Hey there,
Thank you so much for joining me in this video.
I'm glad to have you.
I'm here about an hour and a half from my city in the middle of the forest.
I don't know specifically where I'm at,
But I'm very happy to be here and I'll hopefully find a way out eventually.
But I thought this could be a great opportunity for me to discuss meditation with you.
Especially if you're a beginner,
I'd like to talk a little more about meditation on a fundamental level.
Because oftentimes when I speak to people who are new to meditation,
They seem to overcomplicate the entire concept of meditation,
And to an extent,
I don't blame them.
When we go to meditation websites,
When we look up meditation online,
And we try to find meditations,
There are so many different options.
There are so many different ways to go about it.
There are people teaching you.
You've probably been studying and teaching meditation for decades,
And then you feel like there's so much to go about,
And it can be a little intimidating,
But I'm here to tell you that meditation is so much more simple than you think.
At the end of the day when you're looking through your journey and when you're planning on going down this journey.
Meditation boils down to one word,
And that is awareness.
That's all meditation is,
Just being aware.
Regardless of how you do it,
You can become aware through the sounds that you hear,
Through your breath,
Through just feeling your body,
Through a mantra,
You can become aware through a visualization exercise,
But it's all about being aware of whatever you're doing in that moment and committing to it.
Along the way,
You get distracted.
You experience thoughts.
The monkey mind kicks in and you will start thinking about your to-do list and about things that have happened in the past.
These things happen.
When you notice these things,
You become aware of it.
And you go back to the present moment awareness.
And it's almost like a bit of a dance between your mind trying to distract you and then you going back to being present in the moment.
And that keeps happening back and forth,
Back and forth.
So meditation is not a perfect journey where you just close your eyes and your mind switches off and you go into this zen-like state for quite some time.
It's not like that at all.
Meditation is more about Becoming aware of the present moment.
And then becoming aware of when your mind gets distracted.
And then noticing that and then going back to being aware of the present moment.
So it's all about awareness.
And you know you can start very small with meditation just start you know,
With one minute a day.
Start with one minute,
Just becoming more intimate with the breath,
Becoming more comfortable with examining the sensations of your breath.
And then you can build it up over time.
But one of the mistakes a lot of people make is that they step into a meditation with a whole heap of expectations.
And when you bring these expectations into your meditation,
To an extent you are burdening yourself.
You are making it a lot harder for yourself and you're overcomplicating the entire experience.
So what I would suggest for you is to step into your meditation without any expectations.
Step in.
And embrace however and whatever you will feel by the end of it with an open mind and with open arms.
And you'll be surprised.
You might find that you've stepped into this meditation.
Following a moment or an episode of anxiety and then you step out of the meditation feeling motivated and exhilarated and excited about the world as opposed to what you traditionally think being calm.
So,
You know,
Meditation affects us at different points throughout our day at different moments in our lives and it affects us as individuals very differently.
It's a very diverse and very.
.
.
Flexible experience.
So go out there and try your best.
Don't make it more complicated than it actually is.
And enjoy it in the process.
This is a journey of self-discovery.
And if you put this weight on your shoulders of trying to achieve a certain goal,
Not just short-term,
But trying to reach this goal of spiritual enlightenment,
You'll be chasing this carrot for a long time.
Spiritual enlightenment will happen eventually for you one day if you're committed enough,
But there is no timeline to it.
We don't really know when it's going to happen,
So we keep doing the meditation,
Not for spiritual enlightenment,
So we can understand ourselves better and so we can feel a lot more in touch with our own selves,
With our own souls.
And the bonus,
The added benefit,
The prize.
That we get as a bonus is,
In many ways,
This heightened sense of spirituality.
So enjoy the journey,
Take your time,
No goals,
Don't put any expectations on yourself,
Remember consistency is the most important thing.
I'm excited for you.
Let me know in the comments below if you yourself have been facing these challenges,
If like many of the people in my life,
You find meditation to be an intimidating prospect,
And let me know how and why you have you've decided to go on this journey.
I'll reply as much as I can and I'm very grateful to have you here.
I'll go back now to trying to find my way out of this forest.
But yeah,
I'll see you in the next video.
Much love.
