Problems are a part of meditation. Solving problems is what make meditation fun. It forces you to think creatively. You will experience all kind of problems in your practice journey. Don’t focus too much on a problem that you fail to see the possibilities around the problem. A solution usually presents itself when you have a problem, and you are motivated to act. You just need to be persistent. When the problem arises in the future you would know how to deal with it. One of the problems is the fear of doing breath awareness work. Write down all your fears on meditation on a piece of paper. This helps you see all your resisting thoughts, feeling, and emotions concerning it. You can be better able to deal with it. Then counter those fears and come up with creative solutions to them. Some of the fears of breath awareness meditation will be discussed. There are boredom and depression, overly attached to results, and over complicating your practice.
Overcoming Boredom and depression.
It is not the meditation that make you happy, but your perception of it. Success revolves around happiness. The higher your emotions the more parts of your brain are dedicated to help you reach your goal. Decide 80 percent of what you are going to do 20 percent of the time. Then focus on feeling good independent of the activity you choose. 90 percent of the signal goes from your heart to your brain. It will be easier to add on the activity.
Depression can keep one from meditating. You wake up the same day dreading doing the same thing at the same time. How much are you investing in the unknown? Investing in the unknown is what makes things exciting. Feel free to shake things up. When things unfold in ways you can’t always predict it is exciting.
If meditation is boring, make it fun. Use your imagination. You can reward yourself for doing the practice, or creatively visualize yourself obtaining your highest goal for it.
If you keep viewing your meditation with the same Nero circuitry it gets redundant. Your brain and body goes on autopilot and your practice becomes boring and stressful. You can learn more about the work. By doing so, you will be able to apply more meaning to your practice. Learn more benefits to it. You always had the benefits, but you were not aware of them. One of the things you can do is do your practice differently to add some nuance to it. You can do a different type for a while and go back to the old type with a new perspective. You can play around with the duration and time of the meditation. You can have a new reward.
Don’t be overly attached to results.
Sometimes it feels you aren’t making progress. You want to quit. The more you look for something the more you push it away. You are saying you don’t have it. Hang in there and be patient. Allow yourself to be successful.
Watch your self-criticism. Don’t destructively criticize yourself. This type of criticism creates fear and destroys creativity.
Allow yourself to make mistakes. It is through experimentation you learn. You can only connect the dots looking back. Continue what works from the past, experiment with new things, and replace the old with new things that work better.
Don’t over complicate meditation.
Keep it simple.If you make meditation more complicated, you are less likely to keep up a daily practice. The only wrong practice is the one that you don’t do. Showing up is 50 percent of the battle. The more complicated you make your work, the less successful you will be. The simpler you make it, the more successful you will be.
Meditation is straight forward. Focus on your in breath and out breath. Your mind will wander from time to time. The unwanted thoughts are part of your practice. Simply bring your awareness back to your breath. You are going to go back and forth between thoughts and breath. Physical sensations, and sounds are also part of your practice not just unwanted thoughts. You aren’t going to know when you experience stillness known as the gap until you come out of it. You may or may not have a mystical experience. It is okay. Continue your meditation without worries until you are done with it. Surrender without expectations. Move in the direction of comfort. If you need to open your eyes to look at the time or scratch your nose do so.
Summary
Now that the following has been discussed: how to overcome boredom and depression, how not to be overly attached to results, and how not to be too complicating to help you overcome fear of breath aware meditation you are better able to do the practice. Invest in the unknown because that is what makes something exciting. Don’t look for results. The more you look for results the more you push it away. Keep your practice simple. Focus on your breath in and out. Anytime you get distracted from your breath bring your attention back to it. Thought, physicals sensations, and sounds are part of the work. Next time you are afraid of meditation you can eliminate the three fears discussed.