7 Reasons to Integrate Buddhist Principles Into Your Life

Do you have a spiritual center?

Spirituality is an incredibly important part of life that we shouldn’t discount—what we believe provides our guiding principles, informing every action we take and affecting the very direction of our lives. And if you’ve been looking for a spiritual center that will improve your life in tangible ways, look no further than Buddhism.

Buddhism fits neatly within any lifestyle. Its founder, the Buddha, once said, “Believe nothing, no matter where you read it, or who said it, no matter if I have said it, unless it agrees with your own reason and your own common sense.” Integrating Buddhist principles into your life doesn’t require you to give up your existing belief system—in fact, as we’re going to see, it will only serve to help you live out your own personal beliefs all the better!

Most of all, Buddhism is simply focused on living a meaningful life that is marked by kindness toward yourself and others. It’s about the process of figuring out what actually works in order to achieve these things.

Interested? If you are, come along with us as we go through the best 7 reasons to integrate Buddhist principles into your life.

You’ll Heal Yourself Through Meditation

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The Buddhist concept of meditation seems impenetrable and mysterious to many, but it is simply a conscious effort to change how the mind works.

You may work hard to be a better person, but unless you can change the underlying desires that fuel negative habits, your work may not get you far. Meditation helps you to become aware of those desires so that you can transform them into something more constructive.

Why not give it a try? Sit in a comfortable position—but not so comfortable that you fall asleep—and close your eyes. Focus on your breathing for a few moments, and don’t judge any thoughts that pop into your mind. Just push them aside and refocus on your breathing.

Once you feel calm and detached, visualize, within your mind, your bad habit—in this case, we’ll go with smoking. Imagine that you’re stressed or bored, and your pack of cigarettes is right in front of you. You feel a desire to smoke. Now, in your visualization, imagine yourself having a strong desire not to smoke. Hold this desire until the urge to smoke passes away. Now, allow yourself to feel proud that you resisted.

Do this enough, and you’ll begin to change your habit!

You’ll Cultivate Mindfulness

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Too many of us live in a state where we constantly obsess over the past or fret about the future—few are able to live consistently in the present. Thankfully, we can learn to live in the now by cultivating the Buddhist principle of mindfulness.

Mindfulness is all about getting rid of conditioned reactions, which allows you to engage with the present moment all the more effectively. For example, if certain sights, smells, or sounds throw you backward into some traumatic memory, ruining your day, you may need to practice mindfulness to make to regain control of your mind.

Practicing mindfulness is simple. Pick something that catches your attention—it could be a tree outside of your window, the texture of the couch beneath your hand, or some favorite object. Focus on whatever you’ve chosen. Now, try your best to think about nothing, leaving your entire mind filled with the object, and nothing else. Hold this for as long as you can.

Hard, isn’t it?

Over time, your attention span will increase, as will your resilience against interruption—you won’t be as easily “pulled” into the mental past or future.

Try it!

You’ll Grow in Patience

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Patience is a virtue that is seldom cultivated anymore—after all, we’re all now accustomed to fast service and instant information. But few realize how vital patience is to our mental health.

The Buddha considered patience to be one of the highest virtues, and for good reason. Having patience means having the capacity to accept delay or difficulty without getting upset.

We’re all confronted by these things nearly every day of our lives—you can’t escape them, so why allow them to negatively affect your life? When you are impatient, you make yourself suffer through increased stress, and so having patience means you’re treating yourself with kindness and compassion.

Impatience arises when our environment doesn’t conform to our expectations—we don’t have control. The Buddha taught that the difference between reality and what we want is the source of all suffering, and that to find peace, we must manage our expectations.

They key, here, lies in refocusing your attention. When impatience arises, ask yourself if there is anything you can do to change the situation. No? Then purposefully focus on positive thoughts. Find something around you that piques your curiosity or interest. This redirects your energy from impatience to something more healthy and productive.

Try patience—it will change your life.

