Some people might describe meditation as somehow stopping all thoughts and silencing your mind. Some may be able to do that after years of practice, but I don’t think it’s important.

What I do is sit still and allow myself to be passively aware of everything around me and in my mind. I don’t actively engage in any thoughts and I experience them arising on their own—as though they operate without me. I see that my thoughts are like the wind blowing on my face. Both of these things happen entirely on their own, without me.

When meditating I’ll frequently become distracted by my thoughts and engage with them. That’s fine. I go back to passively experiencing them the same way I experience the subtle sounds around me.

That’s it. That’s all there is to it if you’re looking for any therapeutic benefit. Becoming “present” like that on a regular basis will will leave you calmer, better able to focus, and better able to control—or separate yourself from—your emotions.

Arnold Schwarzenegger did this for a while in the early 80’s when he had a lot going on in his life and he was having trouble focusing. He learned how to become present and focus on the current moment whenever he needed to and he no longer needed to meditate regularly.

The deeper lesson that our Aryan ancestor Buddha and others discovered is that you start to see that many of the things you thought were part of yourself—like your thoughts—are not. You eventually see that even the idea of your self is only a mental concept—an illusion—and that you may not even exist. Then you start understanding a lot of the things Jesus said and you can no longer relate to most people and life seems both wonderful and pointless at the same time.

Don’t worry about all of that for now though. Just sit still and listen to everything around you, including your own thoughts.

I cannot meditate either because my mind is not capable of going into a suspended mode of operation. I am too connected to everything around me to just simply close down and shut off all outside stimulus. I exist in the natural world therefore I am in a connected state 24x7. My mind can find peace in its own way by simply ignoring my body, a sort of transcendent state if it requires a label. I am my mind first and my body second so perhaps that is like meditation but on a more discreet level.

I've never believed in that mystical eastern stuff because I am already connected to nature and I don't see how doing some zen bullshit makes that any different. I've always considered meditation as some sort of BS that low-IQ people do to convince themselves they are more capable in the mind than they really are. I can't do it because it's not real.

Too many thoughts multi-tasking that you can't shut down all your neurons.

Impossible. We're not made to have a mind that is completely empty. It's ingrained in our genetics to be aware of our surroundings. You can sensory deprive yourself and in a way that's clearing your mind.

Don't try to clear your mind of everything. That's a losing battle. Instead, try to focus your mind on just one thing. For example, I have a white noise / fan noise machine that I will focus as much attention on as I can while it hums away.

Focus your mind on your breathing. Think about how you are breathing in and out.

When you are done failing meditation, try prayer. Give thanks to God for your blessings, repent for your sins, and ask God to be the light that guides you.

The ones who meditate, don't seem to have any goals in life. "Clear your mind" is dumb. "Focus your mind" and things that trouble you seem smaller.

I can't stop and meditate on nothing, but I do find I am able to zen while doing certain tasks or listening to certain music. Maybe your ability to zen is linked to an outlet to help you unwind?

It is possible to meditate even with internal monologue, that is what the mantra is used for, to get the inner monologue in sync with the outer perception. Monks meditate and pray, I spent a retreat in a monastery where no one woke inside the walls, very peaceful, very thought provoking.

Meditation, Breath Prayer, Yoga, Diaphragmatic Breathing, Resonate Breathing, Self-Hypnosis, Deep Relaxation, Kundalini, Combat Breathing, Pain Management, Box Breathing, Wim Hof, Sensory Depravation Tanks, Mindfulness.

All roads lead to Rome where a rose by any other name would smell as sweet.

The centrality of the "focus on your breath" pneumatic mantra embedded in the heart of all these varied contemplative and practical modalities, spanning time, culture & distance, serves first and foremost to activate our parasympathetic nervous system. The PSN brings us back to baseline, lowers the heart rate, dials down respirations and blood pressure. It also provides a focal point. The One. The structure of our neural net precludes an absence of thought, so setting that as an end goal or parameter is an exercise in futility and frustration. Focus on the breath provides a framework to witness thoughts come, pass through and go.

I have played around with all of the protocols listed above. I employ those that work for me situationally as needed and leave those that do not on the shelf. I have achieved varying levels of both pragmatic success and woo failure. Ask yourself what you hope achieve and begin to tinker and tailor you own unique germanshepherd path.

What do you think meditation is?