Is meditation quieting the mind?
When meditation is about quieting the mind, we’re set up for failure because our minds are fantastic at thinking. If we understand meditation as training the mind, we can discover a process that embraces a busy mind and still provides the benefits of meditation.
The mind comprises many processes with competing desires. For example, in our best efforts to be present, part of the mind still grabs our attention and says, “Wouldn’t scrolling the internet be more fun than this?” While part of our mind desires to meditate, other parts prefer something else, and meditation can make us frustratingly aware of that. However, the distracted parts of the mind are why we meditate. We train them.
When we become aware of the mind’s competing agendas, we make a significant step on our meditative path; we become aware. To train the mind, we must know its reality. We start to understand that reality by seeing the mind’s inner landscape.
Becoming aware of that inner landscape isn’t easy, especially when it’s overwhelmingly busy! This dilemma is familiar among beginning meditators who are establishing a consistent meditation practice. For some, it feels as though meditation itself has caused the mind to become busy, which is especially frustrating when trying to quiet the mind.
In most cases, meditation doesn’t cause the mind to be more active than it already is. Instead, meditation invites us to know the mind in a way we haven’t before, highlighting the busyness that’s always been there. Within this awareness, we begin to find a gratifying space from thoughts and feelings and become less consumed by them.
If you ever feel disheartened by the state of your mind in meditation, focus on the spectacular fact that you sat down to meditate. Without meditating, the benefits of meditation can’t happen. You might see mind states like the weather. Some days are pleasant, and others are stormy. Controlling the weather is a tempting but futile task. However, each day you show up to meditate is a step on a journey to a more temperate climate.
The more we take pleasure in our successes in meditation, the more likely we will want to return to the meditation cushion. A way to cultivate that pleasure is to refrain from punishing ourselves for having thoughts and feelings we’d prefer weren’t there. Instead, we can celebrate that we know our experience and our responses to it, such as aversion or lust. With this knowing and accepting of our minds, a skillful movement towards presence, non-reactivity, and ease becomes possible.
The bad news about meditation is that it requires consistency and doesn’t always provide instant gratification. Positive reinforcement and acceptance, if not celebration, of our practice are essential for achieving a mind that’s willing to be present. The good news is that with consistency and a celebratory approach, we quickly begin to notice the benefits of meditation.
Benefits from meditation will vary among practitioners, and a quiet mind may or may not be relevant to that. A common thread among consistent meditation practitioners, though, is they describe meditation as one of the most beneficial activities of their lives.
