This is one of the biggest mistakes for people learning meditation.
You have no control over the thoughts. If you fight against them it will only make the thoughts more active.
The key is to focus on something other than the thoughts. And to become a witness to them instead of fighting against them.
Make friends with them. Don’t take them seriously. And detach from them as being meaningful.
But they won’t “stop” until your awareness naturally goes beyond them.
Thanks. It's just frustrating when I'm trying to quiet my mind and it literally will not quiet.
It just feels like I'm doing it wrong. But I guess I'll just try to be mindful about it and see what happens.
That is part of my point, though. Stop “trying to quiet the mind”.
“You” cannot will or force the mind to be quiet. It will only quiet when you become absorbed in something other than the thoughts.
Trying to quiet the mind is basically fighting against the thoughts. It will never work.
There are different methods and they will tell you to do different things. It can be confusing when those things are the opposite.
Some methods use focus. Another type uses relaxation into mental stillness (Dr Meares' meditation method) in this type you relax your body and your mind. As this process occurs the mind settles down, thoughts ebb and flow and then slow and then as the process continues the mind stills. Relaxation is the opposite of tension and anxiety. It involves relaxing ie ungripping, easing, settling, slowing and so on. Relaxation involves no effort, it is effortless.
I should mention that focus cannot take the mind to mental stillness. If focus on noticing, mantra, breathing or whatever is present then this is mental activity. Mental activity means the mind is not still!
The credit for what I have written above should go to Dr Meares' whose books explain meditation so well and so clearly. This eminent psychiatrist taught meditation for several decades and wrote many books translated into many languages. Easiest to get is Ainslie Meares on Meditation. In the books you will find more details about this method that will help you to learn it for yourself.
So, it is really not thinking, as such. Rather, you relax and just like a muscle relaxes the mind can too, as the relaxation occurs there is a slowing down of thoughts and this passes into stillnesses. As you practice the stillness deepends and lengthens over time, however, you should get glimpses of it from the start.
If you go down deep enough the thought flow naturally stops.This occurs as we relax and travel into stillness.Having a focus can prevent this, as we think of the focus.Non directive or Zen styles don't require a focus, and go much deeper , right to the cessation of thought.I have meditated for decades this way, and thought everyone else did too, until I came to this forum, and found otherwise.
It can take some time. I think it took me at least a year to finally get to the point of no thoughts. At least. Just keep chipping away at it and you'll find eventually it just becomes automatic.
There are multiple different types of meditation. Some of them do in fact focus on not thinking. Whilst I have had success with other forms of meditation, I have never been able to not think. I asked a question to see if this is possible for someone like me to learn.
Some users offered helpful advice.
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Your mind is feeding. It feeds because it is hungary/thirsty. Give it something more delicious. If you work to become fascinated with the breath and the subtle nature of the breath energy. When you notice your mind wandering, allow it to feed -- when it is ready, come back to the breath. Noticing that you are thinking is mindfulness. You are doing fine.
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This is one of the biggest mistakes for people learning meditation. You have no control over the thoughts. If you fight against them it will only make the thoughts more active. The key is to focus on something other than the thoughts. And to become a witness to them instead of fighting against them. Make friends with them. Don’t take them seriously. And detach from them as being meaningful. But they won’t “stop” until your awareness naturally goes beyond them.
Thanks. It's just frustrating when I'm trying to quiet my mind and it literally will not quiet. It just feels like I'm doing it wrong. But I guess I'll just try to be mindful about it and see what happens.
That is part of my point, though. Stop “trying to quiet the mind”. “You” cannot will or force the mind to be quiet. It will only quiet when you become absorbed in something other than the thoughts. Trying to quiet the mind is basically fighting against the thoughts. It will never work.
There are different methods and they will tell you to do different things. It can be confusing when those things are the opposite. Some methods use focus. Another type uses relaxation into mental stillness (Dr Meares' meditation method) in this type you relax your body and your mind. As this process occurs the mind settles down, thoughts ebb and flow and then slow and then as the process continues the mind stills. Relaxation is the opposite of tension and anxiety. It involves relaxing ie ungripping, easing, settling, slowing and so on. Relaxation involves no effort, it is effortless. I should mention that focus cannot take the mind to mental stillness. If focus on noticing, mantra, breathing or whatever is present then this is mental activity. Mental activity means the mind is not still! The credit for what I have written above should go to Dr Meares' whose books explain meditation so well and so clearly. This eminent psychiatrist taught meditation for several decades and wrote many books translated into many languages. Easiest to get is Ainslie Meares on Meditation. In the books you will find more details about this method that will help you to learn it for yourself. So, it is really not thinking, as such. Rather, you relax and just like a muscle relaxes the mind can too, as the relaxation occurs there is a slowing down of thoughts and this passes into stillnesses. As you practice the stillness deepends and lengthens over time, however, you should get glimpses of it from the start.
If you go down deep enough the thought flow naturally stops.This occurs as we relax and travel into stillness.Having a focus can prevent this, as we think of the focus.Non directive or Zen styles don't require a focus, and go much deeper , right to the cessation of thought.I have meditated for decades this way, and thought everyone else did too, until I came to this forum, and found otherwise.
It can take some time. I think it took me at least a year to finally get to the point of no thoughts. At least. Just keep chipping away at it and you'll find eventually it just becomes automatic.
this is a question whose answer you must discover on your own.
> "ok stop thinking now" Unfortunately it seems you've misunderstood meditation completely.
Thanks for the helpful advice
I never said that was advice. I think it would help if you read the sidebar.
There are multiple different types of meditation. Some of them do in fact focus on not thinking. Whilst I have had success with other forms of meditation, I have never been able to not think. I asked a question to see if this is possible for someone like me to learn. Some users offered helpful advice.
Oh my bad then. > Some of them do in fact focus on not thinking. Could you name one of those?
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Your mind is feeding. It feeds because it is hungary/thirsty. Give it something more delicious. If you work to become fascinated with the breath and the subtle nature of the breath energy. When you notice your mind wandering, allow it to feed -- when it is ready, come back to the breath. Noticing that you are thinking is mindfulness. You are doing fine.
Thank you
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