Immunity Lesson 32 – Dealing with Distracting Thoughts in Meditation

IMMUNITY LESSON 32

Dealing with Distracting Thoughts in Meditation

In this lesson you will learn: 

• It’s normal to think you’re “not good at meditation”
• Meditation is about practice, not perfection 
• A three-step technique to practice when distracted during your meditation

The WHY: Meditation is paying attention. Meditation is NOT about stopping our thoughts, no longer thinking, or no longer feeling emotion. As long as we are living human beings, there will be activity in our mind…thankfully! The question is, how do we deal with distraction? 

Bottom line: There will always be distraction, either from our own minds or the world around us. We can learn to remain steady despite that distraction using the technique from this lesson. 

If you’ve been practicing a 5-minute meditation, you’ve also been noticing how difficult it is to hold your mind focused on one single thing, the breath, even for just five minutes! It’s important to remember that our meditation practice is not about no longer being distracted. If you’re getting distracted, that’s normal. You’re not “bad” at meditation.

We can’t stop the world around us from moving, and we certainly don’t want to cut off our awareness of the world around us, that would be dangerous! And as long as we’re alive, neither can we stop the activity of the mind, that would be dangerous too! 

What we can do is change how we react to all this distraction. Practicing a new reaction is key to what mindfulness is. Each time you notice you’ve become distracted and you’re no longer paying attention to the breath – try this quick 3-step process. 

1. Gratitude. Be thankful you noticed, that’s what mindfulness is!
2. Without pausing to wonder why or to judge yourself, simply turn the mind around and come back to the breath.  Lovingly “dismiss” the intrusive thought. (Remember the leaves in the stream? Let it flow on by)
3. Repeat as needed.

A successful meditation is a meditation in which we make it to step three of this process, again and again and again. With weeks and months of practice, this process gets quicker. Someday, although distraction will still be there, we’ll notice and ignore it instantaneously. 

It’s important to remember that while we can get better at returning to the breath, we’ll always be tempted to pull away from it. Our minds are constantly seeking problems, danger, and to-do items. On a very basic level, that’s how we stay alive. Through mindfulness, we get better at recognizing which of these problems must be addressed, and which we can set aside in favor of returning to the breath. When we understand what we can just let go of, we become far less stressed!

Task 1: Try your 5-minute meditation again, with this three-step process in mind. 1 Gratitude for your mindfulness. 2. A return to the breath. 3. Repeat as needed.

Task 2: Review Lesson 22, Lizard Brain, on how the human brain is wired for protection, not reason.

Task 3: Review Lesson 5 on Attitude as a Life Enhancer. When we practice gratitude in our meditation, there’s less room for frustration. 

TIPS:

Training the Monkey Mind: https://youtu.be/qxyVCjp48S4

 Noting: https://youtu.be/FjI9v-VYwZY

Guided Meditation: https://youtu.be/UCdyDMsZ7K8