Monday 6 May 2013

What To Do When Meditating Goes Awry

The other day I sat down to meditate, as I always do daily.  I closed my eyes and took a few deep breathes.  Relaxed my body, got comfortable, you know the drill.  Usually when I meditate I do have thoughts that make an appearance.  I just brush them aside and try and clear my mind when this happens.

But this day was different.  For some reason, when I tried to quiet my mind, some negative stuff came up.  Memories of an old boss who caused me heaps of stress  (and tears) came flooding in.  There's got to be a reason for this, but I chose not to investigate.  I wasn't interested in going down that route because I didn't want to dwell on a negative experience.  But it's hard to go from feeling anger (which I was starting to brew up at this point) to peace and quiet.

So I decided to take Abraham's advice.  Basically, what Abraham says is that when negative stuff comes up, go general.  Don't try and "wrestle the problem to the ground".  Just go general.

I sat there and said to myself "Go general, Annie, go general."  I distracted myself away from my previous thoughts.  "Go general, go general."  I searched for a general thought that would make me feel better, and the thought that popped into my head was "I'm lucky to be alive."  A small smile appeared on my lips.  Then I went even more general.  "I'm alive."  Whoa!  A rush of good feeling swooped over me, as if I was in a wind tunnel.  What a powerful statement that turned out to be!  Who knew?

I then repeated it to myself, over and over again, and "I'm alive"  became "I'M ALIVE!!!! I'M ALIVE!!! I'M  ALIVE!!!"  All the possibilities and expectations of excitement, exhilaration, fun, adventure and abundance came flooding in, and a quiet meditation session became a "grinning stupidly but lovin' it" session.

So, if you're ever having trouble quieting your mind to meditate, don't beat yourself up.  Just go general.  Think a thought that feels good.  Mine popped into my head (from source, of course) and yours can too. You can try "I'm alive" but if you come up with something that works better for you, then do it.  Just feel good.