$4k debt to $16.2 billion net worth – this is the story of how meditation changed the life of Ray Dalio 

When Ray Dalio – The 72-year-old billionaire, was starting, it seemed like every time he turned around; there were more failures than successes. But through all his struggles and mistakes–he steeled himself for an essential encore because without the losses, he wouldn’t have any lessons learned!

He narrates his story from the days when things looked a little gloomy in this article published by CNBC

My big failure came in 1982, when I bet everything on a depression that never came. The markets were very turbulent and I believed that the U.S. economy — with the world economy tied to it — was headed into a crisis.

This was an extremely controversial view. I took a big risk and traded accordingly. But I was dead wrong. The stock market began a big bull run, and over the next 18 years, the U.S. economy enjoyed the greatest noninflationary growth period in its history.

Losing this bet was like a blow to my head with a baseball bat. I went broke and had to borrow $4,000 from my dad just to pay my family bills. Due to the losses, I was forced to lay off the people I cared so much about — until my company was left with just one employee: me.

Being so wrong — and especially so publicly wrong — was incredibly humbling and cost me just about everything I had built at Bridgewater.

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Ray Dalio now credits all his financial success to a simple practice known as Transcendental Meditation (TM), He started meditating just 6 years before he started his company at the time he was broke and since then he has been on a mission to share knowledge that helped enable him to achieve it widely. This includes how he meditates twice daily, what meditation entails, and why we should all try this at least once.

And now he shares all his secret wealth of knowledge on meditation in this article written by Jade scipioni

The first step, Dalio says, is to find a quiet space. Then, sit comfortably, close your eyes and think of your mantra.

In TM, you don’t share your mantra — it’s a proprietary practice where you learn your personal mantra during a four-day training course, which can cost you between $380 and $960. But a popular example, Dalio says, is the syllable: “om.”

Once you have your mantra, “you sit there in peace and you repeat that mantra over and over again,” he says. Eventually, the repetition supersedes the rest of your thoughts, sending you into a transcendent state.

“You’re peaceful. You’re quiet,” he says. “You’re not awake, but you’re not asleep.”

On a normal day, Dalio does one 20-minute session as soon as he wakes up in the morning and another one right before eating dinner. Each, he says, feels like a “20-minute vacation” that eases anxieties and puts him into a state of relaxation — enabling him to make better business decisions.

It’s more important to get two sessions in per day, he says, than trying to do them at the same time every day. If work commitments disrupt his normal routine, he’ll add a meditation elsewhere in his schedule to maintain his two-per-day cadence.

And the more you do it, he says, the more easily you’ll start to sense during the day when meditations might be necessary: “You can feel that little bit of anxiety, or whatever it is, and you say [to yourself], ‘Oh, I need to go meditate.’

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Ray dalio’s story may not be a true be rags to riches tale that is an inspiration for anyone who has ever faced hardship. Despite being born into a family of modest means, Dalio was able to overcome his circumstances and become one of the most successful investors in history. His secret? Meditation and mindfulness. These simple practices helped him to develop focus and clarity, which in turn allowed him to make better decisions and achieve greater success. If you’re struggling in your life or business, take a page from Dalio’s book and give meditation and mindfulness a try. They just might help you change your life for the better too.