Meditation Is About Tuning Into Your Thoughts, Not Silencing Them
In one of my initial blog posts, I discussed exploring mindfulness without relying on traditional meditation techniques. Back then, I didn’t care for it. This reluctance stemmed from a racing mind and the belief that meditation required complete silence.
I held on to this belief until earlier this year when I had a realization about intention. Intention is more than just doing what I say I’ll do or choosing the words I’ll use; it goes deeper than that. It involves awareness — awareness of self, others, and my thoughts. It’s also about slowing down and being purposeful with my actions. It was then that I realized meditation requires this type of intention.
With this realization, I gave meditation another go. Instead of pushing my thoughts aside, I chose to listen to them. This allowed me to assess if I was holding onto any emotions that weren’t serving me, acknowledge any negative feelings, and ground myself in gratitude for the things I appreciated. I also incorporated visualization and began conducting body scans to identify areas of tension in my body.
Meditation soon became about
Self-Exploration:
Meditation has become about exploring my thoughts, feelings, and sensations, as well as my wants, needs, and desires, and connecting with my intuition.
Body-Mind Connection:
Through regular meditation, my body-mind connection has deepened. I now scan my body to identify tension, easily sensing if I’m holding negative energy.
Clarity and Focus:
Daily meditation has increased my focus, making me more attuned to my thoughts. This heightened awareness helps me navigate challenges with a clearer mind.
Now that I’ve discussed how meditation has changed for me, I wanted to discuss some tools that have become useful in my practice.
Incense
I find that burning incense creates a calming environment which helps increase my focus during meditation. My recent go-to's have been cinnamon, copal, palo santo, and sandalwood (you can read about the purported meditational benefits of cinnamon, palo santo, sandalwood, and many other types of incense here).
Music
Listening to music has become an integral part of my practice as it allows me to ground myself in gratitude and delve deeper into my emotions.
Recently, Londrelle’s Kundalini Energy Gathering (Affirmation + Meditation) has been my favorite.
Affirmations
If I meditate first thing in the morning, I sometimes play affirmations. I like to keep these short (around 10 minutes) so, this one by Wake Me Up has been on repeat most mornings.
Headphones
Headphones have become a must for blocking out any external noise and distractions. I like to either sit or lie down with headphones on while listening to music or affirmations while meditating.
A Journal and Pen
I have started to write Morning Pages and usually do this right after meditating. This has allowed me to record your experiences, insights, and any challenges I encounter during my practice.
Through meditation, I have learned to further embrace the power of intention. This practice has also shifted my perspective from silencing my thoughts to actively listening to them. Rather than being something I avoided meditation is now a tool that guides me toward self-discovery, providing a clearer understanding of my desires and intuition.
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