Many people have an abundance of thoughts that seem never to shut up. They believe there is no-way meditation will achieve (for them) the calmness that reports say is a benefit of meditation. They may have tried – unsuccessfully – to subdue their thoughts with a meditation; proving they are unable to meditate.
If you have a busy mind, you will have to do a meditation designed to calm the mind. Not all meditations are designed to do that. It is best to do this under competent guidance because although the instructions seem straightforward, there are many nuances to navigate. A body relaxation then single-pointed-focus on the breath can calm your mind and get you into that deeply peaceful space. BUT, to expect your thoughts to become still will create tension. This expectation is where the nuances start: trying to stop your thoughts will add additional stress, therefore making it worse!
When you take away the emphasis on calming and stopping your thoughts, meditation becomes more natural to do. It is a practice you can develop; so you end up with experiencing peace and calm without trying to make it happen. A better target is to work on sitting down to meditate, then focusing your attention (but not too rigidly), and exploring your experience. I’ll get into all that In future posts (and on my courses).
See more myths via this page (link)
Next Steps
I hope you enjoyed finding out about this myth.
A busy mind can be a symptom of stress. I have a non-meditation process I use with clients to help them get beyond their Busy Mind so they can quickly take advantage of meditation – without the painful struggle. Get the instructions so you too can use the Melt-Stress In Minutes Protocol (schedule a quick chat to make sure it is most appropritate for your needs).
The next post is on another myth of meditation. By the way, one of the myths is about meditation postures, as illustrated by the image on this page :-)
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New to Meditation?
To further your understanding, I have a video which takes you through the seven technologies of mind that make up meditation.