One of the hardest things I’ve attempted recently is meditating.
Don’t mistake me, I’ve been practicing for many years now. Over a decade in fact. I’ve explored different ways to do it and different types of meditation entirely. I’ve also come up with a few practices of my own that I believe are genuinely powerful and useful.
But for a little while now I’ve been struggling with the most basic type of meditation: Close your eyes, concentrate on your breathing, and clear your mind.
Of course I learned this before moving on to more advanced things. And I believe I had the practice fairly in hand. I could clear my mind and stay that way for hours when I wanted to.
But lately, I’ve had trouble. I can clear my mind without too much difficulty, but keeping it that way has become a challenge.
It’s a matter of persistence. I know that. The trick is that when your mind wanders, you don’t get upset, you just calmly redirect your thoughts back to breathing. This process is repeated again and again. As you go, the mind wanders less, and it becomes easier and easier to redirect it when it does. Eventually, your mind will almost never wander during meditation. And if it does, it’s a small thing quickly corrected.
That is the process. I just need to get back into practice. It’s not like riding a bike. You get rusty, but that’s ok. Perfection isn’t the goal. The continual process is the point.