There are loads of good reasons to meditate. According to Mark Williams, Professor of Clinical Psychology at Oxford, and Mark Pennman, Ph.D. in Biochemistry:
“Numerous psychological studies have shown that regular meditators are happier and more contented than average. … Anxiety, depression, and irritability all decrease with regular sessions of meditation. Memory also improves, reaction times become faster and physical stamina increases. Regular meditators enjoy better and more fulfilling relationships. Studies worldwide have found that meditation reduces the key indicators of chronic stress, including hypertension. Meditation has also been found to be effective in reducing the impact of serious conditions, such as chronic pain and cancer, and can even help to relieve drug and alcohol dependence. Studies have now shown that meditation bolsters the immune system and this helps fight off colds, flu and other diseases.”1
And I have personally benefited from mindfulness meditation in numerous ways. I’ve become better at focusing, more patient, and more creative. Meditation has supported my sobriety, it has helped me overcome depression, and it has made me more aware of all the joyous little details of life.
But now, five years into the practice, if you asked me what the main benefit of meditation is, I would have to say this:
Contentment.
I don’t find that meditation produces euphoria. I don’t think I’m on the way to becoming enlightened. True, I’ve become a little more aware of the inner workings of my mind, but I haven’t had any profound insights into my own psyche. No, the main thing I get out of meditation is a sense of contentment. A sense of relaxed confidence. A feeling that, no matter what happens, I’ll be fine – at least, emotionally fine.
Why would meditation confer this benefit?
Well, let’s review what mindfulness meditation is. All you do is sit still, with your eyes closed, and try to pay attention to your breath. That’s it.
Right now, I’m doing 19 minutes of this per day. So that’s 19 minutes of just sitting there, doing nothing. Yes, I’m mentally doing something – trying to stay focused on my breath – but I’m not physically doing anything. I’m not working. I’m not having fun. I’m not crossing things off of my to-do list. I’m not reading. I’m not checking the news. I’m just being.
And this is actually hard to do. There are a lot of things going on in my life, a lot of things to attend to: projects, people, chores, learning, games, shows, websites, social media. And there is a lot going on in the world: Covid, protests, elections, international conflicts, environmental crises, poverty. It all feels both urgent and important. I feel like I have to attend to all of these things immediately.
So, by just sitting there, doing nothing for 19 minutes each morning, I’m proving to myself that I don’t have to attend to these things immediately. If and when I do engage them they’re in basically the same state they were before I meditated. And, day by day, I see that it’s okay to not jump right into the thick of it.
So, by forcing me to delay engaging with everything that’s going on in my life and in the world, meditation is cultivating in me a sense of equanimity. And the more chaotic things are, the more valuable this is.
Another reason meditation confers a sense of contentment has to do with my relationship with my thoughts and feelings. While you’re sitting in mindfulness meditation, you’re allowing your thoughts and feelings to arise without getting wrapped up in them and without judging them. Instead, you just accept whatever you’re noticing and bring your attention back to your breath.
This is not what we normally do. Typically, when thoughts or feelings arise, we do one of two things. One is we let them take control and act on that sense of urgency I just described. The other is we resist, either by fighting them or judging ourselves for feeling/thinking that way. And since suffering = pain x resistance, this option leads to a great deal of discontentment. Thus, by training you to accept the things that you think and feel, meditation reduces discontentment.
During meditation, you might feel sadness, anger, or even physical pain. And you just sit there, and you continue to breathe, proving to yourself that despite these feelings, you’re okay. During meditation, you might think about things that upset you or things that you’re worried about. And you just sit there, and you continue to breathe, proving to yourself that, despite these concerns, you’re okay. Through this practice, you develop a deep and enduring sense of contentment.
A final reason why meditation creates contentment is that it reduces your sense of need. Most of the time, meditation creates a feeling of serenity – a blend of peacefulness and mild happiness. And since I’m just sitting there, enjoying this feeling without any inputs or external stimulation, I’m teaching myself that I don’t need anything in particular to be happy.
Again, this is counter to the default setting of our brains, and it is very much counter to the consumerist culture we live in. We crave new experiences and pleasurable stimuli. We want nice things. We strive for status and recognition. We want things to go our way. So when you sit in meditation and feel perfectly okay without these things, you’re proving to yourself that you don’t need them.
And I’m not talking about some big, once-and-for-all enlightenment. Rather, you prove to yourself that you don’t need anything in particular to be happy little by little, breath by breath. The contentment you get from meditation is like a plant that you tend to each morning. Day by day, it grows.
If you’re interested in getting started with meditation, here is my simple, how-to guide to the practice of mindfulness meditation. And if you’re struggling to develop the habit, I’d love to help you start and stick with a meditation practice. Forming healthy habits through strategy rather than raw willpower is my specialty. Send me an email: chris@becomingbetter.org.
1 Williams, Mark, and Danny Penman. Mindfulness: An Eight-Week Plan for Finding Peace in a Frantic World
. Rodale, 2011.