Trying to block out all outside noises and thoughts — to think nothing and sense nothing — and sort of hold that vacuum in place — to maintain this blackout of thoughts and mental function — is a ridiculous activity.
A General Note about Failure
Anything you feel you are failing at can be traced back to some bullshit someone told you about yourself that you chose to believe.
It’s not you.
If something that’s supposed to be so wonderful and useful doesn’t seem to be working for you, resist choosing to believe that there is something wrong with you. Instead, seek out more information, a second opinion, a different perspective — you will likely discover that you were given bad information to work with.
Empty-Minded Meditation: You’ve Been Misinformed
Over the years, so many people have expressed to me that they try to follow basic instructions on how to meditate but they fail miserably right out of the gate because they can’t empty their minds.
I can’t stop thinking!
From about ages four- to nine-years-old, I often had trouble going to sleep; I would go downstairs where my parents were watching TV and announce to them “We have a problem.”
“I can’t sleep,” I would whine, already worked up and frustrated. “I can’t Stop Thinking!”
Thoughts Can’t Be Switched Off
I would self-diagnosis my failure to sleep as an inability to totally become un-conscious. I believed that the problem was that I couldn’t turn off my thoughts, with a master-switch.
My Daddy would suggest that:
When you can’t Sleep, try instead to Just Rest
This is basically a pretty useful attempt to reset expectations, to escape a Failure Feedback Loop, to shift perspective when you discover you’re blocked.
I have some additional thoughts on the dangers of using the word “try” — but that’s a pretty big tangent.
Sleeping Is Not a Lack of Consciousness
We are saturated with information — our brains are designed to constantly process information, seek out problems, and create solutions from the information. Our minds are incredibly active even when we sleep. Sleeping is not a lack of consciousness.
Mediation Is Not a Lack of Consciousness
Meditation is not sleeping — it’s not lack of consciousness either — it’s not about emptying your mind. Stop believing this Empty-Your-Mind crap.
Your mind will hopefully never be empty — this is neither a desirable or realistically achievable state.
The goal in meditation is not to empty your mind. The goal is not to become unconscious. The goal is to achieve a different perspective — to shift your consciousness — to view your thoughts from a different position within yourself.
Fill Up Your Mind Instead
It takes a lot of energy to block out all sensory input — but this is actually easiest to accomplish when your mind is fully engaged, or focused on something.
Which is more distracting? Reading a book in a crowded cafe or reading in a dead silent room with only the sound of a clock ticking?
Trying to block out all outside noises and thoughts — to think nothing and sense nothing — and sort of hold that vacuum in place — maintain this blackout of thoughts and mental activity — it’s a ridiculous activity.
When you meditate, you are not willfully inducing a coma or vegetative state — how would that be useful?
I read something recently — and goldarn it I can’t remember where, I think it was Alli’s “Angel Tech” — suggesting that the empty-your-mind meditation was developed in the orient in order to help people deal with overcrowding. This can’t be right, since in 1000 BC or whatever those countries were nowhere near crowded. Funny, though!
It’s true that the empty-your-mind meditation hasn’t done much for me. Visualizations are more my style. But many people I know have found it very helpful — my mother, for example, who is quite the expert. It may be a mistake to dismiss the technique entirely.
True, I don’t think any technique should be dismissed entirely.
You bring up an interesting point about age/generations… I was mostly addressing the same group of people for whom the concept of literacy radically shifted – remember all the clamor that kids weren’t reading books because they were spending all their time on video games?
Kids born since MTV have grown up with their consciousness saturated with media and information streams.
And those of us who are a little older have still adapted to a reality where the concept of quiet may sound heavenly, but where is it? : )
I meant to suggest Eckart Tolle’s The Power of Now as a fantastic resource for those looking for an alternative approach to meditation – his description of how to shift into “watching the Thinker” is excellent!
THANK YOU for this article! I have never been able to meditate, and the harder I try, the faster and louder my mind goes. I also do better at visualization which gives my mind something to focus on, which probably slows it down. I really thought I was the only one who sucked at meditation
PS. Love your new ezine format.
