Ever tried mindfulness meditation, but before you knew it your mind was consumed with mundane thoughts like what you’re going to have for dinner that night?
Or maybe you couldn’t stop ruminating about something that annoyed you at work yesterday or an argument you had with a friend?
This is a common meditation experience which causes people to give up on mindfulness. But before you decide that meditation isn’t for you, I’d like you to consider another perspective…
What if those moments when you realise your mind has wandered are actually your greatest gift?
Please don’t stop reading now thinking I must be crazy!
How can not being able to focus possibly be a good thing?
Well…it’s one of the biggest myths that meditation is all about ’emptying your mind’.
In fact, when you recognise that your mind has wandered you’re actually experiencing a magic moment of awareness. Now you have a moment of choice and you can consciously bring your mind back to the meditation.
At first this may happen frequently and you can find yourself constantly redirecting your thoughts back to your practice.
Don’t be disheartened – this is the crucial moment of meditation. So from now on, every time you catch your mind wandering congratulate yourself – you caught yourself, so that means you are being mindful!
If you weren’t mindful you wouldn’t have even noticed that your mind was wandering in the first place. Get it?
Just like working your muscles in the gym, each time you consciously become aware of your thoughts, you are training you brain to be more mindful and building new neural pathways.
You’ll find the more you practice the skill of noticing your mind wandering in meditation, the more you’ll be able to redirect your thoughts in every day life – making for clearer, more serene mind.
So next time you catch yourself pondering what to make for dinner during a meditation, give yourself a pat on the back – you’re doing great!