The most common response I get when I mention the word MEDITATION is ” I can’t meditate because my mind is too busy.” Well…I have news for you- you can meditate, even if you have a busy mind during meditation. Everybody can! We have many masters of wisdom and teachers before us to give us tools on how to deal with our busy mind durng meditation.
Busy Mind During Meditation
Just imagine all these years you have had practice thinking of things sometimes that are not relevant. We can also make the practice that we don’t think of things that are not relevant. For example, thoughts that do not serve us like worrying about an event that is in the future or worrying about an experience that happened in the past but it’s already done. In fact your thought about the future is fantasy because it has not happened and your thought about the past is just a feeling or observation good or bad. It’s very common that we can get attached to one of these thoughts and it can grow in our mind overtime and get very overwhelming. This attachment and repetition over a negative thought not serving us can create a lot of suffering like depression or mood swings.
Meditation helps us to break the pattern and recognize when it’s happening so that we can break the negative thought pattern again.
Use Your Breath
Let’s start with easiest and most accessible tool: our breath. Let’s use the example of a pet dog as that nagging thought who is always nagging you for your attention while you are trying to work on an important project. Obviously you would sweetly and gently tell the dog: “not now I am working”. In the same way when we set aside time to meditate and focus on our breath. Then, when a thought arises we can gently say to ourselves “not now I am focusing on my breath”. Overtime your dog will understand as your mind will understand when you sit for meditation.
This is not to say your thoughts will stop. A busy mind during meditation may be something we need to manage. We are also not trying to stop our thoughts. We let them roam freely as if they were clouds moving in the sky. Each time you attach too much to one thought you gently let it go and come back to focusing on your breath over and over and over again. As you do this over time you will see the thoughts are not actually true so they will not bother you so much.
Use a Mantra
Another easy practice you can add onto focusing on your breath is using a mantra or positive affirmation. A mantra is simply a tool or vehicle to help you focus. The word mantra in Sanskrit means: man (mind) tra (vehicle). Let’s use an easy one: as you breathe in say to yourself silently in your mind: “I am calm”. As you breathe out say to yourself “I am relaxed”.
Overtime you can research new affirmations mantras for ideas or make up your own. I learned this mantra from the book: The Heart of Buddha’s teaching by Thich Nhat Hanh. Some mantras like this one have meaning while others might be in Sanskrit using the sound and vibration of the word like the mantra. ‘So Hum’ which reflects easily with the rhythm of the breath is an example. This mantra means “I am that” (so = “I am” and hum = “that”). Here, “that” refers to all of creation, the one breathing us all.
Build your library with books to help you along your meditation path. Also fill up your toolbox with the tools that will help you along this path. Most importantly choose tools that are right for you and keep an open mind. The most important thing for me has been the exploration process!
