Simplifying Meditation

Written by Mathew Naismith

How do we simplify meditation so that people under stress can meditate more easier? I should also state, stress also takes in the many different forms of depression we will go through in life.

The simplest form of meditation is daydreaming, of course not everyone agrees with this as meditation is about focusing on nothingness while daydreaming is about focusing on mindful things.

However, can we meditate without focusing as can we daydream without focusing? No, the point here is focus, not what we are focusing on. To focus on nothingness still needs the mind to think about focusing on nothingness, as scientific experimentation have proved, we are still using our brains even in the deepest meditative state, this means the mind is still in a thinking process in this state.

The biggest difference between daydreaming and meditation isn't focus but how much we are focusing and what we are focusing on. If meditation was all to do with focus, we are actually focusing more while daydreaming believe it or not, however, by focusing on nothingness, allows the mind the rest without interruptions unlike daydreaming.

I think it's a good time to look at the difference between daydreaming and meditation through other sources, as the following will show, different sources have different ideas of what is and isn't meditation.                    

http://dailyhealthpost.com/5-surprising-health-benefits-of-daydreaming/

Extract: Research suggests that there may be a link between memory, imagination and our ability to be empathetic. Imagining a scenario or picturing something that we haven’t experienced ourselves, may make it easier to understand what someone else is going through.

Within this, we can see how daydreaming is beneficial for us thus allowing us to go into a deeper meditative state. Instead of looking at the difference between daydreaming and meditation all the times, we should actually be looking at the similarities, focus of course being one of them, mental and physical benefits is another.  

http://aboutmeditation.com/whats-the-difference-between-daydreaming-and-meditating/

Extract: When daydreaming, you allow your mind to lead you. You may be fantasizing about your future or remembering a time in your past. In meditation, however, you keep a focused awareness in the present, and dismiss the tangent thoughts in your mind.

This is a good example of how the ego will only focus on the differences. What tells us to meditate and meditate at certain times of the day for a certain amount of time to begin with? To meditate takes a thought process to begin with as does daydreaming.

Daydreaming is actually about fantasizing which takes you away from everyday mundane thought processes as does meditation. Thinking of focusing and meditating on nothingness is also a fantasy, but a process that takes less thinking processes than daydreaming. Just because one practice takes a lesser thinking process, should this mean we disregard the similarities between daydreaming and mediation? The ego of course would certainly do so as it likes to separate everything, where is the oneness in this to begin with? It's very much like separating the yin from the yang.

https://www.vajrayana.com.au/blog/meditation-tip-daydreaming-can-be-meditation/

Extract: Daydreaming during meditation is no longer a waste of time; rather, it can be re-viewed as yet another manifestation of the working of our mind and consciousness. Then, our daydreams become our meditations.

I should point out that not all daydreaming is a form of meditation or lead to a deeper meditative state, it all depends on how, not what, we focus on while daydreaming.

If there is something worrying and /or depressing us, it's a good idea not to daydream without fantasizing on a favourable outcome, it's even more beneficial if we can take away the seriousness of what we are daydreaming about. Basically, we are shifting our focus like we do while meditating.

When I daydream, I'm always fantasizing a more favourable outcome, I also laugh at the seriousness of my reactions to what I am daydreaming about. I often laugh at myself in taking life so seriously thus laughing at what depresses and causes me stress. By doing this, allows our mind to rest more easier thus allowing for a deeper meditative state.

My advice is, stop trying to find the differences in life and focus on the similarities, they are numerous once we stop trying to separate one from the other all the times.