{"id":57654,"date":"2022-01-05T19:05:39","date_gmt":"2022-01-05T23:05:39","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/?p=57654"},"modified":"2022-01-11T19:20:10","modified_gmt":"2022-01-11T23:20:10","slug":"how-does-meditation-help","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/how-does-meditation-help\/","title":{"rendered":"How Does Meditation Help? Lessons From Dan Harris"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

How does meditation<\/a> help you in the long-term? What important life lessons can be learned from meditation?<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In his self-help book 10% Happier, <\/em>previous self-help skeptic Dan Harris describes the many benefits of meditation. The top lessons he goes over are how to respond rather than act, how to worry productively, and how to be compassionate.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Below, we will go over each of the lessons from meditation.<\/p>\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n

3 Lessons From Meditation<\/strong><\/h2>\n\n\n\n

So, how does meditation help? Harris briefly mentions some of the scientific research and long-term benefits of meditation, such as increased ability to focus, reduced risk of heart disease, and improved aging. He also notes that the benefits of meditation are becoming more widely accepted, as evidenced by the fact that it’s been embraced by corporations and the military.\u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n\n

However, his main goal is to show how meditation can help you in your life right now, particularly if you\u2019re skeptical about meditation or self-help. To Harris, the most valuable lessons from meditation are learning how to respond instead of react, how to worry productively, and how to be compassionate.<\/strong> <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Counterarguments to Meditation<\/strong>

Harris\u2019s goal of the book is to show the benefits of meditation from the perspective of a skeptic. However, unlike Harris, some people remain unconvinced, questioning the purported benefits of meditation. Skeptics list a few reasons for their resistance to meditating<\/a>:

–Meditation increases cortisol.<\/strong> One study found that participants who meditated produced increased levels of cortisol<\/a>, a stress hormone<\/a>. (However, the participants also reported feeling less stress, leading researchers to conclude that meditation might serve as a coping mechanism by teaching meditators how to handle increased levels of stress, even if that stress is caused by the meditation itself.) 

–Researchers are subject to confirmation bias<\/a><\/strong> in meditation studies<\/a>. Many of the researchers who study the effects of meditation are meditators themselves, making them more inclined to favor positive results. In a Johns Hopkins University Evidence-Based Practice Center review, investigators examined almost 18,000 studies on meditation. Of these, only 41 were high-quality studies<\/a>. Of these 41 studies, only 10 had a \u201clow risk of bias.\u201d

–Meditation isn\u2019t a one-size-fits-all cure<\/strong><\/a>.<\/strong> While some studies show the benefits of meditation in trauma survivors and people with depression, skeptics are wary of the claims that everyone can benefit in the same ways from meditation.<\/td><\/tr><\/tbody><\/table><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

1. How to Respond, Not React<\/strong><\/h3>\n\n\n\n

One of the biggest improvements Harris notices after meditating is his ability to respond\u2014instead of react\u2014to situations.<\/strong> He contends that our default mode is to go through life on autopilot, letting our emotions and ego dictate our actions, which leads us to react to situations impulsively and make rash decisions. Meditation disrupts this cycle. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Harris presents a principle of Buddhist teaching that says we have one of three reactions to a situation: <\/p>\n\n\n\n

  1. We like it. Think about meeting your friend\u2019s new puppy.<\/li>
  2. We don\u2019t like it. Think about the traffic on your way home from work.<\/li>
  3. We ignore it. Think about walking down a busy street and passing dozens of people.<\/li><\/ol>\n\n\n\n

    Harris asserts that meditation offers another option: to notice without judgment. Meditation allows us to identify our emotions without attaching to them.<\/strong> Then we can decide how we want to respond. Harris argues that this doesn\u2019t mean you won\u2019t feel anger, sadness, or frustration, but that you\u2019ll begin to stop acting on those emotions.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

    For example, imagine that after a stressful day at work, someone cuts you off in traffic on your way home. Instead of reacting (getting angry, yelling, and honking), you could identify that you feel stressed and irritated and continue without acting out of anger.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

    Harris provides evidence of the change in his behavior. After practicing meditation, Harris\u2019s reputation in the newsroom changed. Rather than yelling at a producer or slamming his script down, Harris approached tense situations more mindfully. Eventually, he gained the reputation from his coworkers of being a laid-back, enjoyable, and easy person to work with. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

    Meditation May Reduce Reactions That Are Based on Unconscious Biases<\/strong>

    Harris notes that meditation will help you stop acting out on your emotions by placing distance between you and a stimulus. This may explain why a 2016 study showed that meditation helps people stop acting based on their unconscious racial and age biases<\/a>. Another study found that compassion meditation decreased participants\u2019 biases toward homeless people.<\/a> Because meditation fosters a focus on the present, rather than on memory or the past, we\u2019re able to respond and make decisions based on our current thoughtful reflection instead of automatic biased reaction.

