Anyone else have trouble meditating?

Hiawassee88

emgracewrites wrote: »

I’ve been trying to meditate more but it’s a huge struggle for me. I live in an apartment with paper thin walls so a quiet and peaceful environment is pretty much impossible to come by, and when I do manage to drown out the noise my mind still jumps all over the place.

Just wondering if I’m the only one struggling, or if anyone has any advice that might help.

Have you tried sitting in your vehicle. Some apartments have a garage complex. I used to sit in my vehicle at lunchtime. I'm not a classic meditator. I don't try to empty my head of thoughts. I swim through them until I receive a clear frequency. Swimming does that for me, but I can sit in my vehicle with perfect silence.

sidr04

I used to meditate but my mind wanders or I can’t concentrate because I have other things going on. It definitely takes practice.

RockinMBC

I consider myself a baby Buddhist - and have been meditating for about 5 years. I find I do much better when listening to a guided meditation - my thoughts are way too intrusive and insistent if I try to go it alone. I’m currently using Insight Timer. I also do guided group sits via Zoom twice a week with different Buddhist teachers. It has helped me grapple with the nature of reality immensely!

stevebozz0804

I studied Mindfulness Based Stress reduction under a teacher through a hospital pain clinic for a year. Then I worked with a researcher at the National Institutes of Health who was studying the effects of meditation on the brain. We worked together for 2 years. Then I began zen buddhist meditation under the guidance of a teacher for 6 years. Then for the past 10, I have been a student in an extremely rigorous zen buddhist training program.

I’d say that my advice would depend on whether you are meditating to learn how to cope with emotions and stress. Or whether you are meditating to discover the true nature of mind/reality. Serious meditation to discover the nondual nature of reality and transform your relationship with the self and world requires pretty extreme discipline and a good teacher. Most people just want to feel a little better but don’t really want to transform themselves. They aren’t able or willing to truly let go of self clinging. But either way, a common mistake people make in the beginning is thinking that there is some certain state to attain or certain way to be. For example, have unbroken concentration on the breath, or get rid of all thoughts or attain a peaceful serenity. Really the most important thing is to become completely and fully intimate with the moment you realize that your mind has wandered off the meditation object. (Usually the sensations of the breath either in the belly or at the nostrils). That moment where you go “wait! I’m supposed to be meditating and instead I’m day dreaming!” That moment comes and goes in an instant. So to really understand what that moment feels like in your body - in detail - means you have to have that experience over and over. So really, the more your mind wanders, the better the opportunity to notice that, and then non judgmentally note what your mind is doing and start over.
Over time, you will notice that you can go longer and longer concentrating without the mind wandering. You can get into absorbed concentration states that feel quite pleasurable. But that’s not the goal. The goal is to notice and start over. People talking can be a distraction because you’re listening to content. But you don’t need silence. You just note “I’m not meditating because I’m angry about the noise.” And start over again. Over and over. It is totally worth pursuing. Totally. I wish everyone would meditate and learn about how one can detach from the conceptualizing function. We can really see the difference between the world as it is, and the world that is filtered through the net of concepts we throw on top of it. The world as it is - revealed thru meditation is amazing. Good luck!