The Path to a Balanced Life, An Interview with Samantha Lim
This week we're excited to share our chat with a friend of The Path, Samantha Lim. Through her amazing work as the Creative Partnerships Director at Milk Studios, as well as a myriad of side projects, Lim is passionate about pairing cool ideas with great brands and great people. After one of our Tuesday sits we spoke with her about how she found meditation and why it's more important than ever to seek balance in New York City. PS: you should follow her amazing Instagram @iamsamlim
What brought you to meditation?
I just got into meditating about a year ago after going on a retreat at Vinaya House and we did some amazing meditation sessions with Bobby Klein. It was incredible and life-changing to learn how you translate stress. It made me look at my life differently and appreciate finding balance. I think coming up in your career only knowing New York means you put a lot of pressure on yourself. That's really tough. Few people take the time to step back and see how much pressure they're putting on themselves. I never really did that. While New York is an amazing city full of entrepreneurs and hustlers working 24/7, it’s one of the few places where you can say, “I have a random creative idea” and people will be willing to help you. It's great in that you’re constantly chasing something you’re excited about, but it's a lot to manage, too.
(The Path adds: Which is fulfilling to a degree, but it can be daunting.)
Yes, and as you get older you might start asking yourself, "what am I doing, why am I doing this? Am I being healthy?" I was really unhealthy in my 20s. Meditation has helped me become more well-rounded.
What does being well-rounded mean to you?
It’s being passionate about your career, your personal life and your health. It also means surrounding yourself with positive people and positive energy and being grateful and humble for everything you’ve been given.
What would be your advice to someone starting out with meditation?
At first I was one of those meditation skeptics. I just didn’t see the point. I thought, “I sit quietly all the time. What is this?" But when you start meditating, you realize quickly how much of an impact a body scan, breathing or just thinking about your day makes. My advice would be two main things. Number one, know that many people feel the same way. People say they're too antsy, too ADD, too crazy, their minds go nuts. Everyone feels that way, even people who’ve been meditating for years. You just have to get what every session gives you. And it’s so easy now! There are great apps like Calm that you can use for 10 minutes a day a couple of times a week; that helps you set yourself up for positive change. What finally impacted me was so many entrepreneurs, CEOs and people I look up to in the business world talking about how it helps them. Everyone you trust to help you in your career is saying meditate. So let’s meditate!
And because we like to have fun, has anything embarrassing ever happened to you during meditation?
Oh absolutely. I’ve fallen dead asleep. When we were doing heavy deep breathing exercises on the floor in Tulum, I completely passed out. I woke up, and the whole room was standing up staring at me waiting to wake up. People can have a low-key perspective on what meditation is.