I thought of calling this essay Welcome the Wandering Mind. Because that’s really the only point I want to make, and it’s important enough to justify a whole piece:
Let’s not worry about how much the mind wanders when we meditate.
Why?
Because that’s what the mind does.
Meditation is the exercise of bringing the mind back to an object, often the breath. The mind wanders. We catch it and bring it back.
Many of us get frustrated by our inability to do this. “I can’t meditate.” “I’m too distracted.” “I fall asleep.” “My mind is all over the place.”
My suggestion is not to get frustrated by a wandering mind. We needn’t conclude that we aren’t spiritual, aren’t cut out for meditation, or are somehow missing out on a life of serenity and bliss. Instead, we can change the game. The game is simply to watch the mind, see where it goes, and bring it back.
If we’d like a tool to help with this, we can count backward from 10. Each count is one in-and-out breath. When we lose count, we just start again. Restarting the count is the practice.
Over time, our attention will become steadier, and we will be able to hold the mind on the breath longer. But there’s no need to worry about that at the outset.
The mind will wander.
We are learning how to bring it back.
Below is a guided meditation to help us practice this. I recommend simply relaxing and enjoying it.