Living in Awareness – Day 22

Meditation is very simple, and anyone can do it. One of the most common misconceptions about meditation is that you have to ‘quiet the mind,’ or ‘clear the mind’ to meditate. This is the furthest thing from the truth. Beginning meditators will often get frustrated and give up on the practice when they are not able to make their minds be quiet. It is an impossible task. The key is not to quiet the mind, but to simply stop participating in conversation with it! Meditation is not about clearing the mind, but rather the clearing that happens naturally as you meditate. Meditation is not about silencing the mind, but rather the silence that happens naturally through meditation. Meditation is not about finding peace, or enlightenment, but rather experiencing the peace and enlightenment that come through meditation. Rather than trying to stop thoughts from occurring, just observe the thoughts that occur. If that doesn’t make sense, don’t worry; it will when you begin meditating. All you have to do is sit down, center yourself, and begin to watch your thoughts, and your breath. That’s it! I recommend sitting down, and getting comfortable to meditate. Even though it is not necessary, you may want to set the stage to be more pleasant with things like candles, incense and soft music.

Yes, the mind may stay busy. It may go ‘over here’ or ‘over there,’ and take you with it, but rather than going with it, just watch the busy-ness. If you see yourself beginning to engage or participate with the busy-ness, stop, and go back to observing the mind. It is that simple. Remember, you habitually have participated  with the mind your whole life, and now you are doing it a different way; it will take some practice. Also it is worth noting, if the mind happens to throw out a thought that you have participated greatly with in the past, it may take more effort to just observe it in the present moment. Do not give up, just begin to observe, and the more that you observe, and the longer you observe, the less hold that series of thoughts will have on you. Also, as you are observing the thoughts, you are also observing the feelings that those thoughts are creating inside your body. Remember, your thoughts and feelings are transient, they pass on their own accord, but you are not your mind, nor are you the thoughts that pass through the mind, or the feelings that those thoughts create.