If you've ever sat down for meditation,
Closed your eyes for a minute or two,
And then thought,
This isn't working,
I can't stop thinking,
You're not alone.
One of the biggest myths about meditation is that you have to clear your mind,
That silence equals success.
But here's the truth.
Your mind is supposed to think,
That's what it does.
Meditation isn't about shutting it down,
It's about noticing.
And then once you've noticed,
Gently returning your attention,
Even just for one second,
For one breath.
So let's try that now.
Let's start just taking a slow breath in,
And letting it out.
Just feeling that air moving through your nose,
Into your chest,
Into your belly.
Every time you exhale,
Feeling the body settle,
Then your mind might already be drifting,
And that's ok.
The moment that you notice that,
You're back.
That is the practice.
You're back to the breath.
You're back to now,
This moment,
Over and over and over again.
That's what meditation is.
You can't fail at this.
There isn't a perfect way to meditate.
Only presence,
And only returning to the breath.
So,
If your mind is busy,
Welcome to be inhuman,
But you're doing it right.
As Sharon Salzberg once said,
Every time we return our attention to the breath,
We are planting the seeds of mindfulness.
And that,
In itself,
Is enough.
So if you think that you're failing at meditation,
Remember this.
The thinking and the returning is the practice.
And over time,
You will train your brain to focus longer,
And you'll train yourself to give yourself grace when you don't.
Thank you so much for joining me today.
