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Eric Barker writes Barking Up the Wrong Tree.

Meditation.

I listed it as one of the 10 things should you do every day to improve your life. It can boost happiness.

Via Shawn Achors The Happiness Advantage:

Take just five minutes each day to watch your breath go in and out. While you do so, try to remain patient. If you find your mind drifting, just slowly bring it back to focus. Meditation takes practice, but its one of the most powerful happiness interventions. Studies show that in the minutes right after meditating, we experience feelings of calm and contentment, as well as heightened awareness and empathy. And, research even shows that regular meditation can permanently rewire the brain to raise levels of happiness, lower stress, even improve immune function.

Increase meaning in life and social support:

The authors tested this build hypothesis in a field experiment with working adults (n = 139), half of whom were randomly-assigned to begin a practice of loving-kindness meditation. Results showed that this meditation practice produced increases over time in daily experiences of positive emotions, which, in turn, produced increases in a wide range of personal resources (e.g., increased mindfulness, purpose in life, social support, decreased illness symptoms). In turn, these increments in personal resources predicted increased life satisfaction and reduced depressive symptoms.

Stretch your attention span:

This article shows that a group randomly assigned to 5 days of meditation practice with the integrative bodymind training method shows significantly better attention and control of stress than a similarly chosen control group given relaxation training.

Go here to read the rest:
What Can Make You Happier, Increase Your Attention Span and Even Make You More Courageous?

Lafayette, Colorado (PRWEB) November 05, 2014

Recent studies have shown that practicing meditation, even after a few short weeks, can help boost ones immune system, increase positive emotions, reduce stress, fight depression, increase memory and learning, boost self-compassion, enhance relationships, decrease anxiety, increase attention, fight obesity and even reduce PTSD symptoms.

These studies have sparked discussion in business and lifestyle media. The extensive benefits have been proven, many people have incorporated meditation into their lives with great success, so why arent more people embracing meditation?

There are still many misconceptions about meditation, says author and meditation expert Andrew Holecek. I wrote Meditation in the iGeneration: How to Meditate in a World of Speed and Stress to address the obstacles to meditation, and to provide an easy-to-follow guide to bring meditation into your life.

Andrew Holecek is a leading expert in meditation and teaches it worldwide. He has been meditating for forty years, and is a sanctioned instructor with over twenty years experience. Drawing on his own experience and exhaustive research, Holecek joins the timeless wisdom of the East with modern knowledge of the West to provide a comprehensive and accessible introduction to the power of meditation. Meditation in the iGeneration offers everything you need to know to start meditating.

Here a few common obstacles to learning mediation, and how this book helps to overcome them:

Im a horrible meditator, I just cant stop thinking. Many beginners feel that thoughts are bad, and must be eliminated in order to have good meditation. Meditation is not about getting rid of thoughts. Its about becoming familiar with them, and then establishing a healthy relationship to them.

I cant concentrate that long! From a meditative perspective, pure concentration is too tight. Meditation is about relaxation. It's not forcing one's mind into the present moment. It's about inviting it there.

Im not a Buddhist, Im not even religious. While there are many religious and spiritual traditions that use meditation, meditation itself is not religious, or even spiritual. Meditation is about taming and then training the mind, and nobody has a patent on that. The meditative mind is free of any cultural, religious, spiritual, or even scientific trappings. Its just the mind, and everybody has one.

Im too busy, I dont have time to meditate. Meditation is new and different. It can feel awkward until one gets the hang of it. Have a sense of humor and be patient. Start small. Meditate ten minutes a day at first. Ease into it and see how it feels. Dont set the bar too high. Build on small success.

See the article here:
If Meditation is so Beneficial, Why Isnt Everyone Doing It?