You’ll Learn to Let Go

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As we’ve learned, releasing unrealistic expectations is one of the core tenets of Buddhism, and is the key to a happier, healthier life.

Going beyond simple patience, letting go means being able to accept all the things we cannot change about life—including grief, pain, and difficulty.

This doesn’t mean releasing ambition, or losing your desire to change the world for the better. There are, however, things about the reality in which you live that you cannot change. People grow old and sick. Money is lost. Others will let you down.

Buddhism is all letting go of the desire for a perfect world and finding the ability to accept things as they really are.

You can learn to let go by focusing on the fact that much of your stress and suffering are due to your own unrealistic expectations. Broaden your idea of what you need in order to be happy—don’t cling to what doesn’t serve you. Whenever you begin to feel unhappy about something in your life, ask yourself that familiar question: “Can I change this?” If not, do your best to let go of your desire for what might have been and accept reality as it is.

Do this, and you’ll be far healthier, mentally and physically.

You’ll Learn to Slow Down

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Do you take the time to pause, for a moment, before you react? If not, Buddhism can help you slow down enough to put a little distance between emotional triggers and your reactions to them—enough for you to come up with thoughtful responses.

Learning to slow yourself is often a side-effect of practicing mindfulness—when you learn to live in the present, you’re more likely to take your time, savoring each moment. You’ll also be able to take the time to understand your own thoughts and emotions more clearly.

This is important. Each of us tends to unthinkingly respond to various stimuli each day—what if you could control these reactions rather than simply allowing them to happen?

That’s what Buddhism can do for you!

For example, when you become stressed, you may be prone to opening the fridge, which can lead to overeating and weight gain. But if you purposefully take a moment to collect yourself when stressed, you can realize that overeating is not being kind to yourself, and that you should do something more constructive, like going for a walk.

Slowing down also means taking time to yourself. Pour a cup of tea and just be. Don’t try to multitask. Just sit. Enjoy the aroma and taste of your drink that are, in this moment, your entire reality.

Doesn’t that sound nice?

The Eightfold Path Will Sharpen Your Moral Compass

The Noble Eightfold Path is a summary of the Buddhist practices that lead to liberation from suffering. These are eight ideas that help guide us and help us make good and moral choices that bring peace to both ourselves and those around us.

Here are the eight ideas of the Eightfold Path.

Right Understanding is the understanding of reality as it truly is. Right Thought reminds us to dwell on selflessness, detachment from unrealistic expectations, love, and non-violence. Right Speech means refraining from harmful speech, such as lying, slander, idle gossip, or talk that might bring about hatred and division. Right Action means conducting yourself in a peaceful and honorable way. Right Livelihood means that you shouldn’t enter a profession that brings harm to others for your own personal gain. Right Effort is the will to purposefully prevent an evil state of mind from arising within you and to develop a benevolent state of mind. Right Mindfulness reminds us to be aware of both the present and of your own personal feelings and thoughts at all times. Finally, Right Concentration means the use of techniques, such as meditation, to direct our thoughts away from things that take away our peace.

Practiced all together, each part of the path contributes to a life marked by goodness. Give it a try and see what it can do for you.

Your Life Will Become More Meaningful

When you learn to live in the moment, to let go, to practice patience, and slow down, you’re better able to see, and create, meaning in your own life.

Meaning, when it comes to life, itself, is a difficult word to define. Meaning is composed of many small ingredients, many of which the tenets of Buddhism will help you discover by freeing you from preconceived notions and illusions.

For example, the meaning of your life is not dictated by your checkbook or your spouse or your power—Buddhism teaches that we are to let go of our intense attachment to these temporary things. Buddhism helps you to disentangle your meaning from these things, as well as from the noise of everyday life.

Perhaps for the first time, you’ll be able to see clearly.

Buddhism helps guide you toward the important things: what you bring into the world. Following these principles, you’ll be able to look back on your life and see that each day, you brought peace. You brought altruism and truth. You brought happiness and peace.

These are the things that alleviate human suffering. They are also a huge part of what gives each life meaning.