There is a basic advise for mediation:

“Sit still and breathe, concentrate on your breath, empty your mind”

I have found this to be impossible. My mind constantly goes off thinking of random, sometimes disturbing things.

The further advise is:

“If you feel your mind begin to wander, redirect your focus to your breathing”

This does work… for a few seconds, but my mind begins to wander again and I have to repeat the process.

The reason I bother with this at all, is that meditation does achieve this goal:

Quiets the mind by bringing the real me into the present

This is the only thing that I found that works when caught up in Anxiety and Fear.

The Real Me Has Free Will

What is this real me?

I believe it to be the part of my mind that uses Memory to evaluate thoughts, using it to provide perspective.

It is the part of my mind that truly has free will, and is able to have beliefs, and principals, and is able to make decisions based on them.

The part of my mind that does the thinking, is like a calculator, it just deals with the problem in front of it. If not directed, it will randomly come up with things to think about on its own. These thoughts can trigger unpleasant feelings and emotions.

Being Present

I have found this to be true:

• The mind/brain does not stop, period
• The mind can be temporarily guided by the real me
• The real me is the part of me that listens to my mind. “I” (the real me) is not my mind (it only listens to my mind)

Therefore, when I let my mind/brain take over, it will usually cause me to feel things, and do things, that the real me would not want to do. Therefore, the goal of my mediation is to break out of this and let the real me take control.

Many people call this being present.

This is my goal in mediation.

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My Spiritual Self