Different Kinds of Meditation in the Book On Real Happines by Sharon Salzberg

1389 Words3 Pages
bulb-icon

Recommended: Essay on benefits of meditation

Personal Meditation Reflection:
Meditation is an important psychological practice that protects the brain against aging as well as enhancing an individual’s ability to learn new things. This practice achieves this through sharpening focus, lessening stress, lowering blood pressure, and relieving chronic pain. Generally, it helps a person to experience greater calm, connect with deepest feelings, and challenges tendencies of self-judgment. Consequently, meditation leads to open doors for actual and accessible happiness for an individual. According to Salzberg (2011), meditation is basically training an individual’s attention in order to become more aware of inner workings and external incidents (p.7). After becoming more aware of inner workings and external incidents, a person can choose his/her actions towards things that are visible. While each global religion incorporates some kind of thoughtful exercise, meditation in today’s world is usually practiced separately from any belief system.
My Personal Reflection:
Sharon Salzberg provides different kinds of meditation in her book on real happiness in order to help people transform their lives through this practice. Some of the various kinds of meditation in her book include concentration, mindfulness and the body, mindfulness and emotions, and cultivating compassion and true happiness. One of these meditations that I pursued as outlined in Salzberg’s 28-day program is concentration through breathing and the art of starting over. The main elements of this kind of meditation include breathing, hearing, and letting go of thoughts. However, it requires the selection of an appropriate time, place, and posture before commencing with the meditation process. In essence, the ...

... middle of paper ...

...appropriate solutions that help in dealing with the problem effectively. I have also learnt how to accept delays or negative feedback with more ease while remaining positive. Through meditation, I will be able to experience increased happiness, calm, and have a positive mental attitude towards everything.
In conclusion, meditation is an important practice that helps people to experience calm and real happiness in the midst of complex situations and issues. From my personal experience, meditation has transformed my old view of self as a failure and helped me develop a positive mental attitude that everything is achievable. Based on these results, I will continue with this practice in the future because it is a major means of personal therapy and self-evaluation. In essence, the process helps in realization of one’s full potential to handle all issues in life.

Show More
Related

  • Suffering In Buddhism In Stephen Prothero's God Is Not One

    775 Words  | 2 Pages

    However, meditation is not as common within Buddhism as most believe. There is a large assumption “that Buddhism and meditation go hand in hand”, but the majority of Buddhists have focused on “cultivating moral behavior, preserving the Buddha’s teachings (dharma), and acquiring good karma”(Braun 2014, p.1). Meditation and Buddhism are often assumed to be one and same, but this is also not true. As Buddhism has gained popularity among lay people it’s practices have changed Buddha’s teaching of the middle path has adapted to meditation being “possible in the city” rather than with monks in jungles and caves (p.4). As seen in Burma, in less than 75 years Buddhism and meditation were able to grow “from a pursuit of the barest sliver of the population to a duty of the ideal citizen” (p.5). While meditation is not the core of Buddhism it has encouraged the growth of Buddhism as it’s practice of mindfulness has been inspiring an approachable model (p.6). Meditation and mindfulness are easily manipulated to secularization, but still have significance in Buddhism and following the patterns of your

    Read More

  • Buddhist Meditation Essay

    1604 Words  | 4 Pages

    Without practicing meditation, we do not reflect on or pay attention to our everyday actions, mostly acting on habit. The world is full of defilements and everyday we are infatuated by them, sensual desires, and delusion, although we often do not know it. Meditation weakens these unwholesome temptations and desires by making us aware that they are arising, and by revealing that they are truly unwholesome. The temptation only ceases when the concentration we obtain from meditation results in greater happiness than sensual pleasures can ever provide. While the satisfaction gained from sensual pleasures is fleeting, the clarified, focused state of mind of the meditator accumulates into a constant tranquil state. Only when we have stilled the mind’s incessant wandering and momentarily abandon the attraction to sensory experiences can we become truly aware of our hidden motivations and unconscious feelings that shape our thoughts and behavior. It is also necessary for changing our views of the world and ourselves. Through confronting these delusions, desires, and feelings we are able to renounce them. “During meditation we learn to drop from the mind what we don’t want to keep. We only want to keep in mind the meditation subject. As we get more and more skilled at it, we start to use the same faculty in our daily lives to help us drop thoughts that are

    Read More

  • Benefits Of Mindfulness Meditation

    833 Words  | 2 Pages

    Over twenty-five hundred years ago, Buddha Guatama practiced meditation and came to what is known as “The Four Noble Truth,” an important principle in Buddhism (Elder, 2010). This principle informs the reader of what suffering is and how affect is. This is a great example of how valuable meditation is- on the very first session ever recorded, the awareness that came from it would later be the foundation of a new religion. This proves how powerful meditation can be. Furthermore, some form of meditation can be found in various religions. Although the styles, techniques, and ideology behind the meditation can vary per religion, personal transformation is the key goal (Modi, Singh, 2012). Today, in Western society, mindful meditation (a form of meditation) has grown in popularity, used for relaxation and to help treat those who suffer from mental illness’ and mood disorders. Viewed as alternative medicine for the mind and soul, it is beneficial for our emotional and mental

    Read More

  • Essay On Mindfulness Mediation

    1024 Words  | 3 Pages

    For thousands of years people have practiced mediation for spiritual, emotional, and physical well-being. Albeit there are many mediation types, in this paper I will be discussing and focusing on mindfulness mediation. Before further exploring mindfulness mediation, it is crucial to define mediation as a whole. Tang, Holzel, & Posner, 2016 state “Meditation can be defined as a form of mental training that aims to improve an individual’s core psychological capacities, such as attentional and emotional capacities” (p.213). Having that in mind, we can dive into mindfulness mediation. Mindfulness meditation is defined as “nonjudgmental attention to present-moment experiences (Tang, Holzel, & Posner, 2016).” A useful analogy to consider is going to the gym, going to the gym allows one to enhance the body, well similarly, practicing mindfulness is akin to taking the mind to the psychic gym, it enhances it. Mindfulness meditation involves focusing on your breathing and then bringing your mind’s attention to the present all while dismissing discursive thoughts and maintaining a special focus on breathing.

