The most common advice you will hear about making major decisions is to focus on the present, ignore the future, breathe and make a calm decision. This is really simple advice but it is so difficult to actually respect. Any major decision is going to have an impact on you. Stress levels will go up and in many cases people end up feeling overwhelmed. Looking for a way to relax is very important before every single major decision. This is where meditation can step in to offer a really good helping hand.
Different studies were conducted around the world. It was shown that meditation helps people focus on the current time while also letting go of thoughts about the future or the past. Intensive meditation training will often involve 2 to 5 classes per week for a period of 2 months. The goal is usually to train the participant to achieve meditative state. This helps reduce the focus on the future and the past. The problem is that most people do not go through intensive meditation training. Most people would need short term help from meditation as you do not have to make major decisions so often.
It has been proved in a study that people that listen to 15 minutes of focused breathing guided meditation will be much more prone to resisting the stress associated with major life decisions. This automatically means that there is less negative emotion that appears. Basically, short meditation timeouts reduce the negativity we feel. The conclusion is that when you can take short breaks, timeouts, you will end up thinking a lot better. Unfortunately, this does mean that you will, most likely, need to change the way in which you think. The problem is never that emotions take control when making a major decision. The real problem is the wrong emotions are clouding the decisions you make.
Short Term Versus Long Term Meditation
The effect of even a few mindfulness minutes can be really strong. However, this does not mean that the best approach is to simply start doing a quick meditation whenever something bad happens and a major decision has to be taken. A much better approach would be to practice meditation on the long term.
Meditation will be great for negotiations, making decisions, reducing stress and much more. However, if you just rely on the current situation and you do not practice meditation, problems tend to appear as you might not be able to deal with the situation you are faced with. As you often meditate and mindfulness becomes a part of your weekly routine you end up being much more able to react to stressful situations when they appear. That is because mindfulness becomes a part of your way of being.
Should You Meditate?
Absolutely. The benefits of meditation cannot be dismissed. They are going to help you with many important decisions in your life. However, this does not mean it is a certainty, especially when you are just starting out. Meditation is all about practice. You need to be able to master it.