I used to struggle with the silent meditation method too. Then I started researching and found there are so many ways to meditate. I think the way we meditate depends on the type of person we are.
I find that visualizing a white light coming through the top of my head brings great joy and peace.
I first read about walking meditation or meditation in action a few years ago. This is when I realized that my walks in nature were actually a form of meditation. Letting go and becoming the observer is what I find works best. Two books by Julia Cameron, The Artist’s Way and Walking in This World are good sources of a different kind of meditation.
Although these books are not about meditation, they are fine examples of the ways that we meditate without even realizing we are doing so.
To me meditation is being in touch with the spirit of all that is. Listening.
Have a wonderful day, and I love your articles! Very enlightening perspectives. Thank You,
Sally,
Thank you for sharing your Walking Meditation alternative.
I whole-heartedly endorse Walking in The Woods – it’s my favorite form of meditative and physical exercise.
I think exercise can be a perfect Two-Birds-with-One-Stone approach to strengthening the Mind-Body-Spirit connection.
Anything that brings your consciousness into the present moment, in a state of listening and watching – an awareness of what is going on around you – as opposed to worrying and mental time-traveling – dragging along the past, investing in futures that may never happen – is the Point, isn’t it?
Joy only happens in the present…
Denise,
So glad I struck a nerve! : )
What we need now are some busy, noisy, sensory-embracing, media-saturated meditation alternatives!
Faster, louder, racy-yet-powerful visualizations… I\’m definitely going to work on that, and see if I can come up with a few Not-best practices – anybody have some ideas handy?
Hiya Slade,
great article, but I think it might be a case of what works for one might not work for another. I’m a big fan of empty mind…it’s really hard to get, but I have gotten a lot of progress in it and it works throughout my daily life as well – everytime i get stressed or something bad happens that makes me feel angry, I empty my mind for a minute or so, and I keep my cool easily from there.
UrbanMonk,
That’s great that you have achieved a process that works well for you. I wrote this to offer some hope and an alternative perspective for those who CAN’T.
Sorry, but I am one of those people. I am successful at achieving a variety of altered states of consciousness; however, none of them would I describe as “empty.” With 99.9% perecent of the How To Meditate instructions out there describing Empty Mind, I don’t presume that all those people are wrong.
But then, 99.9% of the people who ask my advice about this in “real” life tell me over and over again that they feel frustrated and excluded by the Empty Mind approach.
I definitely have a few other meditation techniques that might be useful to others, and I’ll eventually put them out there. You can understand why my writing about Empty Mind — when that description doesn’t work for me personally, and when there are already a bazillion words in existence regarding it — would be unnecessary.
I don’t write anything with the intention of persuading anyone to agree with me about any subject; I write to affirm those who already do. Know what I’m saying?
I do appreciate the compliment to the article. Your link will create a pathway for those you represent.
[...] I don’t know about you, but I suck at mainstream meditation techniques; achieving mental silence is not something I can relate to. The sounds are all there, the channel’s on full-blast — picking the individual signal I desire to focus my attention on, from the background noise, is not about getting rid of some sounds or adding a new one. What’s there is there — so ask yourself WHAT is here? [...]
[...] Jeff Lilly, author of DruidJournal.net, has released a guided audio meditation you can download for free. The “Meet a Guide” mp3, the first in a new series of guided meditations, was designed to assist you in contacting your guides. I was only half-joking when I wrote about how much I suck at meditating. I was talking about the whole “empty your mind” concept — my mind is never empty; it’s a busy, noisy place — not only do I accept that, I’ve come to like it that way. [...]
“Trying to block out all outside noises and thoughts — to think nothing and sense nothing — and sort of hold that vacuum in place — to maintain this blackout of thoughts and mental function — is a ridiculous activity.”
It sounds like you’ve tried to meditate once or twice without success and gave up without practicing long enough to realize what seasoned meditation practitioners experience during states of heightened awareness. You also seem to have a fundamental misunderstanding of traditional forms of meditation, but rest assured that this isn’t uncommon.
