Meditation has been one of the To-Do List focuses the past few months. The practice started with the Headspace App. Now using the Waking Up with Sam Harris App (so far, liking Sam’s better).
The struggle with meditation, which seems to be the biggest issue, are the random thoughts floating in and out. Creating space and time to focus on nothing. A crazy oversimplification. Part of the practice / point is to acknowledge the thought. Then let the thought go.
Thoughts going in and out are not a failure to meditate. Have those thoughts coming into and out of your mind is normal. Learning that is part of the reason you are meditating.
This morning the thoughts were going in and out. At times, not even realizing Sam was talking, because thoughts were wandering so much. Acknowledging this. Realizing I was out of the moment of mediation and bringing it back.
In that moment, an of acknowledgment that thoughts were winning, and non-thoughts were losing. One of those wandering thoughts was: this is the only time of day where there is an attempt to sit without any distraction. 5-10 minute was all the mind gets.
Days spent listening to podcasts, making coffee, driving to work, logging into work, making to-do lists, writing in a journal, looking at email, chatting through Marco Polo with friends, texting friends and family, doing laundry, reading a book, on and on.
Waking at 5am (roughly) and going to bed at 930 pm (approximately) provides an estimated 16.5 hours of awake time. That means 16 hours and 20 minutes is spent doing all those things. Of that, only 10 minutes is spent trying to give the brain a break.
It was during meditation this morning that the idea of Non-Meditation came about (Anti-Meditation or Un-Meditation were the other two names thought up). Meditation will be part of the day. Taking the mental space and time to journal and think thoughts about what goes into that journal will still be a focus of the day.
Now, there will also be 10 minutes to sit in a meditation position. To put mind and body at the ready to meditate. Set a timer for 10 minutes. Then think.
No trying to acknowledge those thoughts and let them go. No pen in hand. No journal nearby. No intention to take those thoughts and make anything of them. For ten minutes the mind is free to wander.
(This does come up in the Headspace App and Sam does a good job of making sure to say these thoughts will happen. That is okay. With a short focus, or the purpose to get to bring it back to meditation.)
This is setting an intention to think the thoughts and have no other point or purpose. Sit comfortably. Take a moment to start breathing. Clear the mind. Dedicate 30 seconds to creating the space. Then… wander and think.
Give it a try. It may be the most important 10 minutes you spend today.
Posted. Not Perfect.
A Vegan Father… thinking thoughts.
A Better Father 