Meditation is medication. In addition to being a mental skill, it’s also beneficial for the health of the physical body and the immune system. It’s really easy too! The only thing to be conscious of with meditating is to distinguish awareness from thought. We’re always thinking, but we’re not always aware. Thinking is a reflex. It’s a habit. It’s addicting and human beings do it pretty much non-stop every waking moment.
On the other hand, being aware of thinking occurs much less frequently. Unlike overthinking, which costs us energy and can result in stress and fatigue, pure awareness is actually relaxing. Stressless (and ultimately energizing) meditation is about awareness. While we can be aware of our breathing, our heartbeat or our bodies, there’s nothing better to be aware of than our very own thoughts.
The biggest issue people have when they start a meditation practice is that they can’t stop thinking. When you’re meditating it’s guaranteed that you’re going to move away from awareness into thought. When you first start, large periods of your meditation session may be spent in the experience of thinking. When you notice you are thinking and have lost the experience of just being aware of your thoughts (or whatever it is that’s the focus of your awareness), simply return to the awareness. That’s really the meditation: the return to awareness. Every time you lose it, you have an opportunity to return. That is, to practice the meditation.
