Meditation Is Easy

Have you read that the new adult coloring books are as good for you as meditation? I laughed when I read this. Not because it isn’t true but because it is. Why is it as good? Because coloring in the adult coloring books is meditation.
People seem to want meditation to be difficult. Meditation is easy, it’s the people doing it who are making it difficult. People have heard about how they have to sit in a certain position and clear their minds of all thought. Neither of those are true. Thich Nhat Hanh likes to do walking meditations. Deepak Chopra tries to bring meditation into every aspect of his daily life. There are no rules.
Have you ever lost track of time? Most people have. That was a time when you were meditating. Yes, you may have been focused on a task. However, if you think about it, you were thinking about the task at hand and your mind was probably pretty still, which is a nice side benefit. Meditation is not about getting the mind to be free of thoughts. It is about focusing and letting go of the need to notice time and let your mind become more still. There can still be thoughts there and your mind be still.
With practice, meditation in more diverse situations becomes possible but give yourself a break and start with what you can do. If woodworking calms you and takes you to a different world, then that is your form of meditation and what you should do to begin your practice. Cooking, walking, running, staring at a tree, coloring in a book, drawing, working on your vehicle, running wiring, reading a book, listening to music, taking a shower can all be forms of meditation. As you can see, anything can be used to meditate so don’t limit yourself. If you get really good at meditation, you can begin to meditate throughout your day and watch your life change dramatically!
Fighting your ability to meditate or refusing to meditate unless you can do it a certain way will stop you from meditating and reaping the vast rewards. I ask you, though, why are you fighting the idea of meditation? What are you afraid will happen? Why do you insist meditation be difficult? I really want to understand. I hope you do too.