meditation

[Darren]

I should practice much more but I have done so on ocassion, using counts and breath as a guide.

I want to do it a long time now but i can´t get it working somehow.
I try to count from 1 to 10 imaginary and see the numbers passing by my closed eyes, but i never did 5 or 10 minutes, my in/exhaling in sync the whole time seems to confuse me and i get out of sync...

Would love to do it, i´m sure it would help me in some problems i struggle atm!

The goal of Meditation is essentially to clear the mind of untrained thoughts if only for a brief moment and to achieve calm and clarity. You do this by establishing control of thought which takes stepping back from it. Becoming master over where your mind sits requires concentration in a manner which is rarely established.

Think of your usual mental activity as a film playing on a screen, as the watcher you become entranced, moved by what you see, how it makes you feel. An untrained mind loves being carried and having fresh experience to distract. What meditation does is run counter to this, you ask your mind to focus, to sit on a point. You achieve clarity when you're not taken in by the film, you detach yourself from the process of being lead by the movie. You become aware & gain some control of how you feel. You can see the movie but you can think outside of the confines of it.

You kidding?
How can you just stop thoughts, at what do you think instead? Thinking about nothing is impossible i guess..

It's not simply about stopping thought, it's about not allowing them to lead you if you've not called them to do so. It's about focusing and placing your mind onto the focus of your meditation. By keeping it there ever increasing amounts of time you begin to gain mental strength. Strength to start, stop, order and develop thoughts. With more strength comes more control, to the point you can step back in everyday situations which before proved difficult to handle clearly. Ones which could & often would, emotionally embroil someone who hasn't practised.

Just stop thinking every thought you have.
"Pff that dude in that mov... stop."
"What should I eat ton... stop."
"I wonder if I'm doing this ri... stop."
"Yay, I'm not thi... stop."
etc.
Eventually it's just "What... stop.", "How... stop.", "Should I... stop." "If... stop.", you'll feel it slowing down.

Every time Alex engages in a random thought he tracks it, realises its origin and he pins it. By labelling a thought like this you step back from it and detach yourself. The fact he gets sharper as the process continues shows his aptitutde towards the task is improving and his mind is being strengthened from the process.