One of my goals for the new year is to do more “mindfulness stuff” – meditation, breathing exercises, gratitude and the like…
Meditation has always been one I’ve needed help with though. For the longest time, I thought that the goal of meditation was to achieve total clarity of the mind. You know…where nothing is going on inside your head and thoughts except stillness.
Because I could never really achieve anything remotely resembling that (my mind would always wander), I would get frustrated and think I was doing it wrong. Was I not capable of calming my thoughts? Then I would think, “This is dumb and not helping”. And not do it anymore.
Shifting my perspective
The truth was that I was approaching it all wrong. I learned that one of the main goals of meditation is to focus on the PROCESS of bringing your thoughts back to the stillness.
Meditation, in its simplest form, can be summed up like this: you focus your mind on something (a calming scene, a mantra or affirmation…whatever you like). Then, naturally, your mind wanders. So you have to bring it back. After a period of seconds or minutes, your mind wanders again…you bring it back. Over and over. That is meditation.
Every time you do this, you are “flexing your meditation muscle”. The theory is, over time, the more and more you practice this, the LESS your thoughts will wander, leading to increases in “mental stillness” and, in turn, a sense of calm. You are training your mind to be still.
Or so I’m told. I’m still very early in my journey of learning about meditation, and the benefits you can get from practicing it. But the general idea of what I described above is slowly making sense to me.
I was recently shown a simple meditation that I really liked. So I thought I would share it with you…Bonus: it’s super easy to do.
The “Leaves on a stream” meditation
Begin by finding a comfortable position, and either close eyes or fix your eyes on a spot.
Now imagine you are sitting on the side of a gently flowing stream, and there are leaves flowing past on the surface of the stream.
For the next few minutes, take every thought that pops into your head…and place it on a leaf. Then, just let it float on by.
- Do this regardless of whether the thoughts are positive or negative, pleasurable or painful
- Even if they are the most wonderful thoughts…let them go, place them on the leaf and allow them to float by
If your thoughts stop, just watch the stream. Sooner or later, your thoughts will start up again.
Allow the stream to flow at its own rate. Don’t speed it up or slow it down. You are not trying to wash the leaves away – you’re allowing them to come and go in their own good time.
If you mind says “This is stupid and I can’t do it”…place those thoughts on a leaf. Watch them go.
If a leaf gets stuck on the water for a while, let it hang around. Don’t force it to float away.
If a difficult feeling arises, such as boredom or impatience, simply acknowledge it by saying to yourself, “here’s a feeling of boredom” or “here’s a feeling of impatience”. Then place those words on a leaf, and let the leaf float on.
From time to time, random thoughts may hook you, and you will lose track of the exercise. This is normal and natural, and it will keep happening. As soon as you realize it’s happened, gently acknowledge it, and then start the exercise again.
Now continue the exercise for several minutes or so, periodically punctuating the silence with the reminder “again and again, your thoughts will hook you. This is normal.” Then direct your thoughts back to the leaves and the stream.
Do this as many times as you feel you need to…or until the time you allotted for meditation has expired.
Now take a few deep breaths. Congratulations! You just meditated! High fives all around (pat yourself on the back).