Meditation,
an exercise recommended for everyone, but especially those of us with hectic,
stressful lifestyles, is defined as an engagement in contemplation, especially
of a spiritual or devotional nature.
Meditation has been shown to relieve stress, and promote overall good
health, by simply reflecting upon our day, and finding happiness within
ourselves. This and other mind exercises
help us to keep our mind fit, and functioning at top performance levels
Our spirituality and meditation
practices are the tools we have available to keep our mind as fit as we keep
our bodies. The mind is a complicated
and versatile machine, but it can become overwhelmed and unable to function
correctly, if we don’t take the time to keep it cared for.
Our mind has varying levels of
operation, known as brainwaves. As we
pass through the different stages of our day, we enter various stages of brain
wave activity. The brain uses this tool
as one way to allow us time to rest our busy mind, and cope with all the pieces
of information we’ve received, a way to kind of “mind file” for the day.
When we don’t give adequate time
for these processes, or we simply don’t get enough rest, our mind cannot
maintain its state of fitness, just like our bodies aren’t capable of fitness
if there is no chance to rest and replenish.
Modern alternative medicine and
holistic healers believe in the power of the energy that flows through our
bodies; this energy radiates from our mind as well. It is believed to be the chief from of
transportation for our body’s nervous system to carry out communication.
Breathing techniques, music,
aromas, and candle therapy are all ways we utilize the opportunities to reflect
on our day, allow our mind to rest and replenish itself for further use. But are these methods keeping us mentally
fit? Yes, but they don’t work
alone. The absorption of new
information, new opportunities to learn, and creative play provide our mind the
stimulus it needs in order to stay fit and functioning.
The onset of many age-related
mental disorders occurs because we haven’t taken the time to keep our mind
youthful, and involved in new learning.
Learning new things forces our mind to form new neural pathways. We need those neural pathways for the
transmission of information from the body to the mind, or with our ability to
form new memories. If we don’t exercise
the mind, we lose the fitness.
We must remember over the course of
our daily routine, to make time to maintain mental fitness, as we strive to
maintain physical fitness. The nice thing about the whole process is that, as
we go about accomplishing these tasks, quite often the opportunities for
preservation and care are interchangeable.
We can help to quite our mind as we take our twenty minute walk. Or we have the opportunity to build muscle
strength as we meditate.
Often just the opportunity to
listen to music will allow our mind the chance it needs to relax and
regroup. It’s not always the most formal
of occasions that we find an available chance to reflect and listen to that
inner voice. It can be in the middle of
the day, with the wind blowing through your hair, and the radio turned up
really loud!
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