What’s Meditation Really Like?

Have you ever seen one of those pictures of a person meditating perched at the top of a mountain? Their legs are crossed, their eyes are closed and they typically have a serene and beatific smile on their face.  I don’t know about you, but those pictures unsettle me just a bit.  It always looks to me like a strong wind might just blow that person off the mountain top and send them tumbling to their demise! Those images do not capture meditation for me. 

So Then What is
Meditation Like?

Well, to begin, it’s a lot less glamorous! As you first begin to meditate, I would say that meditation is about gradually developing a new relationship with your mind by bringing your awareness into the habit most of us have of perpetual thinking. This means learning how to focus in a different way.

You start to become more aware of your thoughts and slowly accept the realization that you are not required to indulge every thought that presents itself by thinking it. Then, each time you become distracted from your point of focus, you detach from your thoughts and let them “pass” over and over and over and over again.

It takes a willingness to learn some simple techniques and to practice, years of practice for most of us, and there is no “one size fits all” approach. However, each time you start to focus again after a distraction, no matter how many distractions there are, you are advancing your meditation. You are meditating and you are doing it “right.”

Forming a new habit and letting go of the old habit of perpetually thinking can be challenging, but there are some pretty amazing perks that can develop along the way to keep you company. Patience, affability, compassion, insight, curiosity, humor, enjoyment, imagination, and determination can become your new friends if you are open to it.

AND when your mind begins to settle and stabilize a bit? Well then my friend you take the next step, learn the next technique, experience the next benefit. It all awaits you!