Personal relationships can easily be improved (almost immediately) by meditation. A daily meditation practice will promote healthy, close, loving and lasting relationships - so uncommon in this day of a 50%+ divorce rate!
There are many ways that meditation improves relationships.
Meditation teaches us to be in the present; this ability, as well as adopting a new perspective, lets you appreciate your partner for who they are and seeing the love and beauty in them. In the moment, there is no room for replaying past dramas or worrying about the future.
Marsha Lucas, Ph.D. wrote in “Rewire Your Brain for Love” (2010), that as one’s stress levels decrease due to the practice of mindfulness meditation, they do not overreact to potential “threats”; and that the emotional triggers that cause friction between partners are no longer as powerful.
When a person is not on the defensive, communication is enhanced. The relaxation benefits of meditation last far beyond the meditation session itself, promoting a state of calm throughout one’s life.
Meditation enhances the state of non-attachment. That means that you are able to freely love someone, to enjoy their company and the experiences you share, but without that needy, clingy fear of losing the person.
The Buddhists believe that attachment is the cause of all suffering; and only through non-attachment can we be free to love openly and completely, without fear of loss.
It’s natural and normal for people to become attached to one another, but if you can remove most of the fear-based neediness, your relationships will be free and open. Most of the games we play in relationships are due to fear of loss, and a sense of our own vulnerability and perhaps lack of feelings of self-worth.
Through introspection, meditation brings your “shadows” to light where you can break free of them and pull down the barriers that keep you at a distance from your loved ones.
Self-acceptance is critical to a good relationship - if you cannot love yourself, you cannot love another. Communication improves as you come to understand yourself, and you will become closer than ever.
Meditation allows for deep introspection. Through introspection, you bring your “shadows” to light where you can break free of them and pull down the barriers that keep you at a distance from your loved ones.
Through meditation, you learn to be compassionate by seeing your partner and a given situation from a different perspective; namely, you learn to see things from their point of view. This lets you let go of your attachment to your own perspective and the way you believe things must be.
That doesn’t mean you give up your personal power over to the other person and let them dictate your life - it only means that you are able to empathize with the way they see things. This understanding is the basis of all good communication and mutual agreement.
Even in today’s divorce-happy world, truly loving, lasting relationships are possible, and the probability of this increases if you meditate.
As you enter that altered state of consciousness where you realize your unity with all there is, you will cease to feel a separation between your partner and yourself. Your barriers will come down, and you will radiate a loving, light-filled energy that opens you to a fulfilling, happy intimate relationship.
