Question: “Hello! I’ve just stumbled onto your blog and I’m already a fan. I’ve just started exploring Buddhism and I’ve already have started to notice the changing in my thinking. However I’m having a hard time meditating, any tips?”
You could be meditating for a year and it would still be difficult. Reading a few books, watching a dozen videos or lectures on YouTube, and assuming we know how to do something, doesn’t make us an expert at it.
Meditation is literally a lifetime’s worth of practice. I’ve been meditating for over 13 years and my meditation is still no where near perfect. But it is, however, better than what it was 13 years ago! Practice makes perfect, and that’s all you really can do. Meditate more frequently, longer and harder – eventually you’ll be able to turn the thousands of thoughts rushing through your mind into 999 thoughts, then 998 thoughts, and so on.
One of the best and easiest practices is meditating on our breath. This is something you can do for a year or the rest of your life, but it is the most common and traditional technique for meditation.
To meditate on our breath, you simply count each in-and-out breath as 1, then count 2 for the next in-and-out breath, and so on until you reach 10, then start over. If for any reason you got distracted or lost count, you go back and start again from 1. If you hear any distractions like a car alarm, phone ringing, etc., simply acknowledge what it is and continue with your counting. You’re simply just letting your distracting thoughts that, “yes, I know you’re there, I heard you, now go away,” and continue counting.
After a few months, or even up to a year, of this practice, you can increase the number you’re counting to. So increase the count from 10 to 15 or 20. After some time with practicing with the new number, increase the number again.
Eventually, hopefully, by keeping your focus and concentration only on your breath, and only acknowledging your thoughts and not engaging with them, our minds will be less and less of wandering and distracting thoughts.
My book, Making Friends With Our Mind: A Basic Guide to Buddhist Meditation, I think, is a great introduction to some of the practices and techniques of meditation. It’ll also discuss contemplation and different levels of meditation.
Smile and be well!