Meditation:Concentration

Taking control of the thoughts is central to meditation. The world in which we live in is an instant world, which moves very fast. Expectations are placed upon us to achieve what we set out to do very quickly and this only adds to pressure, stress, and worry. The mind gets used to juggling many tasks and when preparing to meditate it should come as no surprise that the mind is still leaping around and thoughts are hard to still.

Your Meditation Practice
No matter what your ultimate aim of a meditation practice is; greater peace, insight, intuition, connection to God, increased spirituality, or relaxation, if the mind is constantly being pulled in different directions following a seemingly endless trail of thoughts, then your meditation practice ends with disappointment and you may even be tempted to give up.

Train the mind
You can successfully train the mind with a few simple steps.

Before you sit down to meditate, teach the mind to concentrate on ONE single task. Given the multitude of things we do every day, ONE object should be easy. Choose one method and stay with it until it becomes so easy that you can enter into a meditative state with ease.

• Practice mindfulness in all activities e.g. dressing, bathing, pouring water, chewing food. Each activity that you participate in should be examined fully and you will in turn experience not only concentration, but an enhanced appreciation and enjoyment of what you are doing.
• Focus on your breath whenever you have to wait on something or someone. Don't sit gazing around you. Draw the awareness inward to the breath and notice its rate and flow. Expand the breath and slow it down.
• Maintain single-pointed focus by studying a word or phrase in a religious or spiritual book. What does the word or phrase mean to you?
• Relax the mind by gazing at nature elements such as clouds drifting by, waves rolling in the ocean, ripples in water, leaves rustling in trees, and any other object where you can allow the mind to relax and follow without any thought.
• Focus on the space between your thoughts. This is more challenging but with practice the space becomes larger and you can truly focus on the highest spiritual energy.

In a meditative state, the mind is not empty, but focused. Each time you prepare to meditate the mind is more and more familiar with what is expected of it and enters into meditation with grace and ease.

If you have any suggestions for meditation articles please write to me from the website (there's a place at the end of each posting to do this) and I'll be happy to write on this subject.
New meditation information is added to the site every week with links to my additional articles on how to meditate, reduce stress, and gain inner peace.