What does a great personality mean to you? Does it translate to someone dressed up to the nines or is it someone who is friendly, has a positive attitude and can maintain equanimity in the trough or peaks of life? Our personality is an expression of who we are and not just how we look. Meditation blossoms your personality; it brings out the best in you. Curious to know how it works?
How does meditation work?
A Nutritional supplement for the mind – meditation
We are a bundle of energy; but for most of us we never use that reservoir beyond childhood. Meditation helps us to switch on that supply. When we get in touch with our core, we radiate and shine like a star, our charming qualities blooms, enhancing us—both physically and mentally. Read on to know how meditation makes our personality more attractive.
Stop worrying by meditating
Worrying is by far our worst enemy and it pulls us down like nothing else does. And what do we worry about – usually about something that hasn’t happened! And then we live in constant fear and anxiety.
We can stress ourselves out, fret, and be worried sick, losing our health, glow, and spark or we can prepare ourselves for surprises. We can plan! We can hope for the best and be prepared for the worst.
This is where meditation helps in a big way. It reduces our stress, worries and fears and brings serenity, which gets reflected on our face and personality.
Widen your Horizons
Challenging yourself and heading out towards greater things in life will enhance your personality and make you fearless.
Meditation changes the personality through positive affirmations
To achieve anything you need to have complete confidence in yourself. How do you ensure that? By telling yourself
“I can do it!”
“I feel terrific!”
“I am responsible!”
These are not just words; you can convert these words into an experience. How?
First, you have to find what’s holding you back? Failures? A lost chance, perhaps! Not been able to live up to expectations of others and your own?
Moments when you have felt low, doubted yourself, questioned your faith! But did you notice that these were just moments in our life that don’t exist anymore? Holding on to those few moments and memories will do nothing to pull you up; instead they make you more despondent.
When you meditate, it is easier to let go of hurtful experiences. “Meditation makes you live in the moment making you feel completely new. This moment has immense possibilities”, quotes Priya Rao, a meditation teacher.
When you experience how powerful you are, then, needless to say, you feel confident. Meditation makes you experience that confidence and courage.
Meditate to discover your life’s purpose
Have you noticed the difference in your approach when you do something out of love and when you do something out of obligation?
Radhika Srivastava, International Faculty, the Achieving Personal Excellence (APEX) program believes that while commitments have their own place in our lives, knowing who we are and what we really want from life makes us aware of our limitations and helps us strive for excellence.
“In meditation, we get in touch with our higher self. You discover your passion, something that gives you a splash of freshness in this mundane life,” remarks Priya Rao.
In a way, meditation makes your life more fulfilling because it helps you hear your heart’s yearning. When you are happy, you can complete even the most mundane of tasks in no time and are also able to find personal time to do things that define you. When you find fulfillment in life, it shows on your face, and in your personality.
Meditate and get more compassionate to develop your personality
Your day seems brighter when you receive an unexpected favor from someone – especially on a bad hair day. It enlivens that "something" within you that makes you happy. That’s one aspect of compassion – being compassionate to the person in front of us.
Another aspect is to be compassionate to the one within. Meditation helps nurture the seed of compassion that is already there. “Accepting that everyone, including us, has flaws helps us love ourselves”, expresses Radhika Srivastava.
An undying spirit of enthusiasm ensures success in the long term and shines through our personality. And a person who is soft on their own self and others is always a pleasure to be with.
Know more on how to be more compassionate
Meditation as confidence and courage booster
It’s the night before your Mathematics exam, and numbers always made you queasy. Meditate to relax those stressed nerves. It immediately focuses the mind and brings in clarity, helping you solve those problems in calculus with élan; boosting your confidence and courage.
Instead of giving meditation a shot a day before the D-day it would be a good idea to decide on a regular time daily for meditation; that might require rescheduling your day but it will pay off in the long run. All your meditation sessions might not be profound experiences sometimes it can just turn out to be a woolgathering session, there will be days when your thoughts are all over the place and you are a bundle of restlessness. Never mind, be at it! Consistency pays off. Another sure shot way to dive deep into meditation is by practicing the Sudarshan Kriya daily. It’s a simple unique technique to drop stress and negative emotions and reconnect with your self.
Meditation changes personality by helping to communicate effectively
Have you noticed how you know a person’s personality even before they speak? Our presence often speaks volumes about us that even words can’t convey at times. Aren’t you naturally attracted to a person who is radiating joy, love, and enthusiasm? A few minutes in meditation every day can help cleanse our presence of stress and we float in a sea of positivity.
But what about what we communicate through words?
“Effective communication calls for refinement of our thoughts and emotions”, remarks Radhika Srivastava. Meditation brings clarity to our thoughts, sharpens our intellect and helps us perceive situations without judgement. We are therefore able to express ourselves in a way that makes sense and base our decisions on sound facts.
Develop your personality by appreciating others’ efforts
Just an occasional pat on your back – isn’t that inspiring enough to make you try harder? Many times, the best in us shines through when it is appreciated. That’s because people notice qualities in us we never knew existed!
“Appreciating others uplifts our consciousness as well as that of the other person. It also creates a warm and conducive atmosphere around us. Make sure you are not being a fake, however”, remarks Radhika Srivastava.
In meditation, we are able to overcome prejudiced thoughts, which do not allow us to connect with the other person. When we are able to transcend such thoughts, a sense of belongingness and caring develops and we start appreciating even their smallest efforts. “When the appreciation is coming straight from the heart, it will definitely touch the other person. This way, meditation brings out the best in us and also in others, and makes us a friendlier person,” adds Priya Rao, a meditation teacher.
Meditation helps to take sound decisions and help improves personality
Have you noticed the constant tussle in our mind? Every moment of our life, we are taking decisions, consciously or unconsciously. It's the choices that make us who we are, and we can always choose to do what's right. But how do we guarantee that the choices we make today will help us in the long run? We can when we are clear in our mind. And it is that clarity that gives us confidence to have a great personality and be an achiever. “Meditation refines our thoughts and intuition. It also settles our emotions and sharpens our intellect. This helps us take sound decisions,” quotes Radhika Srivastava.
Develop personality by maintaining equanimity
Do you agree that your life is nothing short of a roller-coaster ride with its ups and downs? And to achieve something in life, it is imperative that we keep moving with equanimity. There are things we all want to do, but might not always be able to. And there are times we accomplish goals we never thought we could. Each of these moments might overwhelm us with grief or excitement respectively.
“A meditator takes the best from each situation and doesn’t get swayed by it. Meditation brings the wisdom that both the good and the bad times shall pass. And the only thing that’s permanent is change,” quotes Radhika Srivastava. So don’t let the tough times beat you and the good times take you by surprise. This attitude makes you friendly and cheerful. This, on the whole, reflects in your personality.
Physical Appearance
As a 7th grader, you probably would have read that light travels faster than sound. But you really got to see this knowledge in action when you found people forming opinions of you from your looks even before you spoke to them. That’s probably why so much importance is given to the way we look.
Today, our gait, our dressing sense, and the way we carry ourselves greatly defines who we are. And the good news is that you can easily inculcate these qualities in silence. When you meditate, you glow. That’s because you are able to delete stress from each cell’s memory and give your skin a direct boost of energy. When you look beautiful naturally, you tend to feel more confident about yourself, and that shows in the way you carry yourself. Needless to say, you will leave a mark in the minds and hearts of people around you.
Based on inputs from :
Priya Rao, Sahaj Samadhi Meditation teacher Radhika Srivastava, International Faculty, the Achieving Personal Excellence (APEX) program, and Puravi Hegde, International Faculty, the Achieving Personal Excellence (APEX) program