Part 1 - Understanding Your Mind

Most of the time, we are consumed by our thoughts. Throughout the day our minds bounce from one idea to the next and we react to every each and every thought as though these thoughts are who we are.

But you are not your thoughts. Your thoughts are something that you do. Your thoughts belong to you, but they are not you. Your thoughts are a part of you, just like your toes and your heart and your brain are a part of you. In actual fact, you are the one who chooses which thoughts to have. Unfortunately, most of us don't use our ability to choose our thoughts, and our minds are left to run amok. Eckhart Tolle describes this in his brilliant bestselling book, “A New Earth”:

“The greater part of most people’s thinking is involuntary, automatic and repetitive. It is no more than a kind of mental static and it serves no real purpose. Strictly speaking, you don’t think: Thinking happens to you... “I think” is just as false a statement as “I digest” or “I circulate my blood.” Digestion happens, circulation happens, thinking happens…The voice in the head has a life of its own. Most people are at the mercy of that voice.”

It's true...most of the time we are on autopilot and our thoughts just seem to happen to us. But when you meditate, you “transcend” your normal awareness. That is to say, you raise your awareness to a new level in which you become the observer of your thoughts. Instead of being caught in a stream of constant thinking, you step back and observe your thoughts as though they are passing you by. Gradually those passing thoughts lessen and eventually they will stop. What remains is a blissful conscious state of clarity and silence. It is a transcendent state of mind. This is meditation.

Through meditation you will cut out much of the mental static that’s going on in your life. As a result you will feel calmer and more emotionally balanced, you’ll find it easier to make decisions or to rise above challenges, and your intellectual, creative and intuitive abilities will improve.

Techniques – How to Meditate
It’s true that there are plenty of ways to meditate, but I would like to avoid getting bogged down in long winded discussion on the many meditation techniques that are available or which of them is the best way to meditate. These meditation instructions are designed to be straightforward and powerful. I aim to give you the knowledge you need to develop the ability to meditate deeply, and I also aim to keep it simple! Remember, meditation is not rocket science. It’s an incredibly natural effortless practice. You should not have to be thinking about how to meditate while you are meditating!

Read on to discover how to enter into a state of meditation in Meditation Instructions Part 2 - The Meditation Process

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Article by Dr. Christopher Lloyd Clarke from www.The-Guided-Meditation-Site.com.