Having a Difficult Time Concentrating?
Even if you’ve been practicing meditation for years, there may be occasions where it is really difficult to sit still and concentrate.
You’re sitting for your practice, you open your eyes and what felt like 20 or 30 minutes was really only 5 minutes. You expect that with each hour, week, and year, you would be getting better and going deeper, but that has not been the case.
Striving in our meditation practice, that is, trying to be better, go deeper, or sit unperturbed for a certain amount of time, actually impedes our “progress.” In fact, we should not be thinking in terms of “progress” at all when practicing meditation. If we were to have a goal, it would be to just be natural, to do nothing, to watch the breath, to listen to the birds or the traffic, to feel the heart beating in the chest, to visualize a lovely golden light, to feel the aliveness within and around us, to just be.
It’s important not to allow any feelings of discouragement or frustration keep you from your practice. When you find it difficult to concentrate or sit still, tell yourself that it is temporary, that the restlessness will pass, and just stay put! If you’ve given yourself 20 minutes for your practice, but you were only able to “meditate” for 8, then just sit for the other 12 minutes and look out the window or watch the clock.
May every day be a blessing to you!
Love,
Krista
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