Meditation

It was many years after I first heard someone talk about meditation that I finally gave it a shot. Even then, meditation felt more like adult nap time than anything truly beneficial (not that adult nap time isn’t wonderful). Each time I sat down to meditate my mind would begin racing out of control. I was very quickly becoming frustrated with the inability to shut off my thoughts and be “present". After a few minutes, I would stand up and walk away claiming it was no use for me to continue trying. 

We all face difficulties in life. Those difficulties can make life feel it is not worth living. When we feel major discomfort our emotions do their best to grab the wheel and steer us towards whatever may offer shelter from the storm. As I discussed in my last post regarding failure; our emotions are not something we should try to control, but rather something that we should observe and learn from.

I believe that it was Dan Harris, on The Rich Roll Podcast, that I first heard discussing meditation as a way of becoming awareof our thoughts. Meditation is not about shutting those thoughts off, the point is to be present at this moment and to be aware of discomforts in the body, discomforts in the mind from past traumas, future worries, and so forth. The focus on breathing comes from it being the most basic and essential needs we have. The human body can survive for weeks without food, and we can survive for days without water, but if you take away air we would perish in minutes. Meditation is not a practice for shutting off our thoughts and feelings, instead, try to think of it as a practice for observing and acknowledging them, and then moving our focus back to the breath. 

So with this information in mind, I began to meditate again. This time, when my mind began to race, I simply acknowledged that it was and accepted it. Returning my focus back to the sensation of air passing through my nostrils and into my lungs, feeling the expansion on each inhale and the deflation on each exhale. After a single breath, my mind would again begin to race. This was an incredibly frustrating process and it took a few sessions before I would be able to go more than one breathe without my mind wandering away from me.

Like any muscle in the body, the brain requires repetition to become stronger. At first, it is very difficult to focus on anything other than your mind is racing. Whether it be the laundry that just buzzed, the breakfast your stomach is rumbling for, the dusty floor that you didn’t even realize was so dirty until you sat down. By taking a few minutes each day to practice acceptance of our mind racing around, we learn to recognize emotions before they arise. Continuing this practice we will undoubtedly get stronger and become closer to our most authentic self, not the one that is clouded by emotional turmoil and self-judgment.

Meditation isn’t about stopping the racing, or the emotions that arise, it is about acknowledging them and turning our attention back to where you want it to be. This is how meditation and consistent practice will help us in our everyday life. When we encounter those situations that trigger us into stress, we can take an extra moment to recognize and accept them instead of allowing them to control us.

I would love to hear some feedback from anyone willing to give this practice a shot. A few minutes of your day to sit and breathe. Close your eyes and focus on your breath. Feel the air pass through your nose and fill your lungs, feel your lungs deflate as you exhale. Allow yourself to have those thoughts rush in and then practice accepting them and turning your attention back to your breath. Instead of scrolling through your social media feeds for 20 minutes, take the first 5 and sit down to breathe.