How Practicing and Teaching Meditation Is My Key to Wellbeing

Subhajit Goswami, Teva’s Sr. Director, Manufacturing, explains how meditation can be used to promote wellbeing and combat stressful situations in our professional and personal lives. When faced with challenging situations at work, for example, learnings gained from meditation can be very effective in managing our reactions. Using meditation to promote wellbeing has demonstrable advantages, and research shows that those who are proactive in assuring their own wellbeing are more engaged, productive and satisfied with their work.

For me, wellbeing is the state of being happy, satisfied, and contented. It’s about having an optimistic outlook and a positive mindset when facing the ongoing challenges of life, as well as having the clarity about what needs to be done to overcome them. In addition to physical aspects, we need to also ensure mental wellbeing, which includes our mind, heart, and soul. And the third pillar upon which wellbeing rests is the social domain, nurturing the relationships we have with our family, friends, colleagues, and society.

Alongside the personal rewards, when we prioritize wellbeing, there are great benefits to our professional lives. Research has shown that individuals who are proactive in assuring their own wellbeing, are more engaged, productive, and satisfied with their work. They display more pro-social behaviors that lead to mutually rewarding engagements with their coworkers. And they continually seek out new learning and growth opportunities.

My journey to discovering a powerful enabler of wellbeing started during my MBA studies, when I began looking into the idea of self-actualization, which American psychologist Abraham Maslow refers to as the last level where humans can perform at their maximum potential. During this search, I was introduced to the international bestselling book Ikigai, The Japanese Secret To A Long And Happy Life, which elaborates on the concept of self-actualization and finding our inner peace. In this book, it is noted that meditation plays a central role in finding this inner peace along with true purpose and meaning in life.

Instantly and intuitively, I knew that meditation would be very powerful for my own wellbeing and self-actualization. So, I set out to learn as much as I could about it and how to practice it in a way that would be as fulfilling as I knew it could be. Ever since, for the past 15 years, I have been meditating daily, and have found meditation to be extremely beneficial for my mental and emotional wellbeing.

During the early part of my career, I would find certain situations to be quite stressful. This, not surprisingly, impacted my wellbeing. But through meditation I have learned that while we can’t change what happens around us, we can change how we react to different situations. This is because meditation, also known as ‘thoughtless awareness’ or ‘mental silence,’ enables us to connect our internal energy (which lies dormant within us) with the outside cosmic energy.

I devote 15 minutes in the morning and 15 minutes in the evening of every day to meditation. It’s effortless and helps me to achieve so much – a state of mental balance, inner peace, and contentment.

In fact, meditating has been so powerful for my own life, that I felt inspired to share the experience with my community. I volunteer to teach effortless meditation techniques at various organizations, schools, and colleges as part of stress management and yoga workshops conducted by them. It allows us to learn and experience a unique method of meditation, rooted in ancient spiritual knowledge and achieve innate peace and harmony in our daily lives. This experience is profoundly fulfilling and very enriching.

We have only one life to live, which makes the journey of each one of us so special. And that’s why it’s so important to live it right and well, with balance, inner peace, and contentment.

I also believe that it’s important to have a broader purpose in life. Contributing to the wellbeing of my community is one way to achieve this goal. Hence I am both committed to meditation for my own wellbeing, as well as to sharing the wonderful benefits of this practice for the wellbeing of my community. And in closing, I encourage anyone reading this to give thoughtless awareness a second thought. You won’t regret it!

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