Last year I went to a meditation retreat with a friend. Other than hairy armpits and the all angry hippies bitterly searching for peace it was really great. I never thought that I could meditate. Every time I tried to meditate I would start making a To Do list in my head, after a few seconds I would get up, get a pad of paper and start writing things down. I started meditating a couple of times a week and had the best To Do lists ever. They were color coded and had check boxes. My bliss only lasted so long before I decided that I should really try meditating and not what it turned into, quiet list making.
Anyhow, I went to the retreat and I was able to meditate. There was one meditation session that lasted about 20 minutes but it seemed like time stood still and only a few seconds passed. (I was not asleep.) Afterwards, I was more relaxed, had more energy and was able to focus so much easier than usual. I need to continue meditating at home on the regular basis. Ideally I would like to have a meditation corner that is set aside from everything else in my house. The first problem is, where will I find this serene corner in my house? I suppose if I put the laundry away it would open up some space. (A meditation chair would be great but I think I need to stick with it a while before I make a purchase.
Reconsidering how I approached meditation was helpful. The first step was erasing the thought that I can't meditate. "There's too much noise in my head that will not allow me to meditate." "It is boring." But, it isn't like staring at a wall in a quiet room. "I don't have the time." Lack of time is my favorite excuse but, every single day I am able to carve enough time out to talk about things that really irritate me. Maybe if I used that time to meditate, fewer things would irritate me, consequently, I would have less to complain about and more time to meditate, among other things.
The replacement approach started with these thoughts:
-Let go of any "If only I...had, did, didn't, etc."
-Stop fighting the battle about what was supposed to have been.
-Everyone is a paradox. Full of contradictions. A hypocrite. Enjoy everyone including yourself. We are all God's creations. All unique and special. (All and everyone includes me.)
To meditate, I sat down in a relaxed position and did the following:
-Relaxing my body from the top - down
-Feeling and hearing my breath, breathing in through my nose and out through my mouth. (Just doing this step and tuning other noises out was a giant step. Obviously, I still heard what is going on around me, but I would reset and start over again, so it wouldn't become a major distraction.)
After settling in I would think about these thoughts or focus on these sounds:
"If you put a tablespoon of salt in a cup of water the water tastes salty. If you put it in a lake you hardly taste any salt at all. Make your mind and spirit so large and vast that everything becomes small. Nothing will have an effect. Peace."
or
"Breathing in I calm the body, breathing out I calm the mind."
or
Listening and concentrating on the sounds around me.
Now, I just need start.
