Why You Struggle With Meditation
NOBODY HAS THE CAPACITY to sit still with closed eyes for 20 minutes anymore. You can't even go 20 seconds without an impulse to pull out your phone and mindlessly scroll. And yet we hear more about the mental health benefits of doing absolutely nothing.
So why is it so hard to do something so simple? It's because you're addicted to "doing". And doing nothing is like taking the bottle away from an alcoholic. The discomfort you feel is a withdrawal symptom.
The good news is, it's not an absolute necessity to "meditate" in the traditional sense. Put it this way. Exercise doesn't require you to lift weights at a gym to get in shape. You could play basketball, go for a swim, or ride a bike and get the same benefits.
So let's apply that to meditation.
"Meditation is the discovery that the point of life is always arrived at in the immediate moment. And therefore, if you meditate for an ulterior motive — that is to say, to improve your mind, to improve your character, to be more efficient in life — you've got your eye on the future and you are not meditating!" - Alan Watts
You don't need meditation to meditate. You can literally do it anytime, anywhere. Like reading this right now. If you're reading without getting constantly distracted by your phone, then you're practicing being fully present.
Focusing on work, family time, even playing video games can be a meditative experience. You struggle with being present because of two things:
You don't enjoy what you're doing
You do what you're doing for a reason outside of the activity itself
We've lost this idea in modern Western society. Dance and music are some of the only experiences left where there is no reason to do it other than the sake of itself. In other words, the journey is the destination.
Think about it. You don't dance to get from point A to B. And you don't listen to music to get to the end of the song. This is the only time your mind can enter a flow state where you are fully living in the moment. This is meditation.
When you put pressure on yourself to do something for an ulterior motive, you increase anxiety. Because you're always worried about whether or not you're getting closer to your goal.
So here's a few ideas to help you still your mind without meditation:
Breathwork
Go for a walk
Float Therapy
Household chores
Journaling/Writing
Ironically, the byproduct of these activities is "good for you". Walking improves cardiovascular health, reduces stress and improves your mood…but the idea is to not do it solely for those reasons.
The more you enjoy your job, the more productive and successful you'll be without even trying. The more you enjoy your workouts, the fitter you'll be. And your quality of life will be better because you're not constantly living in a state of stress and anxiety.
Things like meditation or float therapy are simply ways to cultivate this more deeply. Especially because you're forced to remove external distractions. And that presence of mind will carry over into everything you do.
So if you're really struggling with anxiety throughout your day, then float therapy is the perfect intervention to reset a dysregulated nervous system.
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