(This post may contain affiliate links which help make me a little extra money to keep this blog running at no extra cost to you.)

(Make sure you make it to the end for a freebie!)

If you’re like I was, you might think that meditation is cheesy. It’s for monks and people with too much time on their hands. It surely can’t benefit me, right?

That’s exactly what I thought. And then, life got hard. Like, real hard. I graduated from college in May, and even though I’ve found a great job, I’ve been feeling kind of lost lately. I am so used to having a clear goal in mind. Finish this project, do well in this class, graduate from school, find a great job. In college, you’re always working towards something, and now I’m at the end of the line. My whole life has been leading up to finding a good job, and I did it. That should be leave me feeling great, but instead I just feel kind of empty. I don’t really feel like I have a purpose anymore. I’m a naturally a very anxious person, and feelings like that don’t help. In short, I kind of lost myself.

And then I started meditating.

Now don’t get me wrong, meditating is not a panacea for all of life’s problems. But here are some of the ways that meditating has helped me and how I think it can help you too.

1)Reduction in Anxiety and Stress.

When you meditate, you clear your head of everything but the meditation. If you’re anxious, you know how nice it sounds to be able to forget all those worrisome thoughts swirling around in your mind. It does take some practice to be able to do, but meditation can help you to forget your anxious thoughts for a minute. And for me, if I can stop that stress cycle in my head, I feel much better, even when I’m not meditating. Meditation doesn’t take all of the stressful things away, but it helps me to be better prepareded to handle them and feel less stress.

2) Sleep Better.

Another side effect of being anxious is not being able to sleep well. I often lay down in bed and think about all of the things that I need to do tomorrow or that I should have done today. Meditating before bed helps me to clear my mind in order to fall asleep faster and sleep better. And more sleep has a huge impact on how I feel and function.

3) Understand Yourself Better.

This is the big one for me. I thought that meditation was going to be all breathing exercises and imagining happy places. However, I found a great app (more on this later!) that has guided meditations that have really helped me to understand myself better. The meditations have you consider your values and what’s important to you, and set goals in accordance with those values (among many other things). This process has been so useful in overcoming my post-graduation funk. It’s so nice to have quiet time to sit down and think about what’s really important to me and what I can be doing to help myself achieve that.

4) Slow Down and Find Meaning.

I don’t know about you, but my life is go go go! I rarely take a moment to slow down and reflect, but meditation allows me to do so. Slowing down allows me to appreciate all that I have accomplished in the busy moments, as well as reflect on the things that I am grateful for. It seems counterintuitive, but I am much more able to find meaning in everyday when I stop everything and just think for a while.

My favorite meditation app:

You can meditate on your own, but I love guided meditations lately. My favorite app for meditation is called Meditable! I love this app so much because it has so many options in order to meet anyone’s needs.

Pre-made Meditations

Meditable has a huge selection of pre-made meditations in four categories: performance, health, inner balance, and spiritually. I’m not kidding when I say that there is something for everyone here: anything from nailing interviews and acing your exams to exercising regularly, losing weight, and sleeping better, to connecting with your personal values and setting goals. If there is something in your life that you want to improve, there’s a meditation for it. It may sound silly that a fifteen minute meditation can help you achieve these things, but really, most things are about having the right mindset. This app has been great at helping change my mindset in order to achieve more and feel better about myself.

Customizable Meditations

If none of those meditations sound like they will cut it, I’ve got good news for you. Meditable also allows you to customize your own meditations. They have a ton of tracks to choose from that you can order in way you want. Just want a quick five minute meditation? Want to put all of your favorite sequences into the ultimate morning meditation? Want more silence in order to contemplate more? Whatever you want, you can make it happen in a custom meditation.

Freebie!

The very best part is that Meditable has agreed to give 100 of you guys a free three month trial (no strings attached)! Here’s how to get yours and try out meditating for yourself absolutely free!

1. Download Meditable & create an account
2. Tap ‘Profile – then Settings (Gear icon at top right corner) – Tap Subscribe Now button – Tap Got Discount Coupon? button – type in the code “hka”
3. Enjoy Meditable free for 90 days!

This code, “hka” is only good for the first hundreds people or until November 12, so don’t miss out! I’m really excited to be able to share this with you because I really believe this is a great app that you’ll love!