Why Meditation May Not Be Working For You

There could be many reasons why Meditation may not be working for you. Here is one of them. See if this applies to you.

Think about this for a minute.

You wake up and meditate for a few minutes. You feel relaxed and peaceful at that time.

But if the rest of your day is filled with one or more of these (mentally check what applies to you):

- Criticising others

- Proving yourself right

- Proving others wrong

- Negatively comparing yourself with others

- Putting others down

- Trying to control others

- Yelling at your colleagues

- Yelling at your family members

- Speaking too much

- Speaking too fast

- Throwing up your hands in disgust

- Rolling your eyes on others

- Blaming others

- Being dependent on external attention, validation or appreciation

Do you think those few minutes of Meditation in the morning will work for you?

You first need to remove the noise in your system. Clear the noise so Meditation can work for you.

Contemplation helps you remove that noise.

Go to Meditation through Contemplation.

Contemplation vs Meditation

Contemplation and Meditation are complementary. You should do both, but the sequence is important.

You first work on the noise elements mentioned above using Contemplation. You become aware of them, think deeply about them, study their negative impact on your peace of mind, and eliminate them from your daily routine, slowly, step by step. You also add positive elements to your life.

Once you have done that, you get a clearer You, a calmer You, a more peaceful You. Now this You is ready for Meditation.

Think of Contemplation and Meditation as cousins. You spend your mental energy thinking deeply — in Contemplation — to first remove the negative elements from your behaviour. You regain mental energy through Meditation.

So you recharge your batteries using Meditation, spend that energy in Contemplation to live a peaceful life, come back and recharge using Meditation.

Go to Meditation through Contemplation. That’s the correct way to do it.

Here is the sequence you should follow:

1. Remove the noise using Contemplation.

2. That prepares your body and mind for calmness, deep thought and focus.

3. Go to Meditation.

In that order.

Take this assessment to find out how much noise you currently have in your system that is keeping you from being peaceful, so you have a systematic way to reduce it:

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