Meditation and Self Discovery
By Delaney Galvin
Photography by Mary Louise Sprague
About six months ago, I went through a really difficult time mentally.
I was suddenly questioning everything about my life and who I was on an existential level. It was a time in which I felt drowned in thoughts about identity and self-reflection, but it was also the first time in a long time that I felt extremely free and open to decide how I wanted to live my life and discover new things about my body and mind. To center myself and my thoughts, I turned to mindfulness and specifically meditation.
I had dabbled in meditation a few times as a kid because my therapists had always suggested it. I remember getting one of those meditation apps on my iPod and trying to do one guided meditation per day. I don’t think this lasted very long because I was an active kid and thought that sitting quietly for five minutes was pretty boring, but this time around, I was determined to stick with it, and I have (for the most part).
I’ve been challenging myself to do at least one meditation a day, whether that be to start or end my day, and I can’t stress enough how much peace and happiness it has brought me. Meditation allows me to sit alone with my thoughts and acknowledge them, but not focus on them.
For an anxious and overthinking brain, this is a huge step and a weight lifted off of my shoulders.
Before my mind would take an idea and run with it in every direction, I can now stay calm, realize how I’m feeling, accept it, and move on. In the beginning, it was more difficult to do this, but just as a daily workout trains a muscle, a daily meditation trains the brain. Over time, meditation and clearing my mind has become easier and easier, and it has helped me realize things about myself that I would’ve never been able to discover without it. It has made me a more confident person and taught me so many lessons about self-love and giving grace and forgiveness to myself and others.
If you’re interested in meditating but not quite sure how to start, you can look up “Guided Meditation” on YouTube, and you’ll instantly have thousands of videos to choose from. There is also a series on Netflix called Headspace Guide to Meditation, which is a great resource for beginners to learn about what meditation has to offer, and you can also follow a guided meditation at the end of each episode.
Even if you think that your brain is too messy and active to try meditation, I promise that continually trying will eventually get you somewhere, and nobody gets it on the first try. I find my mind wandering even after six months of practice, but the beauty of meditation is learning how to reel the brain back in when it goes off on a spiral. There are plenty of ways to center yourself and create a peaceful headspace— and anyone can do it. I hope you give it a try; you never know what you could discover.
