MEDITATION

What is Meditation

The goal of meditation is a combination of witnessing and accepting what's going on around us both externally and internally without the need to participate.

External acceptance can be assisted by bringing yourself to a place without distractions from the external such as going to a quiet place with nothing moving or acting around you. It's best to have your eyes closed while sitting in a comfortable position.

Internal acceptance takes a little more work. What we're doing here is attempting to separate our self from our unconscious mind. We don't have control over the thoughts our unconscious mind presents to us but we do have control over how we react to those thoughts. The intention of internal acceptance is to become an observer of the thoughts as if they were on a movie screen in front of us without attaching ourselves to what comes on and off the screen. So often we want to participate in the movie of thoughts and add our say to the story. Internal acceptance is experiencing the thoughts in a way to where their appearance and disappearance becomes a surprise every time. You're not connected to the thoughts. You're watching them. To practice what this experience feels like, imagine staring at the sky by an airport where airplanes land and never letting the airplane passing through your field of vision distract you from staring at the sky as a whole. The airplane does not have control of your attention.

The primary benefit of meditation is increased trust. Increased trust that you can let go of what's going on around you in the external world and still feel safe. Increased trust that you can allow your thoughts to be what they are without attaching yourself to them in the moment giving you a greater sense of self control.