    Experts contend that these findings may be particularly beneficial to law enforcement officers, who serve diverse communities.     Police officers are beginning to embrace mindfulness and compassion training<\/a> as a method to make less biased and more ethical decisions under stress. <\/td><\/tr><\/tbody><\/table><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

    2. How to Worry Productively<\/strong><\/h3>\n\n\n\n

    Harris says he learned that the intense worrying he used to engage in, particularly about how well he was doing in his career, is a recognized form of worry, one that Buddhists call “prapa\u00f1ca” or \u201cmonkey mind.\u201d Harris defines prapa\u00f1ca as our tendency to worry excessively, when our negative thoughts multiply uncontrollably.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

    (Shortform note: Another name for prapa\u00f1ca (sometimes spelled \u201cpapa\u00f1ca\u201d or \u201cpapancha\u201d) is \u201cconceptual proliferation<\/a>.\u201d In Buddhist tradition, conceptual proliferation doesn\u2019t just apply to worrying. It refers to our ability to conceptualize the world through words and language. It\u2019s our tendency to make judgments about and label everything we see or interact with. Because we interact with so many things on a daily basis, this constant stream of labels, thoughts, and judgments can be overwhelming for our minds, often resulting in suffering.)<\/p>\n\n\n\n

    Because meditation allowed him to identify when his thoughts were running out of control, Harris was able to consciously notice how much he worried. He explains that he began to approach his worrying habit (or prapa\u00f1ca) differently. He realized that worry is natural, and it can help you prepare both mentally and physically for situations. <\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

    According to Harris, you shouldn\u2019t ignore your worry, as your concern about a situation may be warranted and worrying may alert you to something you need to address. However, after a certain point, worrying is no longer helpful to you. If you\u2019re running through the same mental scenario over and over again but are no longer using that worry to prepare yourself for something, you\u2019re wasting mental energy<\/a> and indulging your ego<\/a> by obsessing about future possibilities. Whenever you notice yourself falling down a rabbit hole of worry, Harris recommends asking yourself, \u201cIs this helpful?\u201d<\/strong> If it\u2019s not, let it go. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

    For example, say three people are interviewing for the same job. Candidate 1 worries about the interview and imagines all the ways it could go wrong (like spilling coffee on herself, forgetting the interviewer\u2019s name, answering a question wrong, and showing up late). She spends all of her time worrying about these scenarios. Candidate 2 worries about the interview, but he ignores his worry and tries to let it go. Candidate 3 worries about the interview but uses this worry to create a plan<\/a>: printing out the route to the interview location, brainstorming<\/a> answers to potential interview questions, and prepping resume documents the night before. Once she\u2019s gone through potential scenarios, Candidate 3 lets go of her worry. Candidate 3 is in the best position to do well in the interview because she has used her worry to prepare for it. She also let go of her worry once it stopped being useful, allowing her to go into the interview with a clearer head.\u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n\n

    Other Ways to Manage Worry <\/strong>

    While Harris found that meditating helped his worrying problem, other experts offer different solutions. Many advise that since it\u2019s unlikely you\u2019ll be able to stop worrying completely, you should plan how you\u2019ll react to your worry when it happens<\/a>. This might entail writing down counterarguments on a notepad. For example, if you find yourself frequently worrying that your coworker doesn\u2019t like you, you could write down, \u201cIf my coworker actually doesn\u2019t like me, they wouldn\u2019t sit next to me at the meeting table,\u201d or, \u201cWhat my coworker thinks of me is none of my business, and it doesn\u2019t need to affect me.\u201d

    Similarly, in     12 Rules for Life<\/em><\/a>, Jordan Peterson provides a different solution to worrying. Peterson recommends only worrying about a problem at a specific time of day<\/a>. Scheduling when you can worry conserves your mental strength<\/a> and lets you focus on other things. <\/td><\/tr><\/tbody><\/table><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

    3. How to Be Compassionate<\/strong><\/h3>\n\n\n\n

    Compassion\u2014feeling concern or empathy for others\u2014is a frequent topic among self-help experts, but Harris avoided it for most of his mindfulness journey. He explains that he didn\u2019t think of himself as an emotional or compassionate person, and that his profession predispositioned him from displays of emotion. He also didn\u2019t believe he was capable of deep levels of compassion.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

    As we mentioned earlier, during Joseph Goldstein\u2019s 10-day meditation retreat, Harris was introduced to <\/strong>metta<\/em><\/strong>, or compassion meditation, which centers around mentally sending love to people you like, people you don\u2019t like, and people who\u2019ve helped you.<\/strong> This kind of meditation allows you to practice compassion. Harris describes the practice as emotionally moving for him, but he disregarded it after the retreat.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

    Defining Compassion<\/strong>

    Harris\u2019s focus in the book is mainly on meditation and mindfulness\u2014compassion is an unintended bonus he finds on his journey. As a result, he doesn\u2019t spend much time breaking down what compassion is. 

    Bren\u00e9 Brown goes into deeper detail on compassion in her book The Gifts of Imperfection<\/em><\/a>. She defines compassion<\/a> as being kind to yourself and others. Self-compassion<\/a> isn\u2019t about condemning the cause of your pain or trying to make it immediately go away. It\u2019s about empathizing and allowing yourself to feel the emotions. Brown describes self-compassion as the antidote to the self-criticizing tendencies of perfectionism. She believes that, to overcome perfectionism with compassion<\/a>, you should be kind to yourself<\/a>, remember you\u2019re not alone, and stay present. 

    Compassion for others is similar to Brown\u2019s ideas on self-compassion. Researchers have defined compassion as a deep and intuitive connection to someone else\u2019s suffering or pain. They also identified key elements of compassion for others: recognition of suffering, emotional resonance, and an effort to remedy the suffering. <\/td><\/tr><\/tbody><\/table><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

    Benefits of Compassion<\/h4>\n\n\n\n

    Harris\u2019s attitude toward metta meditation<\/a> changed when he later interviewed the Dalai Lama, who told him that there is a self-interested reason to be compassionate: It benefits you. As Harris began to realize the benefits of compassion, he incorporated metta into his daily meditation time. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

    Some of the benefits Harris describes include:<\/p>\n\n\n\n