MEDITATION AND THOUGHTS

I was listening to an expert talking about the myths of meditation – the first being that you clear all thoughts from your mind. Duh! We have 60-80,000 thoughts a day. Jeez, no wonder I’m tired by the time I get to bed at night! And sometimes, I haven’t even managed to fit them all in yet, and lie there thinking a few more. You have to laugh. When you think about it – oh, there’s another one – most of our thoughts are ones we’ve had before: ‘When I win the lottery, I’ll buy a house by the sea.’ ‘I’m so bored at work.’ ‘I wish my life was better.’ ‘Did you see how much so and so drank at that party? They made such a fool of themselves.’ ‘I wish my parents hadn’t done this or that, then I’d be happy now.’ ‘How come their kid is better than our kid?’ ‘I wish I’d said this or done that.’ The thoughts go on and on, round and round. No wonder when someone finally alights on an original one, they may miss it amongst all the rest, or just pass over a fabulous money-making, life-improving, world-saving idea among the clutter of such nonsense.

So when you start out on the road to meditation there is still going to be a bit of mind chatter going on. Cool thing is, you don’t have to think the thoughts. You don’t have to get on that train and even hitch a few extra carriages on, and spend your time developing and replaying those thoughts, and feeling the feelings that accompany them. You can just go ‘Oh, there’s a thought’ and let it waft on past. Honest. It takes practise to do it well, but it can be done. I’m persevering and it’s working for me.

Come to a Mindfulness and Meditation talk or join our Meditation Room in Hilperton or online. See events page for details, or go to our Meditation Room page on FaceBook for hints and tips.