My Experiences with Meditation

"The primary cause of unhappiness is never the situation but your thoughts about it." 

-Eckhart Tolle

I've been meditating for just over four months and have logged about 1,300 minutes. I haven't missed too many days, since reading how crucial it is to maintain a consistent practice. My interest in meditation began after reading Tolle's profound book, The Power of Now. His teachings in this book revealed to me how much my brain was constantly chattering, most of it being useless or harmful chatter. Thoughts of worry, anxiety, and fear were really quite prevalent in my mind. Thus my journey began to learn how to quiet my mind and live more in the moment.

Honestly, meditating has been difficult. After four months, my mind still frequently wanders. Most days, I don't really feel like meditating but do it anyway. I almost always feel better after my time of sitting is finished. My body and mind both feel more calm.

I started out meditating for 5 minutes first thing in the morning, using the Headspace app. I highly recommend this app because of the guided meditation options, which help reel your mind back in every few minutes. I would suggest starting super simple because otherwise you will likely find your meditation time to be too frustrating and give up. Because of not feeling instant results, meditation can be tricky to stick with for some folks.

The styles of  I've been drawn to are mindfulness meditation and zazen. Mindfulness meditation is basically practicing to focus on your breath, your body, or the present moment. The goal is to keep your mind from thinking and rather to just be. Zazen is the Zen Buddhist style of meditation which means "just sitting." No goal really, one is just to sit and notice what the present moment offers. You are not to judge but to accept what is. I am by no means an expert on these two methods, but I have found them to be quite similar and helpful.

Currently, I sit for 15 minute sessions. I still use the Headspace app and have been working through various categories: restlessness, acceptance, patience, etc.

What have I found most helpful about meditation?
1) The feeling of calm I experience at the end of a session.
2) The way that being present during meditation has crossed over into my daily activities. For example, being more present while washing dishes, having a conversation, driving, etc. I pay more attention that I used to and I try to multitask less.
3) I catch my mind wandering and bring it back to the present moment. Meditation certainly has not gotten rid of my monkey brain, but it has helped me recognize when I am no longer in the moment. I am hoping that my brain chatter slowly diminishes as my meditation practice evolves in time and efficiency. 

I hope my ramblings about meditation provide some help to you in your spiritual journey! As always, feel free to reach out :).

May you be more present in your life!