Losing and Finding Your Way
Mindfulness and distraction
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One aspect of meditation is “mindfulness”.
Being conscious of our minds. Aware of what they are doing.
So is a “good” meditation one in which we’re mindful for long stretches of time?
Not necessarily.
Mindfulness means being aware now.
And now.
And now.
Losing focus is an opportunity to return to focus.
The aim of mindfulness is not to be good at meditating.
It is to become aware of the act of thinking.
Again.
And again.
And again.
During meditation. And during daily life.
With each distraction, we can learn, when we return.
You say I am repeating
Something I have said before. I shall say it again.
Shall I say it again? In order to arrive there,
To arrive where you are, to get from where you are not,
You must go by a way wherein there is no ecstasy.
TS Eliot - East Coker
I used to be frustrated because I constantly became distracted during meditation. And then I spoke to an experienced meditator who said that, after 30 years’ practice, they still often became distracted every second. But, they said, that’s fine. It means that, during a 10 minute meditation, they have 600 opportunities to practice returning to awareness.
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