Meditation and Our Thoughts



Many people have expressed that meditation is “difficult” for them. Many find it hard to control their thoughts, slow them down, and to still them altogether. But why is this? Aren’t we the ones in control of our thoughts?


       ”I can’t meditate because I can’t stop thinking …”   Imagine that, the very thing we are trying to get a little control over, a little respite from, is the very thing stopping us from the thing that will heal us. Perhaps because, of what Ekhart Tolle claims we may all be suffering from, ”an addiction to thinking.”  We want to be in charge of our thoughts, we understand the importance, and are starting to digest the science that proves that our outer world is directly affected by our inner world – literally and measurably – and yet we still find it extremely difficult to committ to a practice or a way that facilitates healing our thought addiction…
       What I wish I said to those participants is “it should be called meditation process not practice.”  Because all of it, from the cushion to the drama we experience around the actual sitting, is a part of the meditation process to undergo to heal. Our thoughts are not our enemy nor are we trying to stop thinking but we also need to work at putting them into proper perspective by more than hoping or thinking it so. [1]


Why Do We Over-Think?

Shutting Up Your Head

Be Careful to maintain consciousness and not to fall asleep though, otherwise it is no longer meditation.
Meditation is not meant to make you sleepy, it is a very focused practice.” [4]


Try to avoid positions that make you sleepy. When meditating in a sitting position, some people feel as though they are falling asleep.” [5]


After the thoughts become still, something amazing happens. When the mind is still, you notice something else come into you…. this is a wonderful state of awareness.


“In that moment [of meditation] I felt an intense, sudden expansion of my body and mind awareness, an expansion of my inner being into the environment. The “I” disappeared completely, the borderline between me and the rest of the world dissolving totally.
     I did not feel my own body as restricted to the physical space, as I normally do. There was no restriction at all; the expansion of consciousness was centrifugal and explosive. There were no thoughts at all, only pure awareness – an awareness of light, of air and sounds, hand in hand with an awareness of intense stillness behind all sounds, and spaciousness behind air and light. A total stillness entered my awareness and being…a feeling of being connected to a source of light, love and endlessness.
     I felt totally empty, not in a negative way, but in a receptive way. 
It was an emptiness full of life, full of ecstasy, without any mind-activity, far beyond the “I” with which I identify myself in the normal daily states.
     This state lasted for an eternity. Time did not exist; there was only this expanding and unfolding awareness. Slowly my body-awareness changed and I could feel the sweat all over my body, and the tingling and the throbbing of my heart, as if I was watching myself from a great distance. I noticed tears on my face, although I did not feel any sadness.
     The feeling at that time was so utterly different from normal feelings that words do not exist to describe it. It all felt like an enormous shower of light and love, and as if all channels in my body/soul were cleaned of old debris and filled with purity. It was extremely inspiring.” [6]



Though meditation may seem challenging at first, it is important for gaining not only a greater awareness and much of what has been listed above, but meditators also gain a greater focus and concentration when they are not in meditation. It helps retrain and rewire their brains to function more efficently.


Meditation is simpily ‘creating silence within the mind.’ Try it and you may be amazed what you find.
🙂


Sources:
1: http://www.meditationvillage.ca/meditation-journey/are-we-addicted-to-thinking/
2: http://puttylike.com/are-you-addicted-to-thinking/
3: http://www.articleintelligence.com/Art/206972/56/Develop-Powerful-Psychic-Projection-With-Subconscious-Mind-Power.html
4: http://www.musivation.com/eProducts/Intructions_Magnet_To_Money_Candle.pdf
5: http://www.thelamfoundation.org/presentations/Stress%20Management%20May-Fendo.ppt
6: http://www.activemeditation.com/Perspectives/Personal/NoThoughts.html




Note: Link 3 can only be accessed via Google Cache
ALSO:
Here is a link to a really good video that helps explain meditation:
http://zencat00.blogspot.com/2010/12/ideo-effective-meditation.html

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