dailydatewithgod

One of the first stumbling blocks, when a person attempts to spend time in quiet or meditate, is the encounter with his or her chattering mind. Many believe they are terrible meditators because they cannot quiet their minds.  I have been meditating for about 18 years and all I can say is there is a reason it is called the practice of meditation. The point of meditation is to bring your attention and intention back whenever your mind wanders or when the chatter gets too loud. It is about learning to be a detective with your mind.  We do not have to take it literally. Some use a mantra to direct their thoughts.  Others visualize or listen to guided meditations.  I have used any and all of these different methods.  They are all beneficial but the end game for me is making peace with my thoughts.  One of the benefits I have found over the years is my pause before believing one of my thoughts as I go through the day.  I will talk back to my mind when I hear it make a blanked statement by asking for evidence of its truth.  For some years I assumed all my thinking was correct.  If I had the thought it must be true.  Thankfully, this is not correct.  As I learned to delve a little deeper I started to notice the clues certain thoughts were setting up. The pattern set down by the clues gives me a sense if I am headed into familiar but not necessarily helpful to my well-being territory.  Is the pattern cluing me into a feeling of peace, harmony, lightheartedness, frustration, anger, judgment, or relief?  Being able to notice the kinds of thoughts I am having gives me a temperature gauge on my current emotional state.  If I am in a good place, it is likely my thoughts will have the same resonance.  If I am feeling worn down or frustrated, my mind will conjure up more thoughts to keep my feeling state engaged.  I have also learned my thoughts can be sneaky.  If I am in a good place for a while, my mind will look for thoughts to support the idea that something not good is lurking around the corner.  It is the proverbial other shoe that might drop.  The purpose as far as I can tell of our thoughts is to enable our survival.  What the mind requires for survival is not the same as the heart.  By learning to notice the clues shown to me when I observe my thoughts, I can know if it is a good time to engage my heart.  My intention when it comes to dealing with my mind is to befriend it but not buy into it as if it is all there is.  God has shown me on our daily dates that making room for the heart’s energy is equally important to be a full human being.  I can utilize my thoughts by observing them and picking up on the clues which show me who I am being in the moment.  From there I can turn my attention to my heart and see if there are any adjustments needed to my attention.