The Restless Mind

Yishai

So, last night I was meditating before finally deciding to call it a night. While meditating, I could see that my mind would cling to everything of the day. It was restless and would not calm. I realized that there is no point trying to fight it, yet it never calmed. After about 30 minutes, I decided I would head to bed.

What do we do when we encounter this restless mind? Do we come back to meditation later? (give up and come back when your mind is less perturbed)?

santhisouk

Just watch them. Put a leash on it and let it do whatever it wants. It will tire itself out eventually. It's really not the thoughts that we should be concerned about. It's how often we cling to them. Just watch them but don't cling.

santhisouk

The leash is our "single mental object".

Yishai

At the beginning of the meditation I thought I'd be able to calm the mind. I tried to focus on the breath, but my mind was very untameable. So I resigned to just watching it. I would've let it wear itself out, but it was taking much longer than 30 minutes I had set aside for meditation.

The reason for its restlessness was because it was overstimulated all day.

santhisouk

If it was frustrating then yes meditate later. If it wasn't that frustrating then pat yourself on the back and call it a days work. There's always tomorrow.

Bodha8

It is not the quantity of the meditation, but the quality of the meditation. Let it go and return later.

Yishai

Okay. I was just seeing if I was correct in letting go and returning to practice later.

Sumaruff

Whose mind is of concern?

SattvaPaul

@Yishai,

When my mind is restless, I often find it helpful to anchor the awareness in he body. Just try to rest with the awareness of your whole body sitting, and let go of trying to do anything about the thoughts.

seeker242

I don't think it's considered skillful to say "Meditation is supposed to be this way". Sometimes it's restless, sometimes it's quite. You just keep doing the same thing regardless. If you decided to sit for 30 minutes then you sit for 30 minutes. If you don't need to have it go a certain way, then quite is ok and restless is ok too. Sometimes it's quite, sometimes it's restless. that is just how our minds work. Sometimes it's easy to return to the breath, sometimes it's hard. If you get up and leave just because it's hard, then you missing an excellent practicing opportunity.

Yishai

I didn't stop because it was hard. I did eventually settled on just watching it. I only planned on doing about 30 minutes of sitting though. I like the advice on just being with the sitting, or the whole body, when we have a restless mind

santhisouk

You can also try...As you breathe you can also think "breathing in confusion", "breathing out clarity". "Breathing in excitement", "Breathing out calm", and so forth. I'm sure you can find better words to match how you feel at that moment.

metta

zen_world

Like you said, when I have a very busy day and if my mind is restless than I do 45 minute meditation first and then do another one after couple of hours. Between the two I try to read a book or watch a comedy movie to distract my mind from the stress. Then I also meditate when I go to bed and most of the time manage to have a calm night before I go to sleep. So gadual approach works for me!