I used to have terrible anxiety. It was like going through life duck taped to some asshole who criticized your every move. About a year ago I listened to a podcast that recommended meditation. I was pretty close minded back then so I always associated meditation with pseudo spiritual asshats.

I finally tried it and for those 10 minutes it felt like there was a barrier between me and that asshole that criticized me. I kept doing it everyday for 10 minutes.

You know that feeling in your stomach when you think back to something embarrassing or traumatic? That pain in your gut is caused by you reacting to a thought. The thought itself is harmless, it's your acknowledgment of that thought that causes pain. After meditating for a while, you notice that those thoughts that once caused you pain don't affect you at all.

It's like watching a movie for entertainment versus watching a movie to understand the deeper meaning. In the former you react to every twist and turn and you go through a rollercoaster of emotions. With the latter, you can remove emotion from you analysis so you can better understand why the movie was made.