If you're newish to meditation, it's helpful to anchor meditation in the breath.
Set aside a modest amount of time. 5 minutes. Or 3. Just keep it up. It doesn't take long to see and feel the possibilities.
The goal is not to get somewhere but to be where we are in a fresh, whole-making way.
Set a timer. Use your phone's or the oven's.
Take 3 deep, relaxing breaths. Just feel the air come in and go back out. Feel it in the nose, throat, chest. Sense the movement of your diaphragm. Feel it and sense it. Don't think about it.
Then, continue to keep a piece of awareness on the breath but also begin to notice what you're thinking or feeling. Notice it. don't 'think' about it. Watch your thoughts as if they were clouds floating by. Sense your feelings as if they were ripples in a pond.
We can usually do this for about 5 seconds before we stop watching a thought or sensing a feeling and start thinking about it. That's okay. Thinking about a thought or feeling can just become the next thought we notice.
And when, inevitably, you get frustrated at how 'bad' you are at just watching, notice that thought, too, Smile toward that thought, let go of the judgment, bring kindness into the process. Over and over. Notice and smile. See clearly. Love dearly.
That's the pattern. With this very simple practice we begin evoking and strengthening AWARENESS and COMPASSION. Being 'bad' at it is just fine, as long as we stay committed to simple practice. We are all 'bad at it' at first, imagining some goal or breakthrough.
In a big way, the practice itself is the goal, because through practice we strengthen awareness and compassion. We sharpen our perception and we learn to be kind and gentle with what we perceive.
