Have you ever tried meditating and just felt that your mind became louder and louder like a busy market street? And the more you tried to quieten your mind the louder it got! Frustration is usually the first experience people encounter when beginning mediation.
Why could this be?
Well, from my own experience, it begins with our concept of meditation and what we are attempting to do. People usually want to quieten the chattering mind, but at first, they become aware of how noisy their thoughts are and try to shut it off.
This orientation towards meditation will fail because meditation isn’t about controlling the mind to do anything. It is about gently guiding the mind in a more harmonious direction.
For example, do you remember your teenage years when you were just beginning to get an attitude, and you thought you were always right? If your mother, father or teacher challenged you, there might have been lots of resistance or even arguments and many emotions and thoughts.
Well just imagine that your mind has been allowed to roam free and engage in all kinds of trains of thought, that has taken you to many exciting places internally: anger, stress, anxiety, joy, love, etc. BUT now you are saying “MIND I want you to do this… be quiet right now, I want to meditate, and I want peace, right now!” Your mind replies.???? And it just gets on with behaving as it does.
Here you allow the mind to be as it is and just move your attention to the object or focus of your meditation. It could be anything, there are millions of types of mediation that you can do, but guided audio meditations are suitable for beginners, or you could join a meditation class.
In the beginning, your mind will fight you, and your attention will wander off every minute or so, but after a few minutes, it will begin to settle down. As soon as you notice your mind wandering off just gently bring it back to the point of focus. Doing this with your attention is the mediation itself. Over time your mind will enter more profound states of calm and relaxation in which you will be experiencing more extended states of a quiet mind.
This will increase your awareness on a conscious level which means you will have more time to choose rather than to react to situations in life. Meditation is excellent for overall well-being, physically, emotionally, mentally, and for whatever you believe spiritually. Just taking time out from the busy outside world and going within can create a sense of inner calm in your life when you go about your daily activities.
The Swiss Psychiatrist and Mystic Carl Jung states: “Those who’ll look outside are asleep and those who look within are awake.”
If you have any questions or comments, please feel free to add them.
God Bless and may you have a wonderful life.
Namaste
Marcus Abraham
