Get Beneath Your Thoughts
Imagine looking forward to a relaxing day at the pool. When you arrive, the water is calm and inviting. You're floating peacefully when suddenly, the kids arrive. Chaos ensues as you hear "Marco Polo" being shouted from all sides. Just as you think things can't get any worse, you hear a voice saying, "Hey Mom, watch this!" You know what's about to happen. A 200-pound kid is about to do a cannonball from the diving board. As he hits the water, a tidal wave tosses you around like a piece of driftwood in the surf.
That's a metaphor for our mind. We anticipate a peaceful day, and suddenly an uninvited 200-pound cannonball of a thought disrupts our tranquility. We are tossed around in the turbulent waters of our minds.
What are we to do? We could leave the pool, but we can't easily leave our thoughts. They are wild and unruly things with a mind of their own.
What if we dip under the water where it is quieter and less turbulent? We can look up at the surface of the water and still see the action, but now we're observers and not participants. When we meditate, we metaphorically get beneath our thoughts so we can observe them without participating with them.
We can't stop the activity in our mind, just like we can't stop the activity in the pool. One of the biggest misconceptions about meditation is the belief that we must empty our minds. It doesn't take long to realize the impossibility of that task, so many people give up.
Try to sit still at least once a day and get beneath your thoughts so you can observe them and get curious about them. Don’t worry about letting go of them. They will still be there when you return.
If you do this often enough, stay down long enough, and go deep enough, you will experience one of the most profound benefits of meditation. You will get acquainted with your true self, that part of you that has been covered up by the false self that we all create to get us through this life. The Hero’s Journey begins here.