Why is meditation so hard?
“Surely you have heard that the solution to worry, anxiety, and fear is to ‘have faith.’ Or the idea that faith is the opposite of fear. Faith however, is: complete trust of confidence in someone or something. So faith can be positive or negative.” - Frieda Mwenda
Faith can be positive or negative. Many of us unconsciously focus our thoughts toward negative types of faith or visualization. When we consistently set the bar low or have negative expectations about the future or a certain circumstance, we tend to naturally attract, focus on and see more negativity around us. (Like vibration attracts like vibration)
I always share with my clients who are new to meditation practice: meditation is simply concentration. We tend to attach all sorts of extra feelings, expectations and assumptions on top of that. When we naturally find it difficult to meditate in a certain way, we just say that we ‘can’t meditate.’
You are actually already meditating every day of your life. That doesn’t mean that it’s fruitful or mindful, but it’s never that you’re incapable.
There are as many different types of meditation as there are fish in the sea. Mindfulness may not come naturally for most of us because of our fast-paced culture, but any type of practice that allows you to feel fully present is helpful. It’s just a matter of finding the right teacher, practice, or mindful activity that helps you to connect to the present moment.
When we are used to letting our mind run rampant all the time, mindfulness meditation is akin to taming a wild animal.
We go around all day long piling one thought on top of the next, on top of the next, on top of the exact same thoughts we had yesterday. It’s a vicious and aimless cycle that we barely pay attention to at all, unless to just become judgemental or sick of it.
When you first begin to meditate, you will continue to have all of those same thoughts pop up and more. I like to think of the extra thoughts as a way that the mind detoxes. It’s almost as if all of the thoughts that have been floating about on repeat need to just be acknowledged and fully seen before you can move forward. Just as the body will sometimes feel worse through a detoxification process, the mind needs to have space to purge all of the built-up gunk before you will begin feel any sense of clarity.
It does take time. It’s not an overnight fix and you may go through many a meditation practice feeling as if you’ve ‘failed.’ But let me assure you: the mere effort of attending to your thoughts is enough. Just noticing that you’re having a thought is mindfulness and that is success! It doesn’t matter if the thought it pleasant or not, or if it is what you hope to be thinking about, but just that you are observing it instead of getting swept away by it. Think of it as a slight shift from just having your thoughts to watching your thoughts.
So next time you think that meditation is hard or that you can’t do it, just keep in mind what you are already thinking about and start there!
