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When you hear the word “meditation”, what thoughts come to mind? Do you think of someone sitting cross-legged on a pillow with closed eyes? Do you believe that meditation is not for you? Perhaps, you are thinking about the times you tried meditation but experienced struggles. There are many misunderstandings regarding meditation, including what meditation is, how to meditate, and what you should be experiencing.
To begin with, meditation is not something we do; rather, meditation is an aspect of who we are. Consider when you go to sleep. Do you have to do something to sleep, or does sleep just happen when the moment is right?
In the same way, meditation is an aspect of our consciousness that we experience when we focus our attention on something other than our thoughts. Unfortunately, most of us make our thoughts the center of our attention. Because of this, we believe that is our normal state.
As for how to meditate, many people think meditation involves sitting on a pillow, close your eyes, and quieting the mind. While the purpose of meditating is to calm down the mind, you do not have to sit on a pillow and close your eyes. You could take a walk in nature, listen to calming music, or watch a sunset. Anything that you do that diverts your attention from your thoughts is a form of meditation. You are opening a wider field of consciousness by diverting your attention from your thoughts.
When some people try to meditate, they become frustrated because they experience racing thoughts. There is a belief that the purpose of meditation is to eliminate thoughts, which is not accurate. Rather, meditation is about allowing thoughts, and all other experiences, to appear but not engaging with them. Rather, meditation involves becoming a witness to your experiences.
When we do not take time to give our minds a rest, we allow thoughts to bombard us. By giving thoughts our undivided attention, they become our experience of reality. During mediation, one’s attention is diverted from thoughts and redirected toward something else. The target of attention may be one’s breath, body sensations, music, nature, or anything else that one chooses.
Anything you do that feels enjoyable, calms your mind and causes you to focus on the present moment can be considered a form of meditation. For these reasons, meditative music has become so popular nowadays. Meditative music meets all the requirements for meditative practice. It is enjoyable to listen to, calming to the mind, and causes you to focus on something other than your thoughts.
Without meditation, we become more susceptible to stress. Stress is created when we allow our attention to be monopolized by our thoughts. Thoughts lack any inherent power of their own. All of their power is derived from the attention that we give them. Mediation is a way to starve thoughts of our attention.
