It does not feel like it, but most of us have been meditating all our lives, we simply are not aware of it. We start as little kids. Those times when everything is quiet, or it was raining outside. Or in my case, when I was in school sitting at my desk daydreaming, wanting to be outside playing.

Everyone has been asked and also asked someone else, “Hello, are you there? I am, talking to you.” We are not paying attention, checked out, or are daydreaming. Different words to describe the same state. You are talking to someone and you realize that they are not paying the slightest bit of attention to you. They are sitting right by you, but you can tell by looking at them, they are miles and miles away.

If you have been trying to meditate and feel you cannot, remember times when you were the person who left the conversation and went somewhere else. What were you thinking about when it happened? When was the last time it happened? Was it quiet, noisy, busy, or still? Whatever triggered your leaving the conversation can be used to help you learn to meditate.

We all are different and we all have different ways of interacting with the world. For successful meditation, what works for one person, or several people may be totally wrong for you. Just because one famous person does something and it works for them, does not mean it will work for you. You may need a different setting, less, or more stimulation. Maybe you need music, running water, bird sounds, or kids at play in the distance. Maybe you need a dark room with complete silence. All of these settings trigger different reactions in different people.

This is what I do when meditation does not happen smoothly. Perhaps it will help you find a sequence to help you learn to meditate? I flood my mind with differing type’s of quiet directed stimuli. There is usually so much noise in our minds we are not aware of it though it needs to be quieted for meditation to happen.

First I decide on a combination of sound. I prefer a three syllable nonsense word that ends with a vibration syllable such as, eng, ing, om, or ong. The nonsense word, Beir-har-ing as an example word. Any three or more syllable word should be as effective as well as any other three syllable combination. If a syllable combination pops into your thoughts while you are getting ready to try meditation, use it instead.

Different combinations of syllables have different effects for me. I have noticed for example that nonsense words starting with a B produces red or orange images in my mind. Starting syllables such as, ‘bear, behr, beer’, all produce a slightly different effect on me in a way not related to the meaning of the sound.

The idea of stimuli appears to go against the norm, and that is ok. You want to achieve a meditative state, not ponder your life. This may be a modified form of EFT used for a different purpose. EFT attempts to engage all your senses and keep your mind busy while a unique thought is introduced in the background.

Learning how to quiet your mind for more than a few seconds is a job in itself, so why not try to use a busy mind to your advantage? Why not use a simple handy aid to make the process more productive and less frustrating? If you sit quietly and listen you will notice a steady stream of thought, sometimes verbal, sometimes not. It takes time to learn how to silence it, and is a big frustrater to meditating. Let’s try something I know works for me, starting with the next post.