    Read More

  • Difference Between Mindfulness And Meditation

    1060 Words  | 3 Pages

    This type of mindfulness meditation is known as shamatha in Buddhism. It basically forces you to focus on the present because you have to continue to follow the inhale and exhale of your breath. You can be mindful of the way you eat, taking a shower, driving to work or enjoying quiet time with your spouse. Every moment in every day is an opportunity to practice mindfulness. In Buddhism, the Buddha realized that focusing on just his breath allowed him to accurately perceive reality and attain enlightenment.

    Read More

  • Buddhism and Modern Psychology Final Exam Essay

    702 Words  | 2 Pages

    05 May 2014. Barbor, Cary. " The Science of Meditation.

    Read More

  • Meditation

    4152 Words  | 9 Pages

    Meditation is an age-old practice that has renewed itself in many different cultures and times. Despite its age, however, there remains a mystery and some ambiguity as to what it is, or even how one performs it. The practice and tradition of meditation dates back thousands of years having appeared in many eastern traditions. Meditation’s ancient roots cloud its origins from being attributed to a sole inventor or religion, though Bon, Hindu, Shinto, Dao, and later, Buddhism are responsible for its development. Its practice has permeated almost all major world religions, but under different names. It has become a practice without borders, influencing millions with its tranquil and healing effects.

    Read More

  • Buddhist Religion Experience: Personal Narrative

    1522 Words  | 4 Pages

    ...earn how to be completely aware of my surroundings in order to experience the serenity that comes with meditation. Overall, my experience of the Buddhist religion was very eye-opening. Not only did I get to acquire more knowledge on the Buddhist way of life, but I also got to practice the traditions and rituals of a different culture outside of my own.

    Read More

  • Grant Proposal

    718 Words  | 2 Pages

    The first grant proposal addressed the effects of meditation on life-span cognitional developmental processes. From my understanding, there is a strong connection to the mindset and self-awareness, as one chooses to mediate for their own reason. Based on the informed information, meditation is used to decrease stress and maintain a healthy lifestyle. The provided background information and predicted research study will help determine the pros and cons of the process, using the meditation techniques.

    Read More

  • How to Cope with Stress from College

    853 Words  | 2 Pages

    National Center for Complementary and Alternative Medicine (NCCAM). (2010). Health info. Meditation: An introduction. Retrieved from http://nccam.nih.gov/health/meditation/overview.htm

    Read More

  • Mindfulness Meditation Essay

    1010 Words  | 3 Pages

    In the past two decades, many philosophers, spiritual leaders, and psychological transitions have accentuated the importance of the quality of consciousness for the maintenance and enhancement of well-being. One of the characteristics of consciousness that has been discussed in relation to well-being is mindfulness. In concentration with the psychology discipline, mindfulness meditation practices have been increasingly used to treat a majority of pain, stress and anxiety-related conditions and also, increasing well-being. The ideology of mindfulness meditation has core roots in Buddhist philosophy and other pensive traditions where awareness and conscious attention are actively cultured (Brown, Kirk Warren,2003).

    Read More

  • Clinical Psychology Reflection Paper

    1505 Words  | 4 Pages

    Meditation is not a time devoted to thinking or reflecting about oneself, but a time to redirect one’s thoughts and emotions away from the outside world and onto something simple, such as the wind or one’s own breathe. By learning how to meditate, an individual can learn how to react appropriately to “the circumstances one finds oneself in, i...

    Read More

  • Mindfulness Experience: My Mindful Experience

    1834 Words  | 4 Pages

    At the beginning of my mindfulness journey, I felt frustrated as I began to realize how much I struggled with being in the present. I could not focus and I struggled to make it five minutes of practice. In the first two weeks, mindfulness felt like a chore. As I sat down to practice I would feel defeated each time. I did not really understand the point of mindfulness as focusing on breathing felt meaningless to me. My mind would wander each time I tried to focus on breathing and I began to realize how hard it was to still and control my mind. I knew that I was supposed to feel more relaxed and connected with my mind and body, but after each practice I felt more frustrated with myself. In the beginning I began to realize

    Read More

  • The Benefits of Meditation

    626 Words  | 2 Pages

    It is well known and proven that over time the benefits of meditating on a regular basis promotes the development of inner calmness, connectedness, focus, flow, a clear clarity of mind, a focused and more stable grounded concentration, along with coherency of thought, increased creativity, being more open and receptive to receive insights, solutions to problems and new ideas, a balanced and harmonious centred inner equilibrium, a relaxed happy body, mind and spirit, which in turn assists as a preventative tool that creates and maintains positive overall vibrant health and wellbeing.

    Read More

  • Meditation Is Medicine For The Body

    975 Words  | 2 Pages

    First, I will present the research of the physical effects that meditation has on our body’s major internal systems and other common physical chronic conditions. Secondly, I will discuss how meditation practices can impact one 's mental and emotional health. Lastly, I will offer a definition of spirituality and how meditation can bring positive spiritual results.

    Read More

More about Different Kinds of Meditation in the Book On Real Happines by Sharon Salzberg

Open Document