Hate the idea of meditating? I did too.

Let me tell you about a woman I once knew. You could describe her as a Type-A personality. You know the ones: successful, ambitious and driven but also completely stressed out and overworked. Wine was her relaxation of choice, and you could say she was very opposed to the idea of sitting still.

She figured meditation wouldn't work for her because her mind was just too busy. Besides, she had other more "important things" to spend her attention on, like running her business.

But 20 years ago, a good friend convinced her to try out meditation, and reluctantly she agreed.

Would you be surprised to hear that it changed her life? That she was able to calm her busy mind and grow into a more balanced and centered person? And repair the relationships in her life?

Would you be surprised to learn that that woman is me?

The Monkey Mind

I know what it is like to have an extremely active mind. In fact, most of us do. But, it isn't until we take a moment to meditate that we realize how busy it actually is.

Thoughts quickly come and go and can take you far off in one direction without ever warning you. You might start off thinking about the dishes you have to do later and end up pondering how clapping is just hitting yourself because you like something!

Some meditators call this the “monkey mind.” Once we learn how to calm down the monkey a bit, we can enjoy mindfulness in every aspect of our life. In fact, our minds can become sharper and our thoughts clearer. This allows us to get more organized and make better decisions.

A recent study from Harvard Medical School demonstrated that meditating causes changes in brain waves that actually improve the brain’s functionality! Neuroscientist Dr. Fred Travis argues that this heightened attention, and the ability to think quickly to deal with problems, is the fire starter behind the creativity that often leads to success.

Take it from the late Apple co-founder Steve Jobs, who practiced Zen meditation: “If you just sit and observe, you will see how restless your mind is. If you try to calm it, it only makes things worse, but over time it does calm, and when it does, there’s room to hear more subtle things — that’s when your intuition starts to blossom and you start to see things more clearly and be in the present more.”

Use a Gentle Reminder to Stay Mindful

Here is a simple mindfulness technique you might find useful. Try wearing a bracelet or something that moves around (a loose wristband, for example). Each time you notice it moving throughout the day, it will remind you to be more mindful.

The sight and feel of it will bring your mind back to the present when it gets lost in thoughts. This is a great strategy to build that "attention muscle" for those with especially active monkeys!