Judge if You are Meditating Right...?

There is No Right Way, There is Only Your Way

Recently, a friend and I were talking about meditation.

She began lamenting how much and how often she tried to meditate but always failed.

Whoa… Her heaviness of palpable defeat seemed to drain the very life out of the room.

Do you try to meditate only to find your thoughts parading like they’re the star of the parade? Do your parading thoughts frustrate you?

I have heard many frustrated clients swear that they can’t meditate. They just can’t do it right!

Their frustration sounds much like this…

I’m just not a meditator.

There is no way I’ll ever be able to meditate. I can’t control my thoughts.

My thoughts take on a life of their own.

I get too fidgety, or I fall asleep.

I don’t know how to focus.

Next comes their self-judgements.

What’s wrong with me? I should be able to do this! Other people meditate, why can’t I? Do you know how many times I tried?!

And on and on…

When we go into meditation determined to have an outcome, such as I’m not going to have any thoughts, we’re setting ourselves up for the possibility that we won’t meet our expectations. When we don’t meet them, we feel like a failure.

Judgements follow feelings of failure.

When we place judgments - I’m not a meditator, or I can’t meditate right - we limit ourselves from experiencing the true meaning of meditation.

Meditation is about having an inward experience.

Thoughts Come and Thoughts Go

I shared with my friend that I don’t get attached to my thoughts.

I simply watch them. I don’t make them wrong. Or make myself wrong for having them.

I heard once (I think from Michael Singer) to think of your thoughts in meditation like clouds floating. When we watch clouds we’re not attached. They’re just clouds.

Our thoughts don’t have to define who we are. They’re just thoughts.

If I feel inclined, I may question my thoughts - Hmm…I wonder why I’m thinking about organizing my office now. Or, interesting that I’m thinking about what I’ll cook for dinner, so why am I thinking about that now?

Regardless if I’m observing my thoughts or questioning them, they’re still just thoughts, and thoughts come and thoughts go.

“The goal of meditation isn’t to control your thoughts, it’s to stop letting them control you.” The Age of Enlightenment

Meditation is a Gift - Let Go of Expectations

I think of meditation as a gift.

It’s a gift to go inward, to feel my inner reality, to connect with the Higher part of me - my true nature of love, or to unravel my thoughts.

When I let go of expectations, I understand that it doesn’t matter if I meditate for 1 minute or an hour, it’s still a gift.

I want to experience the gift of me. To experience my true nature. If my thoughts run wild, so be it. I can question my thoughts to understand myself better or I can let them float away.

By letting go of expectations, I have vast opportunities to experience the gift of my true nature in meditation because they aren’t weighed down with judgements.

There is No Right Way - There is only Your Way

There are many schools of thought regarding meditation.

My thought is to meditate how you want to meditate.

Let go of doing it right, instead, do it your way.

When you think of meditating as a gift to experience, you’ll find that you can experience your true nature in many meditative kinds of ways.

Think about it, we all have moments of being meditative, moments when our lives slow down, and we go inward and experience more of our true nature:

• Nature has a way of bringing us inward - walking along a beach, or in a rainforest, watching waves ebb and flow, witnessing the breathtaking sight of a glorious sunrise or sunset, sitting at our window and watching nearby birds, or playing in our garden

• Snuggling with our puppy, listening to our kitty cat’s purr, or riding our horse

• Being with our child or grandchild

• Feeling grateful as we sit with our Beloved

• Taking a shower or bath

• Listening to music that moves us

• Dancing or Yoga

When we allow ourselves to be here now and take in what life’s beauty is offering us in that moment - we are experiencing our true nature.

So, how about it? How about we let go of our expectations of how to meditate and claim that we are meditators?

After all, we all have moments when we reconnect with our true nature - and connecting with our true nature is what meditation is all about.

Inner Joy Compass Prompt:

Let’s amp up our joy and embrace the truth that we are meditators.

When I let go of expectations, slow down and go inward, I experience______________.

I most enjoy myself as a meditator when I _____________________.

To enhance my natural meditative experiences I will________________.

“The thing about meditation is: You become more and more you.” David Lynch

May you embrace however you meditate, know your way is the right way, and as David Lynch says, become more and more you.

Thanks for hanging out with me.

I appreciate YOU.

With all my love,

Gloria

P.S. It was great answering your question Vicky S. ‘The paid subscriber who received FREE intuitive, soulful assistance.’