Common Challenges In Meditation

All too often, people hear about the benefits of meditation. Everyone knows how regular meditation can help you find focus. It provides you a sense of clarity in thought and emotions. The daily practice of meditation enables you to learn more about yourself.

There is no denying how meditation can help change people's lives. It brings out the best in them, allowing them to use their potentials to its limits. You can become a better person because of your meditation practice. 

And yet, there is a lot about meditation that people still need to learn. The key to meditation is silence and solitude. When you have both, you can enjoy the many benefits that come with the practice. 

But what if you find it hard to meditate? What if it's a struggle to quiet the mind? This is one of the things people rarely talk about. The truth about meditation is out. It's difficult. The beginning is always challenging, but you should not just give up. 

What Are The Common Pitfalls Of Meditation?

Are you having meditation problems? Do you easily get distracted whenever you are trying to quiet the mind? Do not fret just yet. Perhaps it would help to learn that you are not alone in this dilemma. 

Everyone who is just starting their practice of meditation knows how challenging it is to find their focus. It is not because their environment is noisy, but because their head is noisy with all the thoughts and the worries that they have.

While meditation proves to be beneficial, it's challenging too. Here are some of the challenges that people face when they're tiring to meditate:

Challenge 1: Sheer impatience

The urge to do something else during meditation time may be one of the biggest obstacles for meditation. Sheer impatience is what makes a lot of people end their meditation practice early. Impatience impedes your concentration, which sadly leads to not practicing meditation at all. 

How do you deal with impatience? The first step is to recognize the feeling. If you feel the strong urge to do something else during meditation, it is best to acknowledge that the feeling is there instead of simply giving in. 

When you acknowledge that the feeling is there, you are empowering yourself. This means that you are dealing with it accordingly; it also means that you are not allowing it to be in control of you. 

After you acknowledge the feeling, it is best to think about the benefits of meditation. Doing this will help you deal with everything moving forward, including the things that cause you to be impatient. 

A calm mind is a mind that will help you make better decisions and think clearly. If you can identify the feeling and isolate it, you can also practice letting it go, which is the very essence of meditation practice. 

Challenge 2: Lack of time

More often than not, you set your intention to meditate regularly, but the practice gets tossed aside because you need to take care of more important things. It almost always feels like there is always something better you can do with your time. 

The secret to being able to prioritize meditation is to change your perception of it. If you put meditation alongside all the routine things you do every day, like taking a bath and brushing your teeth, you will find that you cannot go through the day without doing it. Missing meditation practice is not an option anymore.

If you make it a part of your daily routine to prepare yourself for the day's challenges, then a day won't go by without meditation. Sometimes, all you need is to make meditation a little bit more important than usual, so you can make it happen. 

Challenge 3: Do not have enough sleep

Did you think it would be easier to meditate if you didn't get enough sleep? This is where you are wrong. It is more difficult to focus the mind when you are only got little sleep. Instead of meditating, you might end up drowsy or simply doze off. 

Little sleep makes you less productive than you should. Sleep deprivation also lessens your ability to control your thoughts, which makes your meditation session a little less effective than you want it to. 

You also won't feel like meditating if you feel fatigued all over your body. How do you deal with this then? How do you resolve this problem? It's pretty simple: go ahead and sleep. It is okay to let go of the things that worry you. Sleep and rejuvenate yourself. 

Challenge 4: Feeling good about yourself

Feeling good about yourself is both good and bad for your overall health. Whenever you feel like you are good enough, you think that you don't need any kind of help. It can subtly erode your decision to include meditation to your daily habits. 

The idea is that when you feel good about yourself, you don't see any value in meditating at all. It will look like everything is okay on the surface, but you might end up undoing the progress you have made so far with daily meditation.

When you wake up in the morning, you will want to spend it just lounging around and enjoying your morning. You skip meditation because you feel good, and that's what's important. If you skip meditation too many times, you will eventually regress. And soon, you will not have that positive mindset you cultivated for yourself. 

Remember that although feeling good is fine, there is always room to feel better. You can only reach feeling great if you continue to practice meditation. Focus on continuously improving yourself and make it a positive experience every time. 

What's Your Takeaway?

How do you improve your meditation experience and keep yourself from falling into these pitfalls? It's pretty simple. All you have to do is to focus your attention on what is important in the moment. 

If improving your overall wellness is your priority, then you should go ahead and work on it through the regular practice of meditation.