Meditation: How Will I Know It Is Working?

One of the biggest struggles when starting to meditate is uncertainty
about its benefits. We often imagine we’ll get off our cushion feeling blissed
out, but end up just feeling blasé. Without immediate positive feedback, the reward
centers of our brain don’t light up and we lose inspiration to continue our
practice.

The unfortunate truth is that benefits of meditation just
don’t come quickly. Yeah, sometimes there is an immediate grounding or relaxing
effect, but when you are just starting in the practice it often doesn’t stick
around very long.

Also, sometimes meditation can be downright hard or even
painful. After all, you are sitting down with your own mind, observing all
those thoughts that fly around in your head! I don’t know about you, but it can
get ugly some days. We are really being brave by looking at ourselves. It is
normal to not always like what you see.

Some days, you might even feel worse after practice than
when you started. This is okay. Sometimes, this bad feeling is what leads to meditation’s
benefits! For example, you might start to think “gosh, I really hate how
impatient I get” or “I’m so tired of thinking about my ex-boyfriend.” It may
feel unpleasant in the moment, but it can also be the thing that leads you to
change how you relate to events or relationships.

Meditation’s benefits are more likely to be felt in the long
term, after many days, weeks, or months of regular practice. They can be subtle,
and it’s unlikely that you’ll start feeling blissed out every day. You might
just start feeling a bit less overwhelmed, and not even know when, why, or how
it changed. You might start being more clear in your decision-making. A friend
might say “something seems different about you” but not be able to put it into
words.

With all this in mind, I encourage you to persevere in your
practice. Commit to even five or ten minutes on most days for a few months, and
see what starts to happen.

Feeling good, bad, or indifferent immediately after a single
session is not the barometer for whether practice is “working.” Only time,
patience, and looking at your whole life will start to reveal meditation’s
impact.