Comment by vagab0nd
21 hours ago
Does meditation really work for everyone? I tried it pretty seriously for 2 months, and my mind just wouldn't stop. I'd think of nothing for 10 seconds and then get extremely bored, so essentially every 10 seconds I'd force myself back. It didn't really have any calming effect.
Learning to calmly reset over and over, is normal.
The less reactive we are to the need to reset, the less the distractions control us.
And, the more reseating our mind becomes an instinctive habit, the more wind is lost for distractions. And the more likely the distraction cycle fades or lengthens.
The goal isn’t to never have to reseat our minds. Just be better at holding our minds. On what we choose. Something simple at first, like breathing. Wider focused awareness as we get meditation muscle, like listening to our physical body, then our feelings, then our day, then the trajectory of our life, our values, etc. Whatever is important to visit regularly with the whole focus of our mind.
The ability to meditate spills into our days. We get better at choosing and maintaining our focus on what is important.
We can view the distractions as the workout of a steep hike. Not the problem at all, but the terrain, chosen precisely to require adaptation to overcome.
But everyone is different, and our minds and nervous systems are complex, so that’s just one take.