Meditation How To: Mind Games
If you’ve been following the posts you will now have had an opportunity to get to know some of the games both your body and your mind will play with you when you attempt to meditate. Well done if you have turned up every day for your meditation session – that is the most important thing. The next most important thing is that you remember this is not a competition, you don’t have to compare today’s meditation with yesterdays or last weeks meditation.
Meditation happens now. Not yesterday or tomorrow, only now. It is the now that matters the most. Tonight I attended my weekly meditation group and we had a great little discussion about thinking during meditation and the group facilitator laughingly recounted how he said to himself this morning “Hey, this is great… I not thinking!” Doh! We all laughed out loud because we have all been there.
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So many times I’ll give myself a little mental pat on the back because my mind has become so still. I’ll think to myself “Oh, this is a great meditation, I’m hardly thinking at all” Gee I wish I’d just shut up! It’s a frustrating habit and one that I’m very keen to drop. So what is the task for this week?
This week is simple and helpful which is what Meditation How To is all about.
Using your Meditation Journal (see previous post if you missed it) record those thoughts that consistently and incessantly interrupt your meditation practice. Sometimes your mind will take the opportunity to remind you of something that you have forgotten to do or that is important for you to remember. A doctors appointment or job interview, perhaps you are picking up a neighbours child from school or something unusual. Your mind will use the quiet time of your meditation practice to ‘remind’ you of this and it may not leave you alone until you acknowledge it.
A simple way to do this is to write the thought down in your journal. Have the journal and a pencil sitting beside you so that you can gently write down the thing that your mind currently thinks is more important than your daily time spent in meditation. When it is written, take a deep breath, centre yourself once more and return to your meditation. If your mind attempts to “remind” you of this thing again I find it quite useful to just say to myself, “Yes, thank you, I have that written down” and let the thought go. Eventually your mind will accept that you have taken the reminder on board and will cease bothering you about it.
Give this technique a try and I’d love to hear from you of your success or otherwise using it.
Many Blessings
