meditation. Check out the app called Calm for daily meditation.
Keep in mind that meditation is not an easy fix, changing daily habits takes time to master, but if it only takes up 10 minutes of your day then why not invest in yourself and try mediation. Some days it will feel impossible, some days it will feel easy. Just like making the decision to live a healthier lifestyle meditation can give you the clarity you need to truly examine yourself and live life your way.
We must remove the stigma around discussing mental health because everyone has suffered in some way either directly or indirectly at some point of our lives. We can all benefit from becoming more emotionally intelligent, practice gratitude, and learn more about our brain. If your unhappy with the world then be the change you want to see and pay it forward.
THE MILLENNIAL LAW STUDENT 