When I asked a room of 100 leaders, “Who loves to meditate?”

Three people raised their hand.

Despite meditation being the most popular skill that’s touted to manage stress – there’s a lot of resistance to the technique.

This weekend, I had a phone call with a friend I haven’t talked with in a few years.

She’s a meditation teacher and spends upwards of four hours a day meditating. (WOW!)

When I shifted my speaking topic from networking to offering keynotes and training programs on workforce resilience, we lost touch.

Partly because life happened.

Partly because we have very different beliefs on meditation. That made for some frustrating conversations.

She believes I’m against meditation.

For the record, I’m not.

I’ve had various meditation practices over the years – some more helpful for me than others.

Among my favourite memories are

• a 5-day silent retreat and
• a sniper training adventure in California that was specifically designed to enhance meditation for those diagnosed with ADD / ADHD.

My friend is right that I don’t believe meditation is the end-all-be-all for everyone when it comes to taking control of stress.

Meditation may be part of the solution to regulate your stress; it’s not the whole solution.

As I’ve expanded my coaching and training practice, one of the most fascinating observations to me is how each client’s solution is different.

The reason clients come to me is the same.

• They are sick and tired of working long hours and feeling constantly stressed.
• They regret how little quality time they spend with their family and how little they’ve focused on their health.
• Ultimately, they still want to be successful, they just want to do so with more ease.

The majority of my clients shift from stressed to ease, from overloaded to balanced.

They don’t achieve this beautiful state of being by meditating.

They achieve it by neutralizing the angst within the daily grind.

If meditation has been your saving grace and is something that positively impacts your stress levels – I’m 100% behind your success.

Please don’t stop or waver on your belief about the power of meditation; the benefits are proven.

My goal is to offer hope for those who find meditation is not the magic elixir they hoped.

My methodology for problem-solving does not discourage regulating stress in your body via meditation.

I just believe it’s easier and more sustainable to strategically problem solve.

What I’ve repeatedly seen is that when you learn how to neutralize angst when you’re in the middle of crunch times, you free mental and emotional capacity to do whatever healthy lifestyle activity you choose.

That may include meditation, exercise, naps, reading, creating, visiting with friends, or any other activity that lights your soul.

• If you had more space in your days, what healthy activity would you add to your routine?
• Is it something you’ve tried to do before but failed?
• Why?
• Are you just too busy to focus on what you want?
• Do you push your health aside to deal with fires at work?
• What has to happen for you to finally prioritize you and rewrite your stress story?

Allison “Meditate If It Works For You, Let’s Talk If It Doesn’t” Graham

P.S. I’d love to hear your answers to the above questions! I’m on the other side of this email if you want to rewrite your stress story to create more ease in your life – without losing your edge.