Demystifying Meditation: The Truth about Thoughts
5 Ways to Use Mindfulness to Meditate in the Presence of Racing Thoughts
Whether you’re relatively new to meditation, or a seasoned practitioner, we’ve all at some point or another gotten caught up in the swirl of racing, recurring thoughts that pull us away from the practice. More often than not, when you sit to meditate thoughts, feelings, distractions, and all manner of things begin to rise to the surface pulling your attention away from the very practice you are seeking to drop into.
Add in self-critique and judgment, and it can create a sense of reluctance and apprehension.
This post will explore 5 ways to meditate when your mind is racing.
The Disturbing Nature of Swirling Thoughts
Despite our best intentions, when we attempt to meditate our thoughts tend to have a mind of their own, as they often go rogue off into a tangent that propels our awareness into every other tense but the present moment. Be it the past, future, or otherwise, one thought leads to another, the next thing you know you find yourself caught up in a series of distractions that take you away from what is unfolding in the now moment. All the while resurfacing things that we’d rather not resurrect.
Within a matter of minutes, our awareness can easily travel back to early childhood, latent adulthood, and back again to earlier in the week. In all, it can be an absolute whirlwind that reverts you back to the past one second and propels you forward to just a short while ago.
Essentially your awareness is flung everywhere imaginable but the present moment. This raises a number of proverbial questions, mostly how in the world can you practice if there is no way for you to intervene and stop the very inner distractions that disrupt your practice?
This contemplation in itself can lead you to wonder what others have that enable them to practice in spite of the presence of swirling thoughts. More importantly, are you the only one that experiences disruptive thoughts? Perhaps there’s an underlying secret that you’ve not privy. Whatever your stance maybe, this can present itself as a significant deterrent to mediation. Rightfully so, this may lead you down a path of self-criticism, and self-doubt, which mostly leads you to question whether meditation practice is even a good fit.
The good news is, if you’ve ever found yourself pondering these very questions, you are not alone. Absolutely everyone has experienced similar thoughts. Regardless of who you are, if you have a mind and experience thoughts as we all do, no one is exempt.
Most importantly you are not lacking anything. Unlike most things, meditation is not just something you can just read about and master the mechanics of practice. Essentially it’s not a destination, it’s a lifelong practice that evolves and expands with perseverance and consistency.
Distractions: An Antithesis to Practice
Meditation is the practice of paying indistractable attention to an intended focus. One would think that it would not be any different than intently staring at a specific object. Theoretically it seems easy enough, until you actually begin to drop into practice.
Although meditation can be done with your eyes open or closed, it’s mostly done with your eyes closed as it reduces external distractions, supporting you to go within. Only distractions equally exist within, as well as external to ourselves. That’s when it seems like there is a world of distractions competing for your attention. One would think that our minds would align with our intention, and cooperate with our efforts to meditate. However, it doesn’t quite unfold in that manner.
Whether you are a novice or a seasoned practitioner, you may find yourself swept up in the wayward flow of your thoughts, intertwined with the random stuff that has absolutely nothing to do with meditation. Perhaps you have committed yourself to cultivate a practice, only to find that this narrative keeps repeating itself. Just maybe your thoughts have emerged into one of your biggest rivals to developing a practice. Whatever the case may be, there are a few different supportive practices that can guide you to advance your practice in spite of recurring thoughts.
Much like noise, voices, and all other manners of distractions that are outside of our control, non-judgment is a practice that supports us to move past rampant thoughts. Whenever you find yourself caught up in distractions it paves the way for guilt, blame, and shame, which can quickly spiral into self-critique and judgment. However, if you shift your perspective it frees you from bogging yourself down with self-doubt.
Why It’s Impossible to Stop the Rushing Flow of Thoughts
Have you ever wondered why it’s so dam hard to silence your thoughts? Well so glad you asked. Where your attention goes your energy flows. Meaning when your thoughts are intently focused on the very fact that you’re thinking instead of meditating, it increases the very flow of things you are seeking to cease. This same universal truth applies whenever you attempt to not think about a particular person or thing. More than likely in that very same manner, you find that every single thought becomes laser-focused on the exact thing you are seeking to repress.
Let’s expand this example a little more onto a particular brand or color of a car. I for one experienced instances in which I became aware of a new car model. Within that same instance, I made a mental note that I had not yet seen this latest model on the road as of yet. The next thing I know, practically everywhere I went it was practically all I noticed.
This is a perfect example of where our awareness goes our energy flows. The very fact that I began to notice this car everywhere didn’t mean that it became more prevalent, it just meant that it was always present it just wasn’t at the forefront of my awareness. This same notion applies to our thoughts, they are ever-present in our day-to-day life. However, once our awareness becomes more intently focused on it, the more intently we become aware of its persistence. Therefore, it creates more of the same.
The Power of Mindfulness: Shifting our Awareness
When it comes to meditation we can have the best of intentions. However, in spite of what we intend, there are an immeasurable number of things that are outside of our control that can change the course of our plans. When this happens, we can tap into a number of supportive practices to aid us in remaining aligned with our intentions.
When it comes to mediation, using the practice of acceptance, non-judgment, the breath, grace, and beginning again can support us to shift our awareness away from rampant thoughts and onto a focus that is rooted within the present moment. This essentially reinforces the universal truth that you are enough, just as you are. There is no need to contort, change, or compare your journey to anyone else. Simply tap into practices that support you to deepen your practice.
5 Ways to Use Mindfulness to Meditate in the Presence of Racing Thoughts
1. Acceptance
Whenever you drop into meditation and find yourself resisting what is unfolding, take a moment to release your attachment to things unfolding as you imagined and accept what is.
Accepting what is, does not mean that you have to necessarily like what is unfolding, it just means you release your attachment to how you wish things would happen.
2. Non-Judgement
If you view yourself as straying away from what you had initially intended, feelings of guilt, shame, and self-criticism may arise. This places you in victimhood, meaning that things are happening to you. Releasing judgment frees you from attachment, allowing you to experience what is unfolding on a moment-by-moment basis.
Letting go of judgment raises your vibration supporting you to realign with your intention to practice meditation. This same practice can be applied both on and off the mat through mindfulness practice.
3. Shift your Awareness to the Presence and Flow of the Breath
Our thoughts and awareness can easily be thrust into the past, future, and any manner of places that don’t exist within the present moment. One of our essential facilities that can only occur in the present, is the breath.
When we root our awareness within an intended focus that can only occur in the present it supports us to shift our awareness out of the past, and future, and onto the present.
4. Be Gracious
As a collective, we tend to extend patience, and grace to others more than we do ourselves. Grace is a liberatory practice that frees us from reveling in the throughs of lower vibrations. When you find that your mind wanders off onto far-off distant spaces, extending grace frees you from spiraling into lower frequencies.
5. Begin Again
Grace is a liberating practice that frees us from reveling in self-critique. The beauty of accepting what is, frees us to simply begin again. Whenever you find yourself straying from practice, simply begin again as many times as need by.
Regardless of how many times it takes. Begining again frees you to deepen your practice by essentially beginning again, over and over again without judgment.
If this post, resonates with you, I’d love to hear from you. Share your experience with racing thoughts, as well as what has supported you to deepen your practice. Drop a comment below.