Meditation and related practices are widely praised as a near “miracle cure” for increasing wellbeing, reducing depression, and so on. The reality is that “gold-standard” meditation practices act powerfully on the brain, and not always in the direction of increasing wellbeing. There is quite a bit of research into this, from Ivy League universities to mediation halls.
As you experiment with methods following our advice here, even the ones that don’t work for you might still produce a negative emotional reaction in you. Methods that do work for you will act on your system in a way that might also trigger negative emotion at times, and maybe even old traumas and similar things that are stored from the past.
So, what do you need to know to ensure this doesn’t happen to you, and to manage it if it somehow does?
The first thing we recommend in this program is that you immediately stop doing any practice that lowers your wellbeing after one week of one hour a day practice. It’s that simple.
There is nothing in our research that suggests a prolonged “no pain, no gain” type approach is needed to find your fit. You need to give a method a week of one hour a day practice, but that’s it.
Methods that have stood the test of time are often very powerful. It’s important that you treat them with a healthy dose of respect. If you encounter one that consistently produces a less than positive effect on you, you should not assume that continuing to use it will somehow lead to a positive outcome. There’s simply no reason to risk it, given the wide variety of methods that are available.
Having said this, many methods might occasionally bring up a less than positive experience in you. That’s fine. What you want to avoid are the ones that do so consistently, or that bring up very strong negative experiences.
There are many well researched positive psychology exercises that can be used to positively impact your mental and emotional wellbeing. These include things like forgiveness exercises, gratitude exercises, positive intent and visualization type exercises, and more.
Most of the books written about this by the self-help and personal development folks are inaccurate, and their version of these types of methods can actually make you less happy. There are very important nuances that scientists have discovered that are important to get right.
For example, the ever popular method of journaling is not universally good in and of itself. Nor is one way of doing it. People are often told to journal by either reliving the experience or by analyzing it. However, if you relive a negative experience you get less happy, and analyzing a positive experience makes you less happy. So you need to relive happy experiences as you journal and analyze negative ones to get the right effect.
Generally speaking, only the scientists in the space understand this type of detail and build it into their exercises and books. So, I always recommend using their materials. Below are links to books from some of the best researchers. You don’t have to order them if you don’t want to, you can also search for the authors’ names on the internet and learn more about what they recommend that way, as well.
https://www.amazon.com/dp/B000RNKHKI
https://www.amazon.com/dp/B001QVHQZO
https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0032COUT0/
These practices also come in handy if your wellbeing starts to slip as a result of a method you’re trying out. When that happens, just double down on some positive psychology practices and boost your wellbeing back up.
Given that Fundamental Wellbeing is your goal, you might be interested to know that it’s important to have as much wellbeing as you can before you start meditating. That’s one of the best ways to prevent negative experiences during meditation — but it is also one of the best ways to ensure success with transitioning to Fundamental Wellbeing.
Through our research we learned that the higher someone’s wellbeing, the more likely they are to transition to Fundamental Wellbeing using meditation and related practices. It’s important to note that this doesn’t mean that depressed people don’t transition, they do. Even severely depressed people. But, on average, the higher someone’s wellbeing the more likely they are to transition.
This, and the fact that there are so many scientifically proven interventions are available to boost wellbeing, make it obvious that it’s a good idea to use positive psychology methods, and do everything you can to increase your wellbeing while trying to transition to Fundamental Wellbeing. We include these types of practices in all of our research protocols for this reason.
Finally, don’t be afraid to reach out for professional, clinical help if you need it. This can be very helpful. If you don’t have one, we may be able to help you. It’s very important that the person have an in-depth understanding of the effects of meditation and related practices, and of Fundamental Wellbeing. You should definitely get in touch with a clinical professional if you have any intense negative emotional reactions as a result of the practices you try.
Psychological professionals can also be super helpful in clearing the way for you to maximize your practice in general. All too often, people only associate clinicians with problems. However, the reality is that they are highly trained and experienced professionals that can help anyone to thrive in their life. We’ve found that the minority of people who don’t transition using our research protocols often do after a few sessions with a clinician. Typically, they have some trauma issues that are blocking their transition, or some belief system things to clear up. These generally don’t take long to deal with, and then they are able to finally transition into Fundamental Wellbeing.
This takes us up to our final, and most important secret. If you only do this one thing that you’ve probably never even heard of before, it will lead to your best chance of reaching Fundamental Wellbeing …