Everyday Mindfulness

I have been practising mindfulness for more than 2 years. These days I am following “The Turning Point” by Jon Wilde & Gerard Evans. It is the beginning of my 7th week. Previously, I was enjoying mindfulness (as well as the book). Suddenly I started facing much difficulty or a sort of mild crisis. In the following I am describing about it, not in a very coherent way (as these are my short notes that I wrote during past few days, produced in chronological order):

* I know I do not have to fight with my present moment, but even then, I am fighting. I am fighting with my thoughts, with my feelings, with sensations and with obstacles in my environment.

*Whenever I start a mindfulness course, I achieve a state pf peace. But then at a juncture, all shatters down. I am again engulfed by misery.

*On average, how many times it is recommended to do informal meditations: body scans, short body & breath meditation, sounds meditation, thoughts meditation, 3-minute breathing space etc.?

*Nowadays, when I do an informal or formal meditation, negative thoughts and very uncomfortable feelings overcome me. It becomes very difficult to notice thoughts and feelings. Whole situation becomes negative. And I cannot help judging it.

*During past weeks, while I was feeling well, I could not give the margin of my natural shortcomings to me. As a result, I had to finally face situations, for which I did not have ability to cope with. It was very late when I came to this realisation. So, the situation was very difficult for me and my anxiety and psychological pressure abnormally heightened. To summarise, as I did not avoid situations, I made myself exposed to the I feel emotionally burnt up with mindfulness. Even if I want to notice mindfully the feeling of being burnt up, it does not work. Should I give a temporary pause to my practice, so that I could make myself afresh?

Ibnezubair

It is important to understand that the path is not linear, and will include many ups and downs. Depending on your mind, it is likely to always be thus.

Personally, I have found mindfulness to become a way of life, transcending any division between formal and informal meditation. Life itself has become the meditation: constantly getting lost in thought, and constantly returning. This is not to say that I don't sit to meditate regularly;I do. I cannot tell you that it should be the same way for you. You have a different mind to me, and are at a different point on your journey.

Negative thoughts and uncomfortable feelings are not going to stop; they are part of life. What you are trying to change is the way that you relate to them, and how you process them when they do come along.