Your Mind Will Not Bring You Peace

By Pamela J. Wells

No matter what you think about meditation, always know that your mind will not bring you peace. The only way to feel peace inside (the natural state of your being) is to relax the mind and this is done through meditation. You may say, “I don’t have enough time!” Well, if you don’t have enough time then you really do not want to be at peace. Just a few minutes a day is all it takes and as time goes by you will start to spend more and more time meditating. When you have a hectic schedule and you find yourself going from Point A to Point B from the time that you wake-up to the time that you go to sleep and sleep seems to be the only time that you are not constantly going, what you need to do is to take just a few minutes out of your day to meditate.

When you think about mediation, you think about sitting in a certain position with your legs crossed—that you have to do it a certain way, in a certain position, and in a certain place. If you want to do that, that’s fine. There are a variety of meditation techniques that you can follow, but you have the option to do it in a non-traditional manner, which enables you to do it anywhere and especially if you are on a fast-paced, busy schedule every day that leaves little room for meditation, so being able to meditate anywhere is the key, which can be done using the most basic and important part of meditation, which is to close your eyes, relax your body, and focus on your breath, slowly breathing in and breathing out. This enables you to clear your thoughts and come to a peaceful state. Feel your lungs slowly expand as you breath in and slowly retract as you breath out. You can also imagine stillness, space,  emptiness (such as a black and vast space of emptiness) while you are breathing in and breathing out.

When you first start to meditate, the mental chatter will be a challenge to release; however, the more that you meditate and the more minutes that you can allocate to meditation the better. Do not get frustrated over the thoughts coming into your head and bombarding you. Do not get upset with yourself if you have trouble relaxing your mind. Everyone goes through this when they first start meditating. Do not say things like, “This is too difficult. I cannot relax my mind.” Just continue focusing on your breath. Breathe in slowly, breathe out slowly. It feels like the mind and its endless chatter is on autopilot, but even though it seems that way, it can be, through practice, calmed down. Just keep returning to your breath. Allocating 20 minutes or more a day to meditation is a good start. Eventually, you will be able to meditate for longer periods of time, about 30 minutes in the morning and 30 minutes in the evening is a good amount of time to meditate, but it is not set in stone the time of day that you meditate—whatever is convenient for your schedule.

It is easy to get distracted in our daily lives and have trouble getting a routine of meditating going or completely stopping meditation. You forget about it and get caught up in your old ways of living. You have a habit of doing certain things every day and, like most people, are rushing to get things done, rushing to get from Point A to Point B; so, it is helpful, in the beginning, to place little notes in different areas of your home, in your purse or billfold, or car (the mirror above the visor is a good place to put a note) as reminders. You could write down these words: Breathe In Slowly, Breathe Out Slowly, Relax. You can also do shorter spurts of meditation during the day, during your breaks and lunch at work or your business. You will find that the more that you meditate, the more you enjoy it and feel at peace. The ability to carry that feeling of peace over during the day becomes easier and you are able to make clearer decisions throughout your daily activities. Instead of coming from a place of stress, you are coming from a place of calm and peace.

Copyright © 2012 Pamela J. Wells. All Rights Reserved
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