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Bigstockphoto.com/Young afro american woman meditating. Sport meditation healthy lifestyle concept.

For some reason, there is a bit of a stigma around meditation. The Western world has been slow to pick up more holistic forms of healing, but if we’ve managed to take a liking to Chinese herbs, yoga, and acupuncture, then why can’t we accept meditation as a legitimate practice? If you’re getting into meditation, then you can probably already see how it can truly change your life. And when you find something that can change your life, you want to tell everybody about it! But don’t be surprised if you get a little pushback from your friends—especially those who depend mostly on medication to calm their mind. Hey, they mean well. They just aren’t woke yet! Here are things people will say when you start meditating.

 

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You’re having a crisis, aren’t you?

People automatically assume that if you start meditating, that you’re having a life crisis. Meditation can be seen as equivalent to self-help books. But meditation isn’t a one-time fix; it’s a daily practice and a healthy lifestyle choice. You can and should meditate in good and bad times.

 

 

 

Half Of Your "Friends" Don't Consider You A Friend

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Are you going all hippie on us?

When Americans started doing yoga and getting acupuncture, there was a large group of us that saw that as “Hippie stuff.” Now CEOs on Wall Street swear by yoga for stress-relief and physicians will recommend acupuncture. People are just taking a little longer to accept meditation.

 

 

 

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I need to stay alert so I can’t meditate

This is a silly sentence because meditation actually makes you more alert than ever! Sure, during actual meditation, your eyes are closed, but after meditation, you are more in tune with how the world affects your behaviors, and you are more in control of your responses.

 

 

 

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You think you’re better than us now

Any time you do anything to better yourself, whether that is quitting alcohol or going to the gym, some people will assume you think you’re better than them. These are usually the people who are too afraid to start bettering themselves.

 

 

 

 

 

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Meditation isn’t real—it’s like magic

Actually, real scientific processes take place in the brain during meditation. We know that, for example, when we sleep, we access parts of our brain that we don’t access when we’re awake. So why is it so hard to believe that we can do that through meditation?