Meditation: I Can Reach 'awareness', But Cannot Clear My Mind

[john5170]

Over the past month, I have been meditating daily.

I can stay aware of my thoughts, but I cannot clear them to reach presence for a long period of time. Maybe for 30 seconds, but then I get in my head again.

At this point, I am not trying to clear my mind or control my thoughts, as it feeds the ego. So I just try to stay aware.

Am I on the right path?

[Brimstone]

Don't concern yourself @john5170 , you are exactly where Nature intended you to be.

Thoughts come and go, it is the attachment to them that causes conflict.

Try and bring attention to where the thoughts come from and where they dissolve to. This may help you to clear the thoughts.

Happy hunting 

[pluto]

It is normal, revert back to focusing on the breath which in itself is meditation one conscious breath at a time. Eventually with practice you will naturally have thoughts arise less often and the more activities in day to day life you do that have a similar nature like focusing on the breath AKA (Doing one thing at a time), Spending time in nature, Dancing, Gardening, Art, Music whatever puts you in a state that only requires you to take it one at a time is a form of meditation.

If you sit in social media and watch tv all day you are bombarded by so many different things thus more thoughts will arise, the more you simplify your life in every way possible the more you will live that awareness you gain from meditation.

 

 

[john5170]

On 10/10/2017 at 10:48 PM, pluto said:

It is normal, revert back to focusing on the breath which in itself is meditation one conscious breath at a time. Eventually with practice you will naturally have thoughts arise less often and the more activities in day to day life you do that have a similar nature like focusing on the breath AKA (Doing one thing at a time), Spending time in nature, Dancing, Gardening, Art, Music whatever puts you in a state that only requires you to take it one at a time is a form of meditation.

If you sit in social media and watch tv all day you are bombarded by so many different things thus more thoughts will arise, the more you simplify your life in every way possible the more you will live that awareness you gain from meditation.

 

 

So work and social media encourages thoughts to come, but other activities do not? I feel like it is opposite for me, I go on social media to stop thinking about my day...

[pluto]

1 hour ago, john5170 said:

So work and social media encourages thoughts to come, but other activities do not? I feel like it is opposite for me, I go on social media to stop thinking about my day...

Its due to subconscious programming not conscious, we may not be aware of it but our subconscious mind picks up on everything even if we appear clear and do not notice thus why we have so much thoughts than we should have these days. One hour of TV for example floods our subconscious with so much different consumerism shit would be equavalent to a week without tv/social media. We are not designed to consume so much information in such a short period and the more we do this the less mindful and at peace our mind/life eventually becomes. Its over-stimulation.

[cetus]

On ‎10‎/‎10‎/‎2017 at 8:25 PM, john5170 said:

most Over the past month, I have been meditating daily.

I can stay aware of my thoughts, but I cannot clear them to reach presence for a long period of time. Maybe for 30 seconds, but then I get in my head again.

At this point, I am not trying to clear my mind or control my thoughts, as it feeds the ego. So I just try to stay aware.

Am I on the right path?

@john5170 This is where a mantra is most useful - for newbies. I'm presuming you don't use one. As soon as you notice the mind wondering, gently bring awareness back to your point of focus. It takes practice, like anything, the more you do it, the better you'll get at it.

[LaucherJunge]

Try do nothing meditation if you didn't already.

[Nahm]

@john5170 Return your focus to your breath. Do a silent retreat for multiple days, alone. 

[EndofMe]

@john5170 I have this same problem.. I have tried using  a mantra as @cetus56 suggested. It does help but sometimes the mind chatter is just down right annoying. Perhaps that's my problem though, is that it annoys me.  Nahm has  a good suggestion, the silent retreat, as being silent for an amount of time is supposed to shut the brain up, but unfortunately I don't have the option to do that right now However, I wonder if being silent for at least an hour before meditation would make a difference? 

also: first post! Hi everyone!

Edited October 12, 2017 by EndofMe

[cetus]

@EndofMe Hi, welcome. Great suggestion for@john5170 . Even 20 mins. would help a lot. Just staying mindful of the wondering mind and watching it run it's course. In my response above I used the word 'gently' bringing the awareness back to the point of focus. That's the important part. In others words, don't add any additional content to the thought. It came without any effort. Let it go without any effort. 

The tricky part is the mind itself. It will go to any extreme not to be still. Like a small child that gets bored restaurant and looking for something to do. If you think to yourself  'ahh, another thought just arose',  the mind just added more thought about the first thought. haha And creating the expectation of the next thought that will come along. And it will. The thing is to see what is happening is just something the mind does. Than laugh at it, and step out of it.    It will always be hanging around just to test you   Easy come- easy go.