Keeping mindful throughout the day

[steveburns04]

I have started to enjoy meditation and I get effects from it about an hour after i do it but then I get back to normal with an overactive mind and it takes over. What effort should I be making to keep being mindful throughout the day? I understand I should be accepting having an overactive mind but whenever i do this it takes over. I have a especially bad habit of fantasising of me being very good at something and impressing a lot of people (the biggest thought which stops me being in the present) and I am not sure what to do when it takes over again? Any help would be appreciated.

[JonW]

It takes time, Steve. In my experience, daily practice slowly changed how I naturally cope with challenging thoughts and feelings.
A friend asked me over Xmas, "So, with all this meditation, does it mean that you no longer feel any anxiety?"
That made me laugh. Of course, anxiety continues to arise but I no longer get swept away by it like I used to.
Throughout the day I respond to difficult thoughts and feelings much like I would do when I'm meditating. That's to say, I notice them. If they're particularly persistent, I remind myself of one of the earliest lessons of mindfulness: you are not your thoughts. That seems to help.
The key is regular practice, self-compassion and patience. I'd also say that reading about mindfulness can only help in terms of getting a solid grounding.
Good things, Jon

[JonW]

I would second Alex in recommending Sharon Salzberg's guided meditations.
There's a great selection of free ones on the following link.
http://www.diydharma.org/audio/by/artis ... n_salzberg
Click on "download audio file" for the MP3.
I regularly meditate to her Meditation On Body Sensations, which offers a wonderfully concise guide to the essence of mindfulness - just being.
Cheers, Jon

[Gareth]

As with Jon, it was a slow progression for me. The attention that I was cultivating through meditation began to seep into the rest of my day. There was no sudden light bulb moment.

These days, presence has become a habit for me. I still have thoughts of course. All the time. Only now I'm so much better at noticing a train of thought beginning. If I don't like where the train of thought is taking me, then I bring myself back. It must happen about a hundred times in any given day of my life. Sometimes mindfulness is easier than others. This is just the way it is.

Practice is the key.

[JonW]

"The attention that I was cultivating through meditation began to seep into the rest of my day. There was no sudden light bulb moment."
Just this.
Around the time I took up mindfulness practice, I was pretty much planning a slow way to die. Life was so full of pain that I couldn't imagine a sane way forward.
A year on, my life is very different. Mostly a quiet kind of joy. At worst, life is OK.
That's not to say that everyone is going to have the same experience.
It's simple, but it's not easy.
As Gareth says, "practice is the key."
Good things, Jon

[Enigma]

Very small, seemingly mundane cues in your immediate surroundings can help reinforce mindfulness throughout the day. For instance, I'm reminded to be mindful by the sight of fallen leaves, by passing through doorways, and by the sound of bells or birds chirping. Training oneself to notice and pay attention to the arising of these ordinary experiences can have an extraordinary impact on one's ability to sustain mindfulness throughout the day.