Ending Jumpy Mind Meditation - Burn your TV!

Okay, maybe don't actually set it on fire. That would probably be a safety hazard at many levels. But do get rid of it!

Seriously. I've lived without a TV all but 2 years of my adult life and I can tell you in no uncertain terms that I have benefited greatly from that choice.

Let's think for a moment about what meditation is about.

Among the primary benefits of meditation are 1) calming the mind and nervous system, and 2) training yourself to be able to direct your attention at will.

Each time your mind wanders off you notice that it has and send it back to its appointed task, which is the object of meditation. For example, if you're doing a counting meditation, you go back to the number one. Again and again, you stop yourself mid-thought and direct your attention at will. You put your mind where you choose for it to be, simply because you choose it, instead of letting it run you with its spastic ideas about what needs your attention right now.

It is important to be gentle with yourself in doing this. There is no reason to get mad at your mind for behaving the way all minds do until they are taught otherwise. Which brings me back to the jumpy mind meditation we're trained with from the time we are young children.

When was the last time you watched a cartoon? Have you ever noticed how rapidly the image on the screen changes? That is because the cartoon's makers are trying to hold the interest of young children and they naturally have short attention spans.

But if you do an experiment with even adult dramas you will see that the image on the screen may be slower to change than in the cartoons, but it will still often be only around 3 seconds between a change of angle, distance, or subject. For any of these changes your mind has to scramble to reassemble an understanding of what it sees. It has to start over at one.

The difference is that instead of doing a 20 minute daily meditation in focusing your mind so that it can eventually hold concentration for longer periods of time, TV watching is a 3+ hour per evening meditation in jumpy mind! No wonder you're so good at it!

So being as experienced as you are with "jumpy mind meditation" after all these years of TV viewing, do not be so hard on yourself. You should in fact be glad each time you catch your mind wandering off and get to send it back to one. It is giving you the opportunity to exercise your ability to redirect your mind at will.

This mastery of your attention is critical. In daily life you will often experience a pull towards focusing on the negative – on what annoys you, on what you lack, on people's imperfections, on what you don't want to have happen.

In your meditation you will have been building up your power to redirect your attention at will and so you will stop those destructive thoughts midstream and either refocus on the path to creating what you do want or simply recognize the illusory nature of what is arising (advanced meditation practice).

What we're after is choice.

You want to be the one who is the captain of your mental ship, instead of letting the media choose for you what you are going to think about. Instead of letting the constant barrage of lack, insufficiency, need, and fear pull you about, like a little ball bouncing around on a turbulent ocean.

Train your mind to be a calm lake, then let the ideas you choose to cultivate in your life be like little pebbles you toss in that ripple out far and wide in their effects. Reduce your effort in creating what you want by increasing your mental focus and mental calm. You will see over time that you experience less busyness and more satisfaction, more blessing, more things just seeming to go your way.

This is how your life was meant to be. Just take back your power from the advertisers and their entertainment and media empire so that you can come back to true center, and you'll see.

You don't have to burn your TV. But I strongly suggest you donate it to your city's recycling center. (No, don't push it off on the poor through some non-profit either. They've already got enough problems without inheriting yours.)

(Photo source: pixabay)

Here are some other posts of mine you may enjoy:

• The End of Struggle - Learning How to Want Purely
• Find Your Tree
• A Simple Observation

Resteems always appreciated