Meditate Anyway
I have worked with a lot of people who tell me that they cannot meditate because they cannot quiet their minds.
Guess what?
Me too.
I am a meditation teacher and I, too, cannot quiet my mind some days.
It happens.
Some days the mind will not be still and that is okay. When this happens, it gives us information as to what might be bothering us, what we need to attend to, or what is a priority for the day.
The good news is the unquiet mind gets to be part of the meditation process.
Say what? Really!
It comes down to this….can you find the willingness to sit and just breathe and only observe what is happening in your unquiet mind?
Observe it……like you would a painting at a museum or a movie you are watching on the big screen. You just watch…..and you don’t get caught up in the thoughts, stories or the emotions behind any of it.
Just observe. And here’s the fun part…..you get to become the narrator of your own mind.
What?
Yes.
I am suggesting you talk to yourself ABOUT yourself.
As you observe, notice what your mind is doing and call it out, like Sir David Attenborough does on countless wildlife documentaries.
“…and now my mind is thinking about work”
“oh wow, now it is thinking about what I want to eat for dinner”
“my mind thinks a lot about what I am going to do on the weekends”
As you observe, channel your inner Sir David and bring your attention back to the breath. That’s it. That is all you need to do on those days when the mind is moving non-stop.
We get to practice again and again to bring the focus back to the breath and let thoughts be there without attaching to them.
There is a benefit in learning this process.
This process in itself is meditative….Just. Focus. On. Your. Breath.
Some days, just giving myself time to breathe is all I need to do to re-set my nervous system and feel more peaceful.
You do not have to have a perfectly still mind to meditate. Just observe and breathe, my friend.