The goal is to avoid concentration. Relax, and don't concentrate on not concentrating. If you have a thought, relax and let it go. If you find yourself judging those thoughts, let them go too.
Got it. What about concentrating on something that isn't a thought, like your own breathing, or on listening to the ambient noise? If you start to have thoughts, you could concentrate on JUST paying attention to those things, and not thinking about them.
Drifting off is totally normal, and it sounds like you’ve been able to eventually catch yourself as it happens. One thing a lot of people find helpful is creating a cycle of positive reinforcement, and turning that point of realization into an “aha!” moment, where you say “oh good, I noticed I drifted from the meditation object, good job me :)”, even putting on a little smile for yourself even if it feels weird at first. Soon you find yourself having these Aha moments automatically whenever you drift, until eventually you stop drifting completely.
I find this hard too. It’s much easier to let something go if you don’t put pressure on yourself to let it go. My normal state is “Why did I think that? I sure wish I wasn’t thinking it.” Which of course makes it worse. So I focus on not beating myself up basically; I remind myself it’s natural for brains to have thoughts. Look at all those crazy thoughts, aren’t they interesting. No point worrying about them
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The goal is to avoid concentration. Relax, and don't concentrate on not concentrating. If you have a thought, relax and let it go. If you find yourself judging those thoughts, let them go too.
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Got it. What about concentrating on something that isn't a thought, like your own breathing, or on listening to the ambient noise? If you start to have thoughts, you could concentrate on JUST paying attention to those things, and not thinking about them.
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Drifting off is totally normal, and it sounds like you’ve been able to eventually catch yourself as it happens. One thing a lot of people find helpful is creating a cycle of positive reinforcement, and turning that point of realization into an “aha!” moment, where you say “oh good, I noticed I drifted from the meditation object, good job me :)”, even putting on a little smile for yourself even if it feels weird at first. Soon you find yourself having these Aha moments automatically whenever you drift, until eventually you stop drifting completely.
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Let yourself make judgements, just let those go too. If you judge the judgements, let that go.
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I find this hard too. It’s much easier to let something go if you don’t put pressure on yourself to let it go. My normal state is “Why did I think that? I sure wish I wasn’t thinking it.” Which of course makes it worse. So I focus on not beating myself up basically; I remind myself it’s natural for brains to have thoughts. Look at all those crazy thoughts, aren’t they interesting. No point worrying about them
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