Hello family!
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Today’s newsletter focuses on meditation and mindset. We’ve got stories, statistics, and data.
Let’s get to the treasure!
How Long Does It Take To Get “Good” At Meditation?
Something people often say when they try to meditate for the first time…
“I’m not good at this.”
And I used to respond, “Well, you can’t not be good at it.”
But, I’ve come around.
They’re right. I’m wrong. You can suck at meditation.
That’s because meditation rewires your brain.
Here’s the good news:
It doesn’t take that long for the rewiring to happen. One study found measurable differences in the brain in just 11 hours.
I also recently stumbled across this blog post that breaks down how long it takes to notice particular benefits of meditation:
- 100 Hours – less stress and anxiety; less fear; fewer feelings of loneliness; increased optimism; increased self-esteem; increased focus; improved immune system and energy
- 1000 Hours – almost superhuman focus compared to coworkers, sense of being driven, aware, intuitive; will have experienced deep, psychedelic states; increased capacity to experience love; significantly higher tolerance for pain
- 5000 Hours – much of your ego will dissolve; won’t obsess over emotions, if something comes up you’ll be able to drop it pretty much instantly; deep feelings of peace
But How Do You Meditate?
There are many different types of meditation. But here are two paths I enjoy:
1. Think of nothing. What is nothing? It’s that space before you go to sleep when you’re not dozzing off but you’re not fully awake. When you inevitably start thinking of thoughts… redirect your mind back to nothingness. Here’s the key: because you drifted away from nothingness is NOT bad. What you’re working on is your ability to recognize your own thoughts. So if you catch yourself thinking about your plans for tomorrow, don’t sweat it! Just recognize it and return back to nothing.
2. Let your mind run. Pay attention to your internal voice. Let your thoughts run. What I’ve often found when I do this for one hour is that I will eventually get tired of that voice and it will lead to nothingness. All roads lead to nothing. 😉
Both are great. One isn’t better than other. Try it and see if it works for you.
Don’t worry if you’re doing it “right.” Sitting down for the practice is doing it right.
Bill Buckner Actually Said This
Staying on the topic of the power of the mind…
Tuesday Treasure family member (and my cousin) Ben sent me this incredible story.
In 1986, Bill Buckner made arguably the greatest mistake in sports history.
A routine ground ball went through his legs in Game 6 of the World Series. The New York Mets won the World Series because of Bill’s mistake.
19 days before that happened, here is an actual quote from Buckner:
“The dreams are that you’re gonna have a great series and win. The nightmares are that you’re gonna let the winning run score on a ground ball through your legs. Those things happen, you know. I think a lot of it is just fate.”
What we say matters.
(Source: Trevor Moawad on Impact Theory)
The Election Is Bad For Your Health
What we consume also matters.
You may know this to be true already, but here’s a way to quantify it:
“[H]ospitalizations for cardiovascular disease in the two days following the election were 61 percent higher than in the same two days of the preceding week. The rate of heart attack increased by 67 percent and of stroke by 59 percent in the two days following the election. The results were similar regardless of the age, race or sex of the patients.”
(Source: The New York Times)
If You Watch Three Minutes of News…
And maybe you aren’t worried about a heart attack.
Perhaps this will convince you to pay attention to your morning consumption…
“Individuals who watched just three minutes of negative news in the morning had a whopping 27% greater likelihood of reporting their day as unhappy six to eight hours later compared to the positive condition.”
(Source: Harvard Business Review)
That’s all for today, beautiful people. As always, respond back with your favorite piece of Treasure. It really helps me curate and figure out what to send you next week. 🙂
Sending you all massive love!
To your success,
Danny