Helping You Love Yourself into Success and Less Stress! Helpful Hints for Meditation Part VIII: Holding Your Focus by Ilenya Marrin, DSS HOME FREE NEWSLETTER PRODUCTS SERVICES ABOUT ME TESTIMONIALS RESOURCES CONTACT Meditation Holding Your Focus in Meditation Often, even after thirty years of practice, my meditations and spiritual exercises consist of "chanting and thoughts." It typically takes me quite a while to move past the thoughts and into deeper levels of awareness. If you have a similar experience, a few things listed below may help. If one strategy doesn't work on a particular day, try another. I'm not particularly visual in my inner perceptions, so there are few visual techniques listed here. If you are strongly visual, you might experiment with just "seeing" the thing I'm suggesting, or seeing an image that helps you to focus with greater clarity. As always, remember to substitute the words that work best for you. If the generic word "God" doesn't do it, you are the one who knows what is most meaningful for you! Five Minutes for God Try telling yourself, "OK, just now, we're doing Five Minutes for God." For these few minutes, attempt to focus gently but intently. This may help you drop the thoughts and listen and look inwardly with much less distraction, and move into greater levels of awareness and inner peace. Give the Marbles Away John Morton's book, The Blessings Already Are, contains a marvelous story from his childhood about how he gave away his huge collection of marbles. (Morton, 2000) It recently came to me that my thoughts during meditation are like marbles rattling around in my brain. I imagine pouring all my "marbles" from my brain into a tin, like for Christmas cookies, and handing the tin to someone special for safekeeping while I continue meditating. Try this imaginative technique to see if it affords you respite to refocus on going deeper in meditation. Listen for the Quiet Sometimes when I focus inwardly, I know I'm "there" because everything gets very quiet and still. If I can hold in that quiet place, my awareness will usually start to shift and move. Chanting, or repeating your word for a while, and then simply listening inwardly can help you to find this place of quiet. "Father, I Receive." This is another technique that I've heard numerous times over the years. When I want a deeper spiritual experience, I'll say, "Father, I receive," with a sense of opening myself, and then I wait in a receptive attitude to see what is next. I try to have no expectations, but to hold myself empty. Experiment with this to see if it assists you in deepening your meditation. "Peace, Be Still." Many people report that this phrase from the Bible can help them to settle down and let go the thoughts. You might want to repeat it soothingly to yourself a few times as you gently breathe out. Write Down the Distractions Sometimes when the thoughts are running rampant, I'll get my clipboard or notebook and jot down things to do or buy until I run out of ideas. Or sometimes, creative inspirations come during meditation and I need to write them down while they are present. Once I've completed that, I can return to my quiet inner focus with renewed attention and devotion, without the distractions of demanding thoughts. If like me, you have a mind working overtime, try jotting down your thoughts and resuming your meditation. It is also important, after your meditation, to get busy and handle the "to do" list in practical ways so that your consciousness knows it doesn't have to keep fretting and repeating them in your mind! Resources If you want more information about meditation, there are many books and tapes that explain particular forms of meditation. Check with your church, your local library, your favorite bookseller, or surf the net. Here are some classic resources that I've found very useful. The Relaxation Response, by Herbert Benson Creative Visualization, by Shakti Gawain Inner Worlds of Meditation, by John-Roger Autobiography of a Yogi, by Paramhansa Yogananda Happy Meditating! Let me know if you found any of these tips especially helpful, or if you have a favorite that I didn't include. You may email me at Info@powerofpersonalpeace.com. Back to Welcome Page and List of Recent Articles Meditation

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