Hedge fund billionaire Ray Dalio:
Meditation is ‘the single most important reason’ for my success
Meditation can no longer be viewed as ‘esoteric’ and as a practise limited to those ‘spiritual’ select few. Neuro-science has proven the vast positive effects that meditation can have on general well-being and your performance as a professional or entrepreneur.
Meditation does not have to be ‘boxed in’ as a religious or spiritual practise and instead can be positioned as an extremely beneficial tool that can bring calm and focus to your decision making and actions as an entrepreneur.
The true power of meditation lies therein that it can:
- Quiet or slow down thoughts that are detrimental to your well- being and performance
- Bring a general sense of calm and peace over time to your life in general and to your decision making processes
- Attract others and situations to you that reflect your level of increased awareness and consciousness to you.
Most certainly there are more benefits to meditation than represented within this writing, however within this article we will focus on the most impactful elements of meditation as it relates to your journey as an entrepreneur.
One of my favourite quotes is:
‘The mind that sees the limitation is the limitation’ – Siddharta Gautema
Over time meditation breaks through the limits that you have inflicted upon yourself through your thinking and biases and opens and expands your consciousness to the limitless options within this vast offering of opportunities.
The word meditation comes from its Latin root ‘meditare’ which means to contemplate or to think on. This reveals to us that we are already naturally meditating as we continuously contemplate ourselves, others and situations.
It is not about questioning whether we all are meditators or not because we are naturals at it , it is the quality, focus and results of our meditations that are generally questionable.
Within the context of your meditation the ‘outer world’ is but a reflection of your ‘inner world’. In turn your ‘inner world’ is a combination of your ‘empowering beliefs’ (I can, I am capable, I am worthy) and your ‘limiting beliefs’ (I am not worthy, I am not good enough etc).
Both sets of beliefs are reflected back to you through experiences on a daily basis and then we generally react to those experiences.
Through conscious inner reflection as opposed to just floating through life in a reactive mode at a low level of consciousness we become fully aware that we are creators of our own destinies and how our thinking and actions directly impacts our daily results.
In essence meditation is the process of breaking through your own limitations which only resides within your own mind and amplifying your empowering beliefs.
Meditation is not simply looking at a candle and thinking of nothing because it is still a troubled ‘ego’ staring at a candle and going through great strain in the mere attempt of thinking of nothing.
Meditation is the process of eliminating the ego as the ego is the barrier to true progress and is at the root cause of the limitations that you have placed upon yourself.
So much depends upon your mental state as an entrepreneur as you enter negotiations and create a performance culture within which your employees and partners can thrive. Have no doubt that your mental state affects all around you. Meditation is the process of freeing your mind from self-imposed limits and improving your state of well-being and happiness.
There are various free meditation apps such as ‘Calm’ for example.
