Everyday Mindfulness

Hi all,

I have been meditating for four years, before I recently started practising mindfulness. Even after these years I am still not good at meditation, my mind always has other ideas than concentrating on the breath or a mantra. Still, I keep going and I hope this mindfulness can give me some peace of mind in the end.

For now I am wondering about this... perhaps a question for more experienced mindfulness colleagues: I am wondering if perhaps some of the negative things might be increasing during the first few weeks of starting a mindfulness program? Just because you feel all that secondary suffering of which you might not have had a clue before? Or perhaps because there is no escape in day dreaming any longer?

Thanks! W.P.

"I am wondering if perhaps some of the negative things might be increasing during the first few weeks of starting a mindfulness program?"

This didn't happen to me but it seems to be fairly common.
It's one reason why the 8-week course is so important, in my opinion. It is devised so as to carefully and gently take you from one stage of the learning to the next. "Turning towards difficulties" isn't introduced until the fifth week, by which time some of the basic concepts of mindfulness ought to have been grasped.
I would always recommend that someone seek out a qualified teacher to do the course with. If that's not feasible, then I'd advise they follow the course through a book. The one I'd usually recommend is Finding Peace In A Frantic World by Mark Williams and Danny Penman.
Gentleness, patience, self-compassion, practice, practice, practice. Those are the keys.
Jon