I do have one thing to say about meditation...

[elfs]

Meditation isn't relaxing. It's work. There's a reason we call it the practice of meditation. Like all practices, it's hard, it requires reflection at the end of the session to know what went wrong, what went right, and what your goals are.

The purpose of meditation, for me, is to cultivate two characteristics that seem at odds, but are completely complementary: a sense of serenity, and a force of will. This is a traditional silent zazen sort of meditation, but unlike the full Zen tradition, it stops there: it's an exercise in mindfulness, in building up an ability that one already has, just as one already has the ability to do one push-up, but most of us can't do fifty.

And it takes a while to even reach the stage where you can recognize, and dismiss, the chattering interruptions of your busy mind. That's okay: at the beginning of any practice, you're not bad at it, you're just beginning. If you give up, then we can safely say you're lazy.

But the lazy do not meditate.

Anyway, I'm pleased to have successfully managed five days in a row without once saying, "Not today, I'm too busy." It's only fifteen minutes.

Comments

[mikstera.livejournal.com]

Did you consult any particular references on how to meditate?

Also, do you have any recommendations for those who wish to begin their own practice?

Thanks...

Count Your Breath

[http://users.livejournal.com/_candide_/]

That's how I was taught.

Breathe in, slowly, and count 1. Breath out, slowly.
Breathe in, slowly, and count 2. Breath out, slowly.
:
:
Breathe in, slowly, and count 10. Breath out, slowly.
Breathe in, slowly, and count 1. Breath out, slowly.
:
:

If you lose count, restart at 1.

When you first do this, you'll find yourself repeatedly counting at "1" after a while. But, like Elf said, it's a matter of practice, and how noisy your mind is at any particular moment.

Re: Count Your Breath

[mikstera.livejournal.com]

Thanks... This agrees with some of the other sources I've come across.

Re: Count Your Breath

[srmalloy.livejournal.com]

And if you have thoughts that want to intrude on your meditation, let them come and restart your count at 1 again. You're trying to achieve what isn't a natural state of mind, and throwing up irrelevant thoughts is one way your mind resists entering that state.

It gets a little more complex if you run multiple tracks of thought; it took me some time to be able to get my second track back down at the level it normally stays at when chewing at a problem, rather than creating a second series of pop-up interruptions. And it still raises its head from time to time.

Re: Count Your Breath

[http://users.livejournal.com/_candide_/]

Thanks! I forgot to mention that other reason for restarting. Basically, any intrusion, distraction, wandering-of-mind, or anything else outside of the counting of breath is a reason to reset the count.

[bldrnrpdx.livejournal.com]

Thanks for that second link.