I just returned from a two-week break I took as I traveled with my wife to Florida.

I did no writing and few real estate and calls.

But I continued my morning practices and realized just how much meditation has made a difference in my life and business.
I hesitated to talk much about it before, but today I hear about many podcasts about success.

I remember when I started meditating in the 1980s, I told my broker at the real estate company where I worked about how much I thought it was helping me, and he suggested I not tell anyone I practiced.

I guess it was considered “weird” or “out there” at that time.

Today that appears to be over.

I can say over the years, I don’t think there has been one single thing I have done that has had more of an impact on my success and well-being than that practice.

If you have ever considered the practice, I highly recommend it.

That Voice In Your Head

I have learned that we never interact or even see the world as it is.

What does this have to do with businesses?

Well…everything.

What we do is hear a voice in our head and, for the most part, believe what it is saying, then make decisions and take action.

In other words, we mostly just react in life to a voice in our heads.

What voice?

That voice… the one that is probably telling you right now this episode is one perhaps you should pass up….that one.

Consider that voice is not describing reality.

It is the voice that is totally organized around what it thinks it likes and dislikes.

Reality is filtered through that voice, and for the most part, we just accept it as true and react.

But perhaps that voice is not describing what is happening.

What if that voice is filtering what is happening based on what it thinks are its likes and dislikes?

Like…” interest rate hike again. Oh, boy, is that bad. How can we ever make a deal work?”

That voice tells you interest rate hikes are bad.

The voice could even take it another step and say, “…the Democrats and their spending policies caused this issue,’’ or “the republicans, with their debt ceiling shenanigans, are going to take the economy over the cliff,” and totally believe what that voice is telling you.

We make business decisions, and investment decisions, decide who we like and don’t like, and who we trust and don’t trust, totally based on what a voice in our heads is saying.

We rarely, if ever, question that voice or even notice it, for that matter.

We hear it and react.

Sounds crazy, doesn’t it?

But really…isn’t that what we human beings do?

That is what I do.

Until we start meditating.

Then we start to get some relief from that voice.

The most important benefit my meditation practice has given me is space from that voice.

It is not that the voice goes away. It never does.

Meditation allows us to just watch the voice and the thought that create it.

Just watch…not get lost in it.

I have spent years just watching my brain generate thoughts that trigger the voice.

During my practice, there are times when I just watch the thoughts, hear the voice, and I am more connected with that part of me watching the thoughts and voice itself.

I get space from that voice.

Over time, I can carry that space into my everyday life.

Not always, but there are times when things like an interest rate hike don’t appear good or bad.

It is just an interest rate hike.

Yes, my voice will fire up, but there are times when I can just recognize what the voice is saying is just my personal preference and not get lost in the rabbit hole I can fall into if I really think my thoughts and that voice are true.

Meditation has given me that.

I believe that over time, my practice has allowed me to more clearly interreact with people and what is happening in the world.

Make more reliable decisions, not just based on my personal likes and dislikes.

I am not as driven by my personal preferences.

In short, I believe my practice has accelerated my success in self storage.

Other Benefits of Meditation

Some of the more conventional benefits of meditation are:

• Reduced stress and anxiety: Meditation can help reduce the levels of stress hormones such as cortisol and improve our ability to cope with stress. This, in turn, can lead to reduced anxiety and improved overall well-being.
• Improved focus and concentration (mostly because we are not focused on ourselves and what we are thinking).
• Better sleep: Meditation can help calm the mind and reduce racing thoughts, making it easier to fall asleep and get a good night’s rest.
• Lower blood pressure: Research has shown that regular meditation can lower blood pressure, reducing the risk of heart disease and other health problems.
• Improved emotional regulation: Meditation can help individuals develop greater emotional resilience and better regulate their emotions, reducing negative emotions such as anger and sadness (because we get space from our likes and dislikes).
• Increased self-awareness: Through meditation, individuals can develop a deeper understanding of their thoughts, emotions, and behaviors, which can lead to greater self-awareness and self-improvement.
• Enhanced creativity: Meditation has been shown to increase creativity by enhancing divergent thinking, which is the ability to come up with new and innovative ideas.

Interestingly enough, there is also research suggesting that meditation can positively affect the brain. Studies have found that regular meditation practice can increase gray matter in certain areas of the brain associated with attention and emotional regulation (Hölzel et al., 2011), as well as enhance connectivity between brain regions involved in cognitive and emotional processing (Tang et al., 2012).

Conclusion

I suggest you consider learning a meditation practice and incorporating it into your morning routine.

Even during my two-week hiatus, I would never consider not doing my morning meditation practice. It has given me so much over the years, both personally and professionally.