SELF-DEVELOPMENT

Three Magical M’s: Meditation, Minimalism & Mindset

The best things in life are free

Perhaps the most valuable wealth is what cannot be stolen. The more we give, the more we become.

Give me a lever long enough and a fulcrum on which to place it, and I shall move the world. — Archimedes.

As I get older and wiser, I am more interested in discovering tools I already have and learn to expand their uses.

A lifestyle of working long and hard is not going to free me from the “womb-to-tomb” way of life.

There are innate potentials we are endowed with that are much more powerful than what meets the eye.

So what are these innate tools that are available to us at all times? And all we have to do is recognize them, believe in them, and practice.

As the saying goes: all the best things in life are free.

Meditation, Minimalism, and Mindset. These are the three tools always available to me in making me a better person and living a fulfilling life.

I like to call them the three magical M’s. I can practice them anytime, anywhere, and keeping getting better. The benefits are both instantaneous and long-term. That is why I deliberately practice them.

Meditation

I have so much to accomplish today that I must meditate for two hours instead of one. — Gandhi

In Tibetan, the word meditation translates “to familiarize with a positive state of mind.” In Latin, it means “practice.” In Sanskrit, “contemplate.”

I have been meditating regularly for the last 15 years. Hands down, this is my number one tool for bringing balance, peace, and clarity in life.

This morning I did an hour of Vipassana meditation. For the last six months, I have also been practicing “Reconditioning the Body to a New Mind” meditation by Dr. Joe Dispenza. And for the last 15 years, I have been practicing “Harmonizing with Infinity” meditation by Rael.

In all the different types of meditation that are available, I have always found the simplest ones to be most effective.

Most influential people practice meditation. With the growing progress in science and technology, the effects of mediation are being quantified and advocated. It is a powerful technique to bring peace and health to our lives.

Currently, I meditate 60–90 minutes every morning. I started with 5–10 minutes per day and gradually increased the practice over the last 15 years as I explored new techniques while developing the ones that I found to be effective.

To anyone wanting to experience meditation, I suggest getting directly into the practice without much analysis and research. Meditations are most beneficial when they are felt.

And as we grow in the process, we will naturally want to get more information and learn new skills at which point we can refer to books and online resources. There are plenty available. Guided meditations that are available online are great places to start and explore.

Minimalism

“You cannot overestimate the unimportance of practically everything.” ― Greg McKeown

As a frequent traveler, freelancer, and someone with a passion for communal development, I have enjoyed the benefits of having less and living more through deepening in the few things I value while cutting down/eliminating much of the rest.

Meaningful relationships, purposeful work, and healthy recreation/recovery are the things I value most in life.

The concept of “minimalism” can also be understood as “essentialism”. I define minimalism as a lifestyle where we rid of distractions and focus on the few things that we value.

In a world full of directed marketing, we are constantly bombarded with information that is distracting and negatively impactful to our purposeful work. The practice of minimalism allows us to focus on the less and achieve more.

Advertising encourages us to want a lot of things we don’t really need. It also encourages us to want to do a lot of things we don’t really want.

For the last nine months since the pandemic, I have been strategically applying the principles of minimalism in my environment, health, work, and relationships.

Now, I feel my life is more purpose-driven, and my relationships are more meaningful. I have started eating less and healthy, and there is less clutter in my living space.

Being able to discard physical things that are of no use, eliminating relationships that aren’t value-driven, and focusing on work that is defined by purpose has given me a deeper sense of meaning, motivation, and achievement.

A book that really opened up my eyes towards living this lifestyle is “Essentialism: The Disciplined Pursuit of Less” by Greg McKeown. This link has the free pdf download for the entire book.

Mindset

“We like to think of our champions and idols as superheroes who were born different from us. We don’t like to think of them as relatively ordinary people who made themselves extraordinary.” ― Carol Dweck

A major principle I live by is to NOT follow my mind. The mind is mostly the past — a collection of old (and sometimes defunct) programs that will not serve me well to become the person I want to be.

The person I want to be 10 years from now is more than 10 times better than who I am now. I call this person my “future self.”

I am becoming my future self.

I have had multiples rejections in the last two months. Some of them were professional relationships I was pursuing and some were in the area of my passionate work of non-profit and writing.

I learned that people can talk and mean well but they might not be interested in helping me or even responding to my calls. After a few cases like these, I got disappointed and even slightly depressed.

But these experiences also allowed me to practice the principles I had read a few months ago in the book called “Mindset: The New Psychology of Success” by Carol Dweck. This book helped me understand and differentiate between the fixed mindset and the growth mindset.

I was able to identify my own thought patterns — where I have the “fixed” vs the “growth” mindset. To my surprise, I learned that I have had many areas where I had a fixed mindset despite being an open-minded person, thus keeping me from growing.

The growth mindset serves us better. With daily challenges in external events and my own emotions, I am continually trying to apply the growth mindset. Yes, it is challenging, but every effort is worth it!

In Conclusion

Meditation, Minimalism, Mindset: These are the three magical M’s I use on a daily basis. They are powerful tools available to us at all times. Therefore, it is worth learning and applying them.

I am grateful to be able to practice them and enjoy their benefits that are both instantaneous and long-term.

Upen Singh writes about people and progress. He is interested in making lives better.

Having traveled to over 25 countries he is always seeking new adventures to learn from and share. He has an M.A. in Developmental Economics from West Virginia University.

He lives in Thailand, Nepal, and the United States, constantly traveling. He is currently involved in a rural development project in far-west Nepal.