This article was written by Cathy Bonner, 

co-founder of the Meditation Bar, Austin’s first secular meditation studio.

When I worked for Governor Ann Richards she used to tell her staff, “You can get a lot of work done if you don’t care who gets the credit.”

She meant it as a stimulant for her staff to stop worrying about who gets the credit for a good idea or completion of a task.  Just do the work and forget trying to take credit for a job well done.  This is a hard task for people who work in politics where accomplishments are all about saying, “Hey look at me.  I did it.”

There is another way Ann’s wisdom rings true for individual performance.  It is about what you do in your life that adds up on your private scale of happiness.  This is where mindfulness tips the scales and who gets the credit for you living a mindful life?  I believe your secret sauce is found in the daily practice of meditation.

Many of us want to find the silver bullet, the perfect exercise, the relationship to make us happier, or even the pill that makes bad stuff bearable.  You don’t realize the credit could go to you, yourself and yours.

Meditation is exercise for your mind and the science is clear.  Meditation can grow grey matter, slow down your heart rate, bring down your blood pressure, help you sleep better, improve relationships, and even help you decrease headaches.

We have a client at the Meditation Bar that after suffering from migraines she found that the only relief she found was with meditation.  Of course she uses other tools to manage her headaches, but nothing has given her relief that meditation gives her.

Meditation is the new medication.  Doctors are desperate to find a way people can approach pain and anguish without opioids and other medications.  We see people every day that are being told by the medical community to try meditation.

What is it like to live mindfully?  You know how when something bad happens… someone cuts you off on the road or a boss cuts you off mid-sentence?  Meditation allows you to stop and decide how you are going to respond instead of instantly reacting…sometimes not in a good way.  Sometimes you take a minute to breathe and decide the slight isn’t worth a response.  Being mindful allows you see life from a perspective of observing it but not having to get caught up in the madness of life.

Is a mindful life a spiritual life?   It certainly can be.  Meditation can take you to a place where spiritual awareness and growth can easily take place.  Many people feel like they are meditating when they pray.  Many artists are for sure meditating when they are creating their art.  That is why painters have to paint and dancers have to dance or they won’t be a whole person and won’t fulfill their purpose.

You can do meditation daily anywhere and anytime.  It can be ten minutes or thirty minutes.  Many people think they can’t meditate because they can’t empty their mind.  Your mind’s job is to think so the goal in meditation is NOT to NOT think.

As thoughts come up just put them in the corner of the room and think, “I will deal with you later.  You can wait until I am ready to bring you back into my life.”

Only you can do your own meditation.  Only you can discover a different way to live…a mindful way to live.  No one else or no one thing gets the credit.