Busting a Misleading Myth!
"I am affected only by my thoughts."
~ ACIM
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| The candles are lit. Palo santo burning.
I have said my morning prayers.
I press Play on the video that guides my 40 day meditation kriya.
I start repeating the mantra ~ SA TA NA MA~ and gazing at my third eye visualizing white light streaming through the crown chakra.
(I introduce this in my previous musing on the Power of Commitment here)
It's 430am.
The ambrosial hours.
Quiet and dark.
Sounds idyllic right?
Well the reality is that within minutes I am off....
Off on a tangent in my mind going through all the people I need to forgive, all the work I have to do, all the things I want to change, all the love I have to offer, all the programs that need to be made, what am I going to do that day,how I can be of service more, and on and on and on.
All of this ON TOP of the chanting, the repetition of my mantra.
First out loud, then in a whisper, then silent.
All the while my mind has it's own agenda.
I have been committed to this meditation now for 32 days and often find myself thinking "this is notworking!" or "what a waste of time. There are other things I could be doing."
Haha, hello Ego!
But, I sit.
I stay.
I am committed.
I pull myself back to feeling the my thumbs press against my fingers.
Gaze at my third eye.
And try to be present.
I replace the other thoughts of uselessness and waste of time with my favourite quote from A Course in Miracles ~ No effort is ever wasted.
Connects me to my trust and faith.
I have been meditating daily, without fail, for a year and a half now and it still happens.
All of the thinking.
So I am busting the BIG Meditation Myth today.
You stop thinking when you meditate or you aren't doing it right.
I have had many moments, many, in my daily practice where my mind gets still and quiet.
But the majority of the time I am thinking over top of the mantra, chanting, or whatever tools I might be using to concentrate.
So know that you are Not doing it wrong if this happens.
You aren't wasting your time.
You are not a failure.
You are in fact doing it perfectly!
Here's what I have come to know intimately well over the past year and a half of this form of practice:
1) There is a part of you beyond the thoughts, that stubborn thinking mind. It's the part that is breathing your breath, steadily concentrating as best as it can on the mantra or mala. It is the part of you that thrives on this kind of practice and watches, laughs, or keeps going in spite of the thoughts. And only gets stronger, less reactionary, every time you get still.
2) Let the thoughts come and swirl and do their thing. The tricky part is to not get attached or make them more than they need to be. The challenge is to not to react. Watch them like you would a cloud float through the sky.
3) The power of meditation is that is clears the subconscious, so all those thoughts, all the ramblings and apparent importance according to the psyche, is really just like a detox. They come up. We exhale, chant, affirm or whatever we need to do in order to let them out.
Sometimes too through tears, laughter, a smile, words of forgiveness.
4) Our thoughts are needed. We are householders. We need them to organize, plan, prepare, take care, hold space, pay our bills, exceed in our jobs. You get the idea. So don't hate them. Don't get frustrated at yourself. Instead witness them like an outsider and see how you obsess, attach, get stuck, strung out.
We have something like 72,000 a day lol! Only about 10 of those are relevant, current, and important though.
I say all this because ultimately these have been my practice.
I spent a long time assuming that I was doing something wrong. I sucked at meditation. Getting anxious because of all the fluctuations of the mind.
Now, this is the part of my day I look forward to the most!
So if you want to try/start again or change your perspective and need some support grab your {10 Free Ten Minute Meditations} and sit.
In honour of getting to know your Self,
Megan Xx
P.S. I l.o.v.e Instagraming pics for inspiration so if you are looking for a daily dose of Love head over and Follow me there
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