Meditation - Advice for the beginner
Maybe you've heard about the wonderful benefits of meditation;
"It will relax you, center your thoughts, allow you to escape
from your stressful day". Why wouldn't you want to take part in
such an activity?
The truth is - most people never reap the considerable rewards
that a quality meditation session can offer. After a few
unsuccessful attempts, these individuals give up and conclude
"meditation doesn't work". If you don't believe meditation can
work for you, I'd like to offer you a bit of perspective via the
following exercise:
Go to a music store that sells pianos (if you can play piano,
substitute this instrument with one you've never played before).
Sit down at a piano and play some beautiful music. What, you
can't......? But I've heard that a person can play beautiful
music on a piano. Maybe try a few more times. No doubt, if after
three or four attempts you are not producing exquisite sounds
from this instrument, you will come to the conclusion that
"pianos don't work".
We all know that the piano is capable of producing music, so why
are you not able to get it to work? It's because, in order to
play the piano successfully, you must take the time to learn how
to the instrument works, and then spend many hours practicing.
Meditation is not a practice that will "work" the first time you
try it. It took you awhile to learn how to ride a bike. You
probably couldn't catch a ball the first time you tried. Most
likely, your first few meditation sessions won't be very
successful either. Instead of giving up, read some literature on
meditation, research the subject on websites, and try to
practice once a day for a month. Your local library probably has
some meditation audio recordings or videos that you can borrow.
Try a variety of meditations to find an approach that works well
for you. With a bit of effort, you will get results from your
meditation sessions.