Can You Sum Up In One Sentence What's Been So Far Your Greatest Benefit From Meditation?

[Nicholas]

I'm developing with actualized.org and a smartphone app my meditation habit. I need to find a more balanced relationship with my thoughts - I want to learn in particular how to "observe" them or let them go before they affect me emotionally. Can meditation help?

[Shin]

Then just do the do nothing technique.

You can't let go of a thought that triggers you emotionally though, without getting deep in it, and suffering of it untill it becomes silly to think it made you suffer in the first place.

You can watch it and not acting as if you were it though, but you will still feel it, you can't by-pass that.

The only way to "by-pass" it, is to go deep into the emotion, again and again until you can see through the illusion of it.
That's the only way you can be free of an emotion.

 

 

Edited June 5, 2017 by Shin

[electroBeam]

@Nicholas my shits look like the most shiny, sparkly masterpieces on the planet. 

[alyra]

I liked neti, neti for that.

[phoenix666]

I sometimes notice my mind becoming very quiet and calm. In those moments I feel a deep contentment, sometimes there is a hint of fear, but I also feel save at the same time. It's difficult to describe! The moments with no thoughts arising get longer and longer (they are still very short, a couple of seconds). It takes a lot of time and practice. Patience in all things  

[No-Thing]

Meditation is just a tool, albeit a very effective one! In the end it is not about meditation but about YOU!

The greatest benefit that can occur from meditation is the realization that you don't need any benefits because everything is perfect just as it is.

More shiny benefits I experienced: Clarity, peace of mind, states of flow (in day to day life, bliss states, tranquility, insights, awakening, concentration, relaxation, having a thing in my life that is independent from outer circumstances

Tip 1: From the place you are at, I would say it is best to get motivated by those shiny benefits. Just keep in the back of your mind that in the end it is not about them. They come as a reward of your willingness to look at yourself very very very closely and be brutally honest with yourself. Once you experience those benefits and you cling to them, then what you should look at next is, "What is the root of you wanting to hold on to those benefits".

Tip 2: As I said meditation is just a tool. In the end it is about what you do (or not do) with what you see while you meditate. Enlightenment can occur after 2 years of meditation or you can meditate for 40 years and still cling to ideas, concepts and beliefs.

Tip 3: Start out with developing your concentration abilities. Which means choose an object to focus on (breath, candle, fingertips ...) and focus on it for a given time period. When your mind wanders and you realize it. Focus back on the object. Don't get angry with yourself, be gentle and practice daily