If you are having trouble meditating, these 3 tips will help you overcome the most common challenges to meditation. Excerpt from a talk I gave at the Morse Institute Library.
Video Transcript and Relevant Links
So when you’re going into meditation – three things that will help you go into meditation.
I do nothing
The first one is – I do nothing. You know we have a whole list of things to do, right? I have to go home and cook. I have to do my laundry. Whatever. Work related – I have to prepare for a presentation. Now when we sit for meditation what happens? All those things to do comes back, right? I got to get this done. Why am I sitting here and meditating I have to finish this thing. The mind doesn’t rest.
So keeping everything that you have to do aside. So for the next few minutes when you are sitting to meditate – I’m going to do nothing. Just an intention of wanting to do nothing. That’s it. It’s just an intention. You start with that intention of – I’m going to do nothing for the next 20 minutes or however long I’m going to meditate. That’s a first step.
So that’ll help you drop anything that your mind … the planning mind wants to get done because it doesn’t help you sitting to meditate thinking about it is not going to get things done, right? It’s just stress in the mind. Just having that intention – I do nothing.
I want nothing
The second thing is – I want nothing. Now, you know, if you’re hungry I want to get some food or whatever. I need this. I want to get this. I want to get that. The wanting is also in the future, right? The moment you want … you desire something. It’s in the future so dropping any of your desires just for the 20 minutes. So how long and meditating. I want nothing starting with the second intention is I want nothing.
I am nothing
The third one is a little more not so obvious. I am nothing. We have our identities about ourselves about who we think we are. I’m not good enough. I’m good. I don’t think I can meditate. I don’t think meditation is for me whatever concepts that we have about ourselves. We keep that aside. Otherwise we have these thoughts – I’m not good enough, or I’m really good, I’m better than everyone else. Whatever right? Both are not helpful. Both these thoughts are not helpful.
So these three things will help you go into … give you a get a deeper experience of meditation. If you start with that intention – I do nothing, I want nothing, and I am nothing. So those three things can really help because those are the three things that takes us out of this present moment.
