Meditation

The point of meditation is not to shut down your thoughts or enter a trance. Although that may happen as you get to more advanced levels, as a beginner your major goal is to simply focus on your breath for as long as possible. What you'll notice is that you aren't capable of focusing on your breath for very long. Almost immediately you find your thoughts drifting away. This is where you begin to become conscious of how little you're actually paying attention to your thoughts and how little you're able to concentrate. At this point, simply notice that you were thinking, accept whatever the thoughts were non-judgmentally, and return your attention to the breath. Do this every single time you notice your attention drift away for about 20 minutes each day. I do it for an hour, but I've been doing it for a long time.

Over the long term, essentially what happens is that you become more conscious of how your thoughts actually appear. You soon become conscious of different thought patterns and emotions you get stuck in. Much of what we think is completely unconscious and so much of our actions are motivated by thoughts we aren't even aware of. The more you're aware of how you think, the better you're able to change your thought patterns in more productive ways.

Another thing you'll notice is that negative emotions and memories will start to come up. Maybe you'll remember that time you were bullied on the playground or you'll remember that time you had an embarrassing date. When you accept these thoughts non-judgmentally and return you attention to the breath, essentially what you're doing is teaching yourself that the thoughts aren't really important. The truth is, they're often not very important. Much of the guilt and shame that is feeding the cycle of addiction is about things that no one remembers happening except for us.

Through meditation, you open up the possibility of letting go of a lot of your own bullshit and coming to a place of better emotional health and well-being. Again, all this takes is 20 minutes each day where you sit down and do your best to focus on the breath, notice as soon as possible when your mind inevitably drifts off, and then return your attention to the breath. It really is that simple. No trance, no altered state, just sitting there for 20 minutes trying to focus on your breath.

Obviously there are more advanced forms of meditation that I highly encourage you to investigate on your own time. However, for now, 20 minutes of breath focus is all you really need to concern yourself with. I cannot recommend this habit enough. I would say that it has had a more profound effect on my mental health and success than going to the gym, something I've been doing for 10 years.

 

I suggest trying a guided meditation on YouTube it can help when you get distracted by thoughts which is normal.

 

Does anyone know any good good guided meditations for addiction? Or any suggestions on youtube or meditation apps?

 

Check out the honest guys YouTube channel they are usually pretty good

 

smiling mind from playstore.