#1 Drop all desires & planning
The hindrance for meditation is the desire and all your planning to do something. Offer the desire through surrender with the trust, “It it is right for me, it will be done.” Just think it will happen and relax. Surrender means the ability to drop desires or botherations.
See the futility of the fulfilment of the desire and be without the feverishness of the desire. If your desire does not get fulfilled, it leads to frustration and causes misery. Even if your desires get fulfilled, so what? You are in the same place where nothing big has happened. It has done nothing; it has not touched you.
If you desire, desire for the highest. When you desire truth, all other desires drop off. You always desire something that is not there but truth is always there. Desire for truth removes all other desires; then it will dissolve and what will remain is bliss.
#2 Dealing with different emotions
During meditation, sometimes you will experience sadness and other feelings may also come up but they just pass by. Put your attention more on the breath and on the sensations in the body. Every emotion has a corresponding sensation in the body and that sensation in turn creates that very same emotion. An event created an emotion inside you and the emotion again creates a similar type of atmosphere around you and this cycle goes on. The only way to break the cycle is to observe the sensation as a sensation and de-link it from emotions. It is very simple. If you meditate for just a little while, you will understand that. It’s clearer on an experiential level.
#3 Boredom in meditation
In the beginning, meditation might be boring, but this will change. Stay on. Go step by step. Meditation is resting in yourself. Become the seer from being the seen.
#4 Understand the transient nature of feelings
Do not be a football of your own feelings. We are not slaves of our emotions, but we feel, ‘Oh! I feel like this’, as though we are slaves of our emotions. With focus and determination, you would not care much about the feeling.
The problem with feelings is that we think feelings are the same, constant. Feelings come and go, they change. You feel good for some time and then you feel bad, then you feel good and then you feel bad again. If you base your life on feelings, then you will be nowhere.
Be committed and resolve to do something and do it. You know the real courage is to stand up to your feelings and not become a football of your own feelings.
#5 Quieten the chattering mind
Observe nature! When you are observing, there is very close connection between observing and absorption. Meditation is absorption. The first step for meditation is observing. When you are just observing and watching, the chattering in the mind becomes lesser and lesser and it finally disappears- it needs some skill to stop this chattering mind.
If you are unable to meditate because your mind is chattering, just feel that you are a little stupid and then you would be able to sink deep into meditation. Your intellect is a small portion of the total consciousness. If you are stuck in the intellect, you miss a great deal. Happiness is when you transcend the intellect. In awe or in feeling stupid, you transcend the intellect.
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