The comments I hear most often in my meditation classes are "I can't get my mind to be quiet" and "How can I sit and meditate if I can't stop thinking?"
I try to keep my responses simple, but really, there are so many layers to understanding and practicing meditation. And the answer that might make sense to you may not make sense to another. It all depends on how we process thought. And oh, by the way, you will never 'not think'. Unless you die. And even then the jury is still out. Often we try to push the thoughts away. "Ugh! I can't get my brain to stop thinking!" How about this: how about you take a vacation from the web of thoughts? Just for 10 minutes take a break from your thoughts and only concentrate on your body and how it feels and how your breath is leaving and returning. I mean, it's not like your thoughts are going anywhere. All of life's issues and problems will be there for you to pick back up when you're done. If you want them. Or maybe not. It could be that by practicing meditation you will be more relaxed and able to approach your thoughts in a more 'awake' state. This is what 'mindfulness' is. Being awake to not only your thoughts but also your movements, your driving, working, parenting,.... get my drift? By learning how to sit and observe the thought and not get involved in it you are learning to be mindful and you can take that with you throughout your day. For example: Have you ever gone out to the ocean with the intention of just getting away to "think"? But when you arrive and sit you find yourself listening to and watching the waves, feeling the breeze on your face and smelling the salty air, just to find out that you forgot to "think". You may have found, unknowing, that the freedom of experiencing the ocean and all that goes with it is very enjoyable. And relaxing. You got caught up in the experience of the moment rather than the thoughts you had planned on thinking about. That feeling of 'ahhh,...... I just want to sit here and relax and not move for a while' is similar to what happens in meditation when you learn to not get caught up in your thoughts. Ummm, Ocean Meditation! It's not that you're pushing the thoughts away, it's that you are sitting separately with them. Maybe you've had a dog that you would go to the park with or again, the ocean, and you've sat down next to each other and neither of you moved. I know your dog just loves to be near you so his happiness is complete and in the moment. And often when we're relaxed and sitting quietly with our pooch we are at ease and serene. <------That is meditation! Yep. That's it in a nut shell. Learning to sit with our thoughts next to us without our becoming "involved" with them. It's when we follow the thread of thought and get caught up and spun out in it that our peace of mind goes flying out the window. So the question becomes how can I make friends with my thoughts and sit next to them and not get caught in their web? Practice. That's why we call it our meditation practice. Like anything else, it gets easier with practice. "Don’t fight with monsters, for you can become one. If you look into the abyss for long enough, the abyss looks into you.” ~ Friedrich Neitzsche *Joanie Lane is a Meditation Teacher, Reiki Master/Teacher, Spiritual & Life Coach, and Healing Qigong Leader. She lives in Kelseyville, Ca. at her meditation center "A Positive Light". For more information visit her website at apositivelight.com **These are original writings by Joanie. Any quotes by others that have been included have been identified.
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