Lots of people who meditate, do it in such a way that it gives them greater stress, this is because they do not know how to do it properly. This is because those who have meditated, some for many years think that during meditation you are suppose to stop thinking or clear the mind and this is extremely harmful. The reason this is so harmful is that when you meditate and you try to clear the mind or stop thinking, you end up more stressed. This is extremely destructive, as you end up resisting your thoughts while trying to clear the mind and this only causes more thoughts to arise. Its like trying to stop very fast flowing traffic, it will only cause you to have a pile up.
Meditation is not about having an empty mind, this would be like taking a strong anaesthetic.
This kind of attitude towards meditation can make you stressed, as you feel that the thoughts are the enemy and you are trying to stop it, like a gunman in a watch tower shooting down the enemy.
Lets look at this in a more creative way, there is fast moving traffic (your thoughts) and you are by the side of the road and you notice this traffic at first. Sometimes there are taxis (a thought you get into) and you get in and you get taken all over the place to a number of destinations (different thoughts) and you are spat out somewhere els with no idea where you are and where you have been. Its like when you think about something that leads to another thought and before we know it, we are wondering what happened.
So our job is then to stop getting into or flagging down the taxis, so we slowly with more awareness try not to get into a thought. So after a while with you getting into less taxis they will realise there is no business and they will reduce their frequency. This is a much more productive way to see our thoughts, as we are not trying to stop them, we are simply letting them go by. This way they will naturally settle and subside, not because we have forced them, but because we are not interested, so they stop bothering us. It is very crucial to understand this difference.
Thoughts are not suppose to be stopped, we are suppose to just let them go.
Meditation is not about stopping the thoughts, it is about being at peace with it.
I found this extremely useful as many people say that meditation does not help them and I feel it is because people believe the myth as stated above. Meditation when done correctly can be a really wonderful thing that helps you deal with your stress.
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