It’s all about gaining calm, clarity, and capacity in our lives.

Ask anyone, and they will likely tell you they are running at 120 percent, that there aren’t enough hours in the day. I was that way for the longest time, and set my sights on making space in my life to receive opportunities that have always been elusive for me.

My response, now, to people who ask me how to make space and find time sounds counterintuitive—carve out 20 minutes in the morning and again in the afternoon to meditate.

Embracing Radical Change in My Life 

A few years ago, several things came together to set me on this path. For health reasons I had to give up my position as CEO of a multinational company. I looked back and realized that for almost 15 years I had been traveling the globe constantly. This radical change in my life allowed me to set my sights on opening myself up and challenging myself to make time and make space to do new things. In other words, I would not jump right back into the rat race.

I had just read Steven Pressfield’s book The War of Art, which talks about recognizing and eliminating resistance in our lives. I started Qi Gong meditation, hoping to create space from chaos that way. As I stepped back and made space, new things did start to happen. New opportunities came up for me personally and professionally.

One area where I was hoping for more was my meditation practice. While I enjoyed my Qi Gong, I didn’t feel like I was getting enough out of it. It just so happened that a little more than a year ago, I had several discussions with three different people in Brazil about meditation. I realized all three of them had one thing in common—they practiced TM. And they all talked about the simplicity of it, and how the impact of it builds. I decided to try it.

The great thing about TM is that over time I’ve really seen the benefit of how the mind becomes accustomed to the state of transcendence, and how that inner silence works its way into my daily life and actions.

Inner Silence Extends into Daily Life

I’ve been practicing Transcendental Meditation for a little over a year now. In that year I have done the first TM Advanced Technique and two Weekend Retreats, and I plan to continue to do more of both.

The great thing about TM is that over time I’ve really seen the benefit of how the mind becomes accustomed to the state of transcendence, and how that inner silence works its way into my daily life and actions.

I’ve found that more and more, I have a clarity and distance from daily chaotic impulses. I feel that I naturally “step back” in my thought process, in my reactions, in my understanding. When people ask me what I get out of TM, my answer is, “Calm, clarity, and capacity.”

Gaining Space and Perspective

Maharishi Mahesh Yogi tells us that this clarity is about naturally starting to see the “delicate” or “subtle” values in a situation instead of just the “surface” or “gross” level of life. I have noticed that. I notice how I am learning to gain space and perspective—to lose the impulse that has me reacting immediately to the superficial chaos.

A friend of mine said it well: “We go through life reacting or acting on every thought and impulse. Our mind is trained to do that. It knows no other way. With TM, after a while, as the mind begins to get used to transcending during meditation, you discover that a thought can just be a thought.”

And that is liberating.

When I started TM, I would come out of my morning session with a creative burst of energy, and I would write. Now, that effect lasts longer through the day.

Navigating Chaos with More Calmness

For me, meditating 20 minutes twice a day has brought an ability to navigate chaos with more calmness. In addition, I know I am more organized in my thinking, more objective in how I view situations. I find myself being more present and attentive, less stressed by the little stuff. I am definitely more creative.

And it is building. When I started TM, I would come out of my morning session with a creative burst of energy, and I would write. Now, that effect lasts longer through the day. I am more creative, period. I’m writing journals, books, children’s stories, blogs. Writing is now part of my life and enhances my abilities in my profession as an executive advisor. I attribute a lot of that creativity to TM.

I am more productive, and I have more capacity. Not always, of course, because like anything, this is a journey, and the benefits grow over time.

So those 40 minutes, which could seem to many like adding more tasks to the day, deliver a deep rest, greater capacity, and the ability to recharge. They are an invaluable, integral part of my day now.

A Gift That Keeps On Giving

To me, TM is the gift that keeps on giving. As a CEO, I loved my chaotic, stressful lifestyle. I thrived on it even as I yearned to experience things and do things that I never had time for.

Now I’m realizing that our mind doesn’t really enjoy chaos and noise, even if it has learned to take them for granted. In fact, our mind welcomes the settling inward with TM, and then rewards us with calmness and capacity in the fray.

Hans Hickler is the founder and CEO of Ellipsis Advisors, LLC, providing C-Level advisory services and executive coaching. In the last 12 years, he has served as CEO for three multinational corporations.