The mind is a tricky thing, especially when it comes to our inner dialogue. The way to get into an “inner dialogue” is to focus on something that you like, believe, or feel and to pay attention to the thoughts that come up as you are thinking about it.
In an article I wrote for the Huffington Post, the authors wrote, “How much of your inner dialogue is actually conscious and how much is just automatic? How much of your inner dialogue is about your thoughts and how much is about your emotions?” This is a great way to think about the problem of the inner dialogue.
The problem isn’t that our inner dialogue can be wrong. The problem is that we get caught up in our automatic, unconscious, automatic thoughts and the rest of it is just noise. There comes a time when we have to realize that there is a difference between what we want to do and what we want to say, and then we have to decide how we are going to make best use of our inner voice.
The problem with most meditation techniques is that they are extremely difficult to learn and to keep up. If you are like me and can’t just sit down and do a 10 minute meditation a day, you may need to take some help. In a recent episode of my podcast “Mindfulness at Work”, I interviewed my friend and meditation mentor, Dr. David Burns.
Dr. Burns is a Professor of Psychology at the University