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How to Dispel Your Distracting Thoughts
If you have been meditating for a while, you have probably found that some days you feel able to focus well and get some feeling from your meditation. Other times it seems almost impossible to still the mind and focus on anything helpful.
Distracted? In meditation, distractions makes us lose our concentration, by causing the mind to wander from the object of meditation to something else. Distractions are said to be the worst obstacle to making progress in training the mind. It happens to all of us, regularly!!
So it is really a bad habit of mind that we have allowed to function, often thinking it isn’t a problem. Unfortunately left unnoticed, distracting thoughts will in the long term, rob us of our ability to gain insights and realisations, and we are unlikely to enjoy or benefit from the effort we apply. In the short term we will not experience any peace from our meditations, so really we will waste our time!
One of the best ways we can overcome our distraction habit is to remember why we want to meditate in the first place. If we reconnect with a personal ‘aspiration’ or wish, by remember the benefits of meditation, we will be motivated to keep the mind focused on the meditation itself and less likely to allow the mind to wander off.
Before you begin your meditation
- Spend a moment reminding yourself of the benefits of meditating (e.g. peace of mind, less stress, increased kindness)
- Use whatever reason that inspires you to generate an aspiration or wish
- If you notice your mind wandering off, remind yourself of your aspiration and re-focus
- Be gentle but determined.
Here are several options for you to choose: Join a meditation class in-branch – it’s easier knowing you are meditating with others, plus if you sign up for the course you get 20% discount (Wed evenings only).
Sign up for a membership and join as many classes as you wish for £30/month. Click here for details of prices and memberships.
One of the best ways to make meditation friends or Sangha is by joining the Foundation Study Programme – you will gain deeper understandings, improve your meditation, and meet other people to share with and support your practice.
Good luck with your meditation practice!
Find out about our meditation classes
If you want to learn more about Buddha’s teachings, click here for weekly meditation classes, as well as weekend meditation courses and meditation retreats that are available to those in Southampton, Hampshire, Winchester, Dorset & Isle of Wight.