A friend told me that he needed further assistance learning to meditate. Someone had told him to sit still and concentrate on his breathing. He did but almost immediately, his mind wandered. He thought he needed to work on his concentration to avoid such wandering.
I am writing to say that his idea is a common misconception. The mind wanders or more correctly, it produces thoughts. The eye takes in images, the ear hears sounds, the mind produces thoughts. The idea in meditation is to be as alert as possible to these seductive thoughts creeping into consciousness. They will. They do for everyone, all the time. But meditation increases one’s awareness of just what is occupying the mind.
Jack Kornfield, PhD, is my current favorite meditation/Buddhist psychology teacher. He has several books, very readable and helpful. In “The Wise Heart”, he says that when you become aware that you are thinking, that is the MAGIC MOMENT:
“What matters is the magic moment when you wake up and realize “Oh, I have been thinking”. Whether it happens five seconds or five minutes later, that is the moment that makes a difference.”
Noticing that you have been thinking is indeed the moment of awareness of what you are doing, precisely what meditation can improve your ability to do. Pema Chodron is the Buddhist practitioner name of an American-born Buddhist nun who is the director of Gampo Abbey in Nova Scotia. She is a favorite writer and teacher, a graduate of American colleges, a former elementary teacher and a grandmother. She sometimes advises meditators to think or speak a label, such as “thinking” to note when they catch their mind thinking.
Developing better awareness of your mind, thoughts and emotions increases your ability to choose what you want to feel and think instead of being so much at the mercy of animal wiring. Meditation also increases your internal coherence, your inner unity and your familiarity with who and what you actually are.
So in a sense, the more your mind wanders, the better. You have more chances to note what is happening and to gently put those thoughts and all thoughts aside for a short time.
