Why I Can't Meditate

[klamping]

I've been struggling to meditate and found myself making excuses left and right about why I can't do it. So I decided to call myself out on it and wrote a somewhat short post about it on my blog: http://blog.kevinlamping.com/why-i-cant-meditate/

Would love your thoughts on it!

[Gareth]

Great stuff!

The mind always tries to tell us that there is something more important to do than meditation - just ignore it. Unless that thing is, say, moving out of the way of a falling object.

Eventually the beer can become the meditation. You just need enough practice to get your brain into the right place.

Have you thought about an 8-wk course? Or working your way through the course in a book, such as FPIAFW?

[JonW]

"Eventually the beer can become the meditation."

Tell me about it.

[FeeHutch]

I find it useful to notice that I am bored or feeling I could be doing something else. Assuming it is something that can wait 20 minutes more often than not I find that noticing it is usually enough. I normally realise it can wait and it is something I notice myself doing more often 'off the mat' too. I feel like I rush through life a lot less now.

The other thing I do is give myself permission to go and do the thing I think I should rather be doing instead of meditating. In the last few years I can think of once I made the choice to get up and even then it was mindfulness in action.

P.S Jon, works with cider too

Years ago when I first tried meditation (before I heard of mindfulness so it was complicated for me by religious overtones) I felt it was impossible and I couldn't do it. The seated pose was painful and I couldn't 'clear my mind' as instructed, it made it more crowded. Mindfulness doesn't expect us to feel any other way than the way we do. It asks us to accept where we are and not judge It's beautifully simple

[FeeHutch]

I find it useful to notice that I am bored or feeling I could be doing something else. Assuming it is something that can wait 20 minutes more often than not I find that noticing it is usually enough. I normally realise it can wait and it is something I notice myself doing more often 'off the mat' too. I feel like I rush through life a lot less now.

The other thing I do is give myself permission to go and do the thing I think I should rather be doing instead of meditating. In the last few years I can think of once I made the choice to get up and even then it was mindfulness in action.

P.S Jon, works with cider too

Years ago when I first tried meditation (before I heard of mindfulness so it was complicated for me by religious overtones) I felt it was impossible and I couldn't do it. The seated pose was painful and I couldn't 'clear my mind' as instructed, it made it more crowded. Mindfulness doesn't expect us to feel any other way than the way we do. It asks us to accept where we are and not judge It's beautifully simple