As humans we all make mistakes. However, there is a way to reduce mistakes in life, it is to recognise them and not to keep repeating them again. In order to achieve this, we need to increase self-awareness and meditation can help you accomplish this.
In this article, we look at a study from Brain Science Magazine*, which demonstrates how regular meditation can improve the ability to recognise your mistakes, even if you are new to meditation.
The findings included:
- Conscious error recognition – This is the brain’s ability to identify mistakes. We all make mistakes sometimes, this is completely natural. However, it’s essential for our brain to have the capacity to recognise a mistake so that we don’t make the same mistakes again. This is true for all realms of life, whether it’s physical, emotional or mental.
- If you want to make fewer mental mistakes, meditate! – Researchers recruited 200 people who had never meditated and led them through a guided 20-minute meditation. After meditating, participants took computerised tests where their brain activity was measured using electroencephalography (EGG) both during meditation and whilst taking the test. Participants who meditated and made a mistake on the tests and recognised their mistakes showed an increase in specific neural signals known as conscious error recognition. This is what represents the brain’s ability to identify mistakes.
- The final analysis – Whilst the study did not find that meditation reduces the number of mistakes people make during the computerised tests, it did show that the practice of meditation does increase ‘awareness of mistakes’. This is crucial because, in order to make fewer mistakes and the prevention of it happening again, we need to be aware of our mistakes.
*This study was published in Brain Science Magazine, September 2019.
Start your regular practice of meditation today. Experience for yourself its profound positive effects with one of our many skilled instructors at DeRose Meditation.