Tips For Meditation And Clearing Mental Chatter
One of the biggest reasons that people who try to learn to meditate find it hard to get into the habit of meditation is mental chatter.
You may have had this experience yourself where you sit down to meditate only to find that your mind just won’t stop thinking about what you should be doing, could be doing, or pretty much anything other than being quiet.
There’s a reason for this and it’s because it’s the mind’s job to always be moving. When we are awake then the mind is constantly interacting with sensations both from inside the body and outside the body. This sends millions of bits of information to the brain through the central nervous system.
It’s also estimated that on any given day the average person has around 60,000 thoughts a day. Now, when you consider that almost every thought we have has a positive or negative energy associated with it, then you can start to see why your thoughts can become a powerful source of stress and tension in your life.
How To Meditate Effectively And Stop Mental Chatter
Stopping mental chatter is actually a lot easier than you might think. It all boils down to a few simple steps that I’ll go through below.
1. Never try to stop your mind from thinking. Eventually, as you learn how to quiet your mind anytime and anywhere you like, it will become naturally easy to switch off from thinking just by changing the way you relate to your mind.
2. All you need is love. The simplest way to quiet the mind it to allow it to do what it needs to without judgment. Being non-judgmental towards your mind and thoughts is a lot easier when you have an attitude of love and approval towards yourself.
3. You get to stay in control. While the mind might want to do its own thing, you get to choose where you place your attention and for how long. If you are doing a 10-minute meditation, then this means that for this 10-minutes you are going to keep bringing your attention back to the meditation technique you are focusing on as often as you remember.
4. Focus is everything. As you progress in your meditations you will start to develop a relationship with that part of you that has complete awareness of the mind and body, yet is not caught up in either. I call this part the observer – it is the part that is aware of the mind and body, yet separate from them. As the observer, you get to choose what you focus on and for how long.
5. Everything is included. Everything that goes on around you or within you is to be included in your meditation and nothing is to be rejected. By allowing any sounds, feelings, thoughts, or sensations to come and go without getting caught up in them, the mind will naturally start to quiet down.
6. Use your awareness wisely. As soon as you notice that your mind is wandering and getting distracted by your to-do list, or anything at all other than the focus of your meditation, then gently bring your attention back to your breath or whatever it is you are meditating on.
Just by keeping these tips in mind you will find it mush easier to sit down and have an enjoyable meditation regardless of how busy the mind wants to be. It’s all about acceptance and being non-judgmental towards the things that are going on in the background. Then, inner peace starts to unfold very easily and naturally.
If you enjoyed this post please comment and share if you want more content like this.
Michael Atma
Meditation Dojo Blog
Skype: michaelatma
Email: Michael@MichaelAtma.com
