Compassion meditation helps people decrease depression. This article will show you how to apply these exciting ideas to your life and relationships.
My practice has provided numerous cases where clients have benefited from thinking in more compassionate ways. No expensive anti-depressants were needed to help many clients.
I view compassion meditation as a combination of meditation practice and cognitive restructuring or re-shaping thought patterns in constructive ways. And what an enjoyable way to decrease depression.
The point is to improve the way you see people in general, and to react more favorably to situations by changing your thoughts and interpretations of them.
Instead of getting mad at someone who is rude or mean to you, stop and think more positive and constructive thoughts. Ask yourself if there is a better way to see and handle the situation.
Let's say someone cuts in front of you in the line at the grocery store. You can choose to get angry and tell them off. Or, you can just let it go. A compassionate response will work like a charm!
You could react by thinking, "People are so selfish ... I think I'll tell that guy off! This is such a bad day, I can't wait until it's over. Why does something have to happen when I'm in a hurry? I can't get a break!" Or you could substitute that for a healthier thought ... one that will not leave you feeling depressed.
For example, you could use the following self-talk pattern to decrease depression:
"I feel sorry for that person who just cut in line ahead of me. I wonder what has gone wrong in his life that he feels he must treat people this way. At any rate, I am not going to let this small event make me feel badly. I don't need any more stress. I'll choose to think about the great dinner I'm going to make for my family when I get home."
People often feel depressed because of the negative meaning they attribute to an event. But it's just as easy to assign a positive meaning to an event and to make our self-talk more positive and beneficial.
If you see a situation as terrible, chances are, you'll make yourself feel terrible about it. Pay close attention to the thoughts you think and the way they make you feel (you can do this when meditating, too). You can feel better by re-framing the situation in a more positive light. You will feel better and your relationships will improve because you'll be putting a more positive spin on human behavior.
You may have to practice replacing your old negative interpretations with healthier ones, but you can do it - and once you have built new habits, you'll feel better in lots of ways. Negative mindsets tend to bring us more stress than positive ones.
And they lead to more problems!
Meditation can help you replace those old habits with healthier ones, allowing you to attract more opportunities for success.
You may choose to meditate to increase your compassion for people, decrease depression and stress, and improve your perceptual style.
There are many ways to meditate. In essence, compassion meditation involves becoming more self-aware and acutely aware of the love and concern you feel for people, encouraging an awareness of the love you feel for others to swell within you. Some have described the process as getting in touch with the natural compassion you have buried within.
By meditating on compassionate thoughts, our awareness of the needs and problems of other people grows and grows, instilling an appreciation for the whole human family within us. A love for everyone takes root in our consciousness as we push our negative thoughts aside and concentrate on uplifting ones.
The longer we sit in the glow of compassion's inner flame, the more we will want to do right by everyone. It is a mysterious but powerful process that will lead to inner peace and a deep-seated happiness.
I am fond of sitting in meditation in a quiet room, getting past my thoughts, and patiently waiting for a new awareness to appear in my mind as to how I can be of more help to others. If I wait long enough, invariably I will arrive at a deeper understanding of the lives and problems of others and a clearer idea will form as to how I can behave in kinder and more compassionate ways in my dealings with people.
If I am having problems with someone, I may ask for images or impressions to appear which will help me to solve the problems in a loving and compassionate way. Surprisingly helpful images, holding the key to understanding the situation in a helpful new way, seldom fail to appear.
Often meditation helps me to get in touch with my darker side and the mistakes I am making, so it gives me a chance to correct past mistakes and prevent future mistakes.
There are many ways to increase your compassion through meditation. They say a journey of a thousand miles begins with the first step. What's important is simply taking that first step, which is the hardest one for most people.
Meditation may seem difficult at first, but if you keep at it, you'll soon develop success. Compassion meditation will take time to change you, but if you stay with it, it will deepen your life, help you solve your relationship problems, and bring you many gifts. Best of all, meditation can decrease depression and make you feel stronger and more centered within.
As time goes by, you'll find yourself becoming less depressed, more helpful to people, and more joyful!
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