In the world of personal development, the topic of meditation comes up a lot…. a whole lot!
We need to still our minds. We need to sit in quiet contemplation. The lotus position is optimal, or maybe lying down.
They say we need to do this to become more centered and calm, to be better at people-ing in our day to day lives, and to become clearer about our life direction.
What happens is that many people can’t still their minds by sitting still and thinking of nothing. They’re just not designed to do that. They try and try, and then feel like they’ve failed at meditation and worry they’ll never reach a state of bliss or enlightenment.
This is me.
My mind moves too quickly for that type of meditation. My brain is constantly responding to everything around me. Gathering info, sifting through it, filing some away for later, and deciding how to use the rest right now.
For me, to really clear my mind (which it never really is), I need music or a guided meditation or repetitive movement, something that my mind can focus on that doesn’t take real thought to take the place of the busy activity that’s usually in place.
It’s just part of my design. The more I fight it, the more I go against my design, and the more frustrated I become.
I found that Tai chi worked really well for me (you might like yoga, or hiking, or running). This allows my mind to continue working in the background, while allowing for quiet and centering. I do also like guided meditations and quiet background music while I contemplate.
In addition to meditation (which is a very passive mind activity), there’s also concentration (which is very active mind activity), and contemplation (which is somewhere in the middle).
I love contemplation!
Contemplation is starting with a specific topic and letting your mind play with it. It may lead you to different thoughts or deeper into the initial topic. It’s not as focused as concentration, where you focus on one topic and try to solve it understand something. And it’s not emptying your mind like meditation. Contemplation is more of flowing with thoughts without thinking too hard about them.
So if you’re like me and you find yourself struggling with traditional meditation, fear not! You’re not broken and you’re not a failure. Your mind and body probably operate differently and need different tools for calming and centering.
If you’d like to explore your design and how you operate in the world, let’s chat about your Human Design and see how it might help you find the tools you need for creating the peace and calm we all need in life.