Meditation helps you break down the walls you’ve built around your heart. It's not just about clearing your mind, but dropping down into the space of your heart. So you can make room for new solutions and fresh air. If you could use a break from the daily grind, read this.

“Meditation is a slow melt into Love.” – Laura Jaworski

I Love Meditation for What It’s Not:

Elimination of All Thinking.

A common myth about meditating is that you’re not supposed to think. The goal of meditation is not to eliminate thoughts, but to help you recognize that you’re something more than the chattering mind. Its goal is to make a connection with the part of yourself that’s witnessing the chatter.

The goal of meditation isn’t to control your thoughts; it’s to stop letting them control you.

I like to describe the experience like this: When I meditate, I’m able to see my thoughts go by. I become the witness, not the subject of attention. The thoughts are still there, but they’re not *me* anymore, and they never have been.

A Perfect Practice.

You don’t have to “get it right” in meditation to experience the benefits. You don’t have to meditate for a long time to feel better. Even if you meditate for a few minutes, you’ll feel the benefits add up over time.

It’s also okay if you take a day off here and there. It’s not about being perfect, it’s about showing up when you can, when you need it most.

Strict Silence.

You don’t have to sit silently to meditate. You can meditate while walking, lying down, doing chores around the house. Mindfulness isn’t separate from living in the world; it’s a way of living more fully in the world.

An Otherworldly Experience.

You don’t need a highly spiritual experience to know you’re doing it right; you don’t even need to be spiritual to meditate. Sometimes the practice comes easier, sometimes you fall asleep, and sometimes it just feels like you sat there going over to-do lists in your head. Not every session will be transcendental.

Pema Chödrön puts it like this: “It’s helpful to remind yourself that meditation is about opening and relaxing with whatever arises, without picking and choosing.”

Meditation can be as simple as taking a few deep breaths and seeing all your crazy thoughts go by.

I Love Meditation for What It Offers:

Intimacy with All Things.

Meditation isn’t always going to be an enlightening experience, but you will have those experiences if you stay connected to your practice, because meditation is the practice of becoming intimate with all things. It’s about being in harmony with yourself, and recognizing that part of yourself that’s in harmony with everything.

“Enlightenment is intimacy with all things.” – Dogen

A Connection to Joy.

You can stay right here in this moment and experience peace. You don’t need to run away from your life, go on vacation, or be someone else to be connected to a joy that's greater, deeper, truer than the stress you feel.

Meditation is a way of keeping that little place where the magic grows inside of you, alive.

Access to the Silence Underneath the Noise.

There's stillness underneath all those thoughts, all that noise, all those things you're worrying about.

Your thoughts are like waves and ripples on the sea. When the ocean is calm, you can see the beauty of your own depth. When you become still, the thoughts might still be flowing but they don't control your ocean. You can see below the surface.

“Meditation can reintroduce you to the part that’s been missing.” – Russell Simmons

Meditation is not about making our thoughts stop, but about seeing past them to the depths of who we really are.

A Practice of Shifting Perceptions.

A miracle might just be a shift in perception. In that way, meditation is an evolving miracle. It makes you more self-aware without being so harsh on yourself, so you can be less reliant on what happens in the world and more trusting of what you can do. It's a practice in being resilient.

Meditation helps you see creative solutions with greater ease, since you're not so attached to what you're thinking. Inspiration comes naturally and anxiety melts away, a little at a time and sometimes all at once. Sometimes that's just the miracle you've been needing.

. . .

Tell me:

What do you love about meditation?

Tell me in the comments. I read every single one, and I'd love to know!

With love,

Jen

P.S. Need to stop taking stress to bed with you? Get my book Sleep Rituals for 100 at-home practices that are all about you + the present moment. There's a whole chapter with meditations that you can use anytime. To feel better. To make your life feel like it's yours.