Slowing Down the Mental Noise

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It is estimated that we have 60,000 thoughts per day.  Most of these thoughts come and go without registering in our consciousness.  The ones that do are normally recycled thoughts from the past.  To create the life we desire, we must move beyond our ruminating thoughts and spend more time listening to our intuition.  As long as we entertain our repetitive thinking, we will be like a hamster on a wheel.

The following exercises can help you slow down your mental noise.  It is important to note that these exercises require consistent practice to achieve their full effect.

Mindfulness of Breath

Breath meditation is one of the purest forms of meditation.  Do the following:

1. Sit down in a comfortable position.
2. Take a deep breath and then slowly exhale.
3. With your eyes closed, focus on your breath.  Notice the sensations that you experience as you breathe.
4. Continue to focus on the movement of your breath as it enters and leaves your body.
5. If you get distracted by thoughts, return your attention to your breathing.  Regardless of how often you lose concentration, return your attention to your breath.
6. Do not judge or criticize yourself or anything that you experience.  Getting distracted by thoughts is normal; it takes practice to discipline your mind.  By practicing this meditation, you will develop greater awareness and concentration.

Clear Seeing

The purpose of this meditation is to experience life without projecting your thoughts onto it.  The more you can do this, the calmer your mind will be.

1. Sit down, make yourself comfortable, and relax.
2. Close your eyes and focus on your breath.  As you do so, become more and more relaxed.
3. Now, open your eyes and look around at your surroundings.  What is the quality of your experience as you view your environment?  You may wish to rate your experience from 1 to 10, with ten being the highest.
4. Now close your eyes and allow yourself to relax.  I want you to imagine that you are an alien from another planet and have been sent down to Earth to observe what it is like here.  You do not know anything about this planet and have no words to describe your experience.  All that you have in your immediate and direct experience.
5. Keeping all of this in mind, open your eyes and observe your surroundings again.  You can scan your environment, focus on a particular object that you find interesting, or you can do both.  Take your time and observe.
6. When you are ready, rate your experience of observing again.
7. Now compare the quality of your experience during the second observation with that of the first.  Did you notice a difference?  What were those differences?  Was there freshness to your second observation that was missing in the first?
8. If you cannot detect a difference, that is okay.  Continue to practice this technique until you can detect a difference in the quality of your experience when observing.