(Photo: Clarity Meditation Shawl in the color Black)
A so-called "good" meditation requires a focused mind and the ability to ignore all distractions...both internal and external. When you sit to meditate, forget about everything. Know that this is time for you and the Awareness, or God, or Source, or Energy, or whatever you prefer to label it.
Forget that you are a husband or wife or son or daughter or father or mother. During this time, you are not an employee worried about work. You are not a business owner with endless tasks on your mind. You don't sit for meditation as any of those roles or identities. Just as when you enter a temple you take off your shoes. Exactly like that. Cast off all your identities when you sit to meditate.
We go about life busy with so many responsibilities. With that comes tension and anxiety. While driving the other day, I passed by a graveyard. At one point in time, those buried were among the busiest people in the world. And now look at them. One day that will be us.
This doesn't mean neglect your responsibilities. But realize that the world really doesn't depend on you. And that's okay. Every night when you go to sleep, where are those responsibilities? Any guarantee that you will wake up tomorrow? No, absolutely no guarantee.
Your mind plays tricks on you. The minute you sit to meditate is when it fixates on all of the roles and responsibilities you have in your life. Use your meditation time to detach from all the roles you play. Approach your meditation with a sense of priority. Sit with the feeling of eternity, detached from everything else.
"Detachment is not that you should own nothing. Detachment is that nothing should own you." ~Bhagavad Gita
To summarize, completely detach from all the roles of your life. Cast off your identities when you sit down for meditation. The more detached you can become during meditation, the more you will be able to disregard and ignore these irrelevant thoughts, unpleasant memories, or any other distractions or disturbances. And this will help you progress faster and meditate better and more deeply.
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