Sitting and doing nothing? Can meditation be that easy? If so, why do so many people resist it? Does such things as doing nothing exist?
The short answer is no.
Yes, we are sitting still, but we are not doing nothing. The foundation purpose of meditation is to train our focus. Depending on your intention, that could mean focusing on the present (relaxing our body, or watching our breath), or a visualization, or on finding a purpose in our lives.
During a meditation session, our brain works really hard to maintain concentration. Many people would agree here with me that they can never sit still and think of nothing. There are always thoughts that keep intruding the mind, and so meditation is not for them.
The truth is the mind will always be busy with thoughts. But meditation will help train which thoughts it should concentrate on.
Should it concentrate on the problems, or should it concentrate on the solution?
Should it concentrate on the pain of the past or should it concentrate on working with the present to change the future?
Should it concentrate on what it cannot control, or should it concentrate on what it can?
Taming our minds is no easy job because not all the time that we have enough awareness to realize how our thoughts and emotions are affecting our behaviors and our lives.
Those thoughts and emotion patterns have been repeated thousands and thousands of times that it has embedded in our system. Some of them may be serving us well, others may be on the opposite side, i.e., doing us harm.
In order to change the ones that are harmful to us, we will need to spend some time to have a conversation with ourselves, look deep within our souls, so that we can recognize those patterns.
And meditation will provide us with a chance to do that.
It may look like we are lazy humans who have plenty of time to sit around all day. But just by sitting still, and focusing on watching our thoughts flow by, or following them consciously, seeing where they are heading to, or seeing how wild they can become. Over time, we will recognize our triggers, our patterns, our habits, and even our fears!
What’s more? When we step back and take the role of an observer, we are looking at those patterns as something we can improve, not something we should be embarrassed about. And that is self-acceptance, self-validation, and self-forgiveness.
And when we started changing those patterns, we also start rewiring our brains, therefore rewiring our lives. And that is self-learning, self-improving. That also means joy and happiness.
In that sense, meditation has become an interesting activity. It helps tame our minds, improves our focus ability, and it also brings about interesting surprises and discoveries or even transformations to our souls.
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