You’re incorrect when you say that to stop entertaining one’s thoughts is to “sense nothing” – this is, in fact, the exact opposite of the truth. First, when meditating, one doesn’t dismiss or try to forcefully quiet one’s mind. One allows thoughts to come and go naturally, but one simply refrains from entertaining one’s thoughts or encouraging the thoughts in any way. When practicing this method, one’s thoughts, as well as all sounds, smells, and sights, should be acknowledged as fully as possible. Eventually, though, the thoughts begin to come less and less frequently until they cease the mind is peaceful and quiet. Rather than become unconscious, in this state one is more conscious, Superconscious. In this state, rather than “sense nothing”, one actually senses more, as one is not distracted by his own rambling and frenzied thoughts. Then one can sense that which cannot be explained or comprehended by the intellect: Suchness, a state of being untarnished by the overdeveloped analytical mind and all it’s preconceived notions and blinding judgments. This Isness is all that inherently exists. This Isness is the Source from which all thoughts and forms emerge. This Suchness is God. This Isness is YOU. Try allowing your thoughtscape to clear itself for a moment or two. You’ll still be there when you start thinking again. But the truth is, you’ll find, is that you never leave. You are not your thoughts. You are not your memories. You are not your personalities. Your are not your past or future. You are Isness, Suchness – you are consciousness as a phenomenon. You are God incarnate in It’s own imagination! This realization is already inside you – you don’t need to learn anything, just remember who you are.
Brian,
Don’t mistake my “writing device,” the irony, or sense of humor this post was motivated by.
I totally agree with you, and am speaking FROM the perspective — giving voice to — the misconceptions. I am “representing” those feelings of confusion.
I — personally — am pretty comfortable and successful with a handful of meditations I use daily.
But a lot of people are NOT — which is what this was intended to address.
Thanks for taking the time to help fill out that dialog — your wisdom is much appreciated!
[...] Originally Posted by Rod_Smith_1982 I’ve decided to discontinue (rather than restart it) this one for just now Why not just continue where you left off? When I’ve done 30-day challenges, I’ve measured my success in a couple of ways. First, did I complete my goal every day? 29 of 30? 25 of 30? Second, if I missed a few days, why? What can I learn from that "failure"? For the June Challenge in particular, I learned at least as much from my "failures" as from my successes. Figuring out what motivates me, how to frame my goals, how to measure success, and what to adjust to make success easy are all as important as actually completing the goal. What I learned about meditation so far is this: If I meditate laying down, I fall asleep. Meditating when tired is hard. There are many ways to meditate, it’s worth trying a variety of methods, some appeal more to me than others, and that’s okay. A few relevant blog posts: Vera Nadine – Active Meditation Slade Roberson – The Reason Why You Suck at Meditation Paula Kawal – The Wisdom of Stillness Part 1 and Part 2 Jeff Lilly – Meet a Guide: Free Guided Meditation Erin Pavlina – Visualization Meditation Exercise: Go to Your Room [...]
Slade,
I often use the word “meditation” when what I really mean is “creative visualization.” Just a bad habit of mine. I have been largely unsuccessful at the whole “empty-your-mind” BS, but creative, specific, directed visualizations have saved my sanity on numerous occasions. For example, I have a medical procedure done on an outpatient basis every four months. It usually requires drugs — for most people. But I generally refuse the drugs (which come with nasty side effects) and opt to take myself somewhere else entirely with a specific visualization I’ve developed for the purpose. Trust me, my mind is not empty at the time!
I do, however, think it’s important (especially for us Gen-X, MTV-ers) to develop our powers of concentration. The intense focus on one thing inside your mind allows for much more detailed & vivid visualizations. That can make all the difference in the world when you are trying to “get outside of your life,” so to speak, and deal with unpleasant situations. Does that make sense?
Love & Light,
Jewels
that makes sense… it takes a lot of practice