Despite what you may have heard, meditation does not involve joining a group, paying any
fees, wearing any special outfits, sitting in a funny position or believing in anything
in particular. It is simple, secular, scientifically validated exercise for your brain. You don’t
have to do it yet, but just so you know here are the three steps. One: Sit with your back
straight and your eyes closed. Two: Notice the feeling of your breath coming in and going
out. Pick a spot where it's most prominent. Usually that's your nose or your chest or
your belly, and just focus your full attention on the feeling of your breath coming in and
going out. Now as soon as you try to do this, your mind's going to go nuts. You're going
to start thinking about, "What am I going to have for lunch? Why'd I say that dumb thing
to my boss?" Your brain's gonna go nuts and that's fine. The whole game is to notice when
you've gotten lost, and to start over. And to start over again. And again. And again.
Every time you do that, it's like a bicep curl for your brain, and it shows up on the
brain scans. Scientists have found this in the lab. It's also, by the way, a radical act.
You're breaking a lifetime's habit of walking around in a fog of projection and rumination
and you're actually focusing on what's happening right now. Meditation is unlike anything you
do in the rest of your life. "Failure" is actually success! As I said the whole game
is just trying, failing, starting again, failing, starting again. Here's my advice: You should
be meditating every day, 5-10 minutes a day. That's it. This doesn't require some giant
investment. I don't care how busy you are, you have 5-10 minutes to give this a shot.
I guarantee you it will make a big difference.