Over the last few decades, there has been a consistent rise in the number of people in the Western world who are interested in meditation and mindfulness practices. Despite this, the vast majority of people still report having just a hazy understanding of what meditation actually is.

In order to understand the effects of meditation, we must first have a general understanding of the three processes that take place in the brain whenever it tries to form an impression of the outside world:

Attention, Awareness and The “Emotion Network”

The act of paying attention is like using a spotlight since it surveys one’s area of conscious awareness and selects certain things for further investigation. This then “focuses” on them, which brings them to the forefront of our consciousness and maintains them there.

Awareness is like putting out a wide net. Instead of focusing on specific things, it is a general processing of everything that our senses can pick up.

Neurotransmitters are used by the brain’s “emotion network,” which is in charge of making basic signals like pleasure, tension, fear, etc.

These three processes have an effect on how you perceive the world around you. What you are consciously focusing on is governed by attention, but attention can be told to focus on something different by awareness. If the “emotional” weight is connected by the emotion network, then the stronger the signal to switch focus.

Imagine you and a friend are discussing some issues while you are both enjoying a cup of coffee at a local coffee shop. Although you are aware of the lousy traffic outside and the conversations of others around you, you are still not paying attention to either of those things.

These interruptions do not strike you as odd, and you would much rather give your attention to what your friend has to say. But things are going to be different if there is an abrupt, loud scream that comes from outside. A scream makes your brain realize that it relates to an emotional response such as fear or alarm. And suddenly, you just ask yourself questions like “Am I in danger?” or “Is there a threat to me?”, and your conscious mind and your emotional network work together to send a powerful signal to your attention that says, “Hey, pay attention! Now is the time to focus! As a result, you stop listening to your friend and go to the window to see what’s going on in the outside world.

The Aged Brain And The Ongoing Stress

Unfortunately, this way of processing the world arose when people were living in the wilderness as hunters and gatherers. Since then, our brains have not altered much, so this manner of processing the world has persisted. Our cognitive capabilities have not kept pace with the rapid pace of societal and technological advancement. As a direct consequence of this, we do not adapt well to the modern world.

Dopamine used to be triggered by eating an exceptionally delicious berry, but today it’s triggered by getting a “like” on your social media posts. When we were younger, a sudden surge of fear or anxiety would prompt us to run away from a tiger; these days, we feel it in response to a looming deadline at work.

As a consequence of this mismatch between the brain and society, attention, consciousness, and the emotional network are all functioning improperly. The current way of living has resulted in an overdevelopment of our emotional networks while simultaneously stunting the growth of our attention. In point of fact, the emotion network can finally circumvent the need for conscious thought. Instead, the signal is transmitted straight to the prefrontal cortex, which is where it stays until it prompts a reaction in our behavior without our conscious knowledge.

Imagine your coworker had a difficult day at work and is now expressing dissatisfaction with the supper that you made for them. Because there is a direct connection between the emotional signal of annoyance and the response when there is a supercharged emotion network, there is less room for error. It is more likely that you will take the criticism as an attack on yourself and react angrily or irritably without realizing why you are feeling that way.

It’s unfortunate, but one of the more common negative effects is an uptick in the likelihood of feeling anxious and depressed. Our emotional network becomes proficient at sending stress signals as a result of the abundance of stressful stimuli, such as the demands of work and family, financial concerns, and time spent commuting. This results in the formation of a stress network that is always active, which can lead to feelings of anxiety, hopelessness, and exhaustion. On the other hand, in contrast to suddenly seeing a tiger, your stress may appear, then gradually decrease and vanish once you’ve left the area.

How Practicing Meditation Can Be Helpful

Through the practice of meditation, which involves training our thoughts, we can learn two specific and important skills.
To begin with, it improves our ability to concentrate and focus. In the stillness of meditation, we can practice and hone our ability to pay attention by centering our attention on something that is relatively uninteresting but unchanging, such as the breath, and then gently bringing the mind back to the breath whenever it wanders off. This develops the brain circuits that are necessary for attention.

Second, regular meditation helps to bring our emotional network into balance and keeps our awareness level steady. The straightforward mechanistic activities of meditation, which include calm, consistent breathing as well as skilled focus and awareness, help to calm and soften the signals sent by the emotional network. With this help, our emotional responses, such as irritation, anxiety, and pleasure, no longer have direct access to our prefrontal cortex and, as a result, they are unable to govern our responses.

Instead, they can be sifted through our awareness and focus in a more deliberate manner. In the end, the emotional reaction acts as a trigger in and of itself. Through the practice of meditation, we can have the ability to observe and understand our feelings rather than allow them to control us. The more you use this skill, the more aware you will become of how your thoughts and feelings come and go. This will help you respond to situations with more objectivity and less emotion the more you use it.

The Benefits Of Maintaining A Consistent Practice

Your mental prowess will grow to match the level at which you learn these skills. When you first start meditating, you will most likely notice an improvement in your ability to concentrate and a reduction in the number of distractions that you face. In addition to having other positive effects, this is likely to have a positive impact on productivity.

The second thing that you will become aware of with time is that you will feel happier and more comfortable; your thoughts will stop incessantly bouncing between a variety of anxieties and stresses, and instead they will be a lot more serene. In the long run, as your mindfulness practice grows, you will become more aware of your thoughts and feelings on a moment-to-moment basis, which will enable you to respond more objectively to all of life’s various circumstances.

Imagine that you are a body of water, and the various occurrences and experiences of your life are the waves. In the absence of mediation, you are like a puddle in which even the tiniest wave can stir up all the individual water droplets. On the other hand, you are like a deep lake when you meditate. Even though a wave can appear over you, there is a deep reservoir of tranquility beneath it.

Now Is The Time To Practice

You may get started with your meditation practice with the help of a variety of materials, such as apps and books, which are available to you. No matter where you begin, maintaining consistency is the most crucial thing. You won’t get the full benefits of meditating until you do it on a regular basis. If at all possible, you should meditate every day.

The practice of meditation is nothing more or less than an inquiry into oneself. Your capacity for self-understanding and compassion will increase proportionately to the amount of attention and awareness training you put in.

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