Signs of Not Meditating

Many popular articles on Mastery of Meditation expound on the benefits of meditation, such as Top 10 Benefits of Meditation and 10 Amazing Benefits of Meditation for Students and Young People, but today I want to present you with another view of meditation.  I want to explore the dangers of not meditating.  I want to discuss what happens when you don’t meditate and what are the signs that are yelling at you to start meditating immediately.

5 Dangers of Not Meditating:

1. Anger:

Every time you lose it.  It does not matter what the reason is, this is a clear signal to you that you need to start meditating.  Meditation means residing deep within, in your center, where you are infinitely at peace and have great composure, and the more you live from this center the less the storms on the periphery disturb you.

This goes for irritation as well.  Getting irritated with the children, co-workers, other drivers, spouses, etc., all mean the same thing.  You are not meditating enough.  Not that meditation alone will cure all irritation, as there can be bio-chemical reasons for this as well, but it will certainly help a whole lot.  So next time you feel that anger creeping up, don’t react, watch the energy carefully and set your alarm clock thirty minutes earlier for the next morning .

2. Jealousy:

Clearly a sign that you are on the wrong track, with the wrong perspective and wrong attitude is if you are a frequent victim of jealousy.  In fact, this is so good an indicator of you not meditating enough, that I felt it was a good way to actually test your spiritual level.  You will find the details of how to test yourself using jealousy in the article, How to Test Your Spiritual Growth.

3. Stress:

Are you and Mr. Stress the best of buddies?  Inseparable are you?  Well if you want to end this relationship with Mr. Stress you have to start meditating.  The key to a long, healthy life is to live stress free.  An Ayurvedic Doctor I recently met told me that 80% of the problems that patients came to see her with were stress related.  So a big danger of not meditating is ending up hanging out with Mr. Stress.  And where Mr. Stress hangs out, Mr. Disease is not too far away.

To help motivate you and give you some solid techniques to live stress free, here is a great resource: Best Treatments for Stress & Anxiety Disorder.  You will notice I grouped anxiety along with stress, and I just want to mention that this is another sign that you are not meditating enough.  If you suffer from panic attacks and anxiety, you need to start a meditation program.  There is ample evidence showing the benefits of meditation with regard to anxiety as well.

4. Restlessness | Insecurity | Fear:

Are you feeling your life is meaningless?  Feeling you are not doing anything special in life?  Feeling you are not achieving your true potential?  These are signs that you are not meditating.  Meditation puts you in touch with your infinite nature, and from there you realize that there is nothing lacking whatsoever in you.  You are perfect and life is perfectly fine just the way it is.  This realization is the reward of meditation, and the further you are from this realization, means the further you are from meditation.

Related signs to restlessness are the feelings of self-doubt, insecurity and fear.  These are other dangers you will have to face if you decide to not meditate.  The ego is insecure.  It endlessly seeks security and safety.  Meditation helps you de-emphasize your egocentric mind, and instead reside in your simple witnessing awareness.  This living in the witnessing consciousness, in the here and now, weakens the ego and thus, relieves you of the feelings of insecurity, fear and self-doubt.

5. Hatred:

As Yogi Bhajan puts it, “If you don’t see God in all, you don’t see God at all.”  I love that saying, and can’t put it any better than that.  Hatred is born of fear and is only possible when you emphasize differences.  The more you break up Reality and side with different fragments, the more you open the door to hatred and fear.

Eyes that see the world and humanity as one big family, in fact, eyes that see the whole world as just your family, are eyes that are going to be full of compassion and love.  Meditation is responsible for opening your eyes to this view.  So if you are filled with fear and hatred, the red flag is up, you need to start meditating.  Looking around at the state of world today, I wish along with prescribing a daily multivitamin, everyone was prescribed thirty minutes of daily meditation as well.

Dangers of Not Meditating Summary:

I can always tell when I have drifted away from my meditation practice.  Invariably one of the signs above will light up and remind me of what is the most important thing in life – meditation.  I suggest the same for you.  Keep an eye out for these danger signs above, if you notice their presence getting stronger, you know it is time to get back to meditating.  If you are new to meditation and are looking to start this profound practice, whose rewards have no material equivalent, I suggest you try some of the free online meditation classes offered here on this site.  Below are some helpful links in this regard.

Free Online Yoga & Meditation Classes

Free Beginner’s Meditation Class | Learn How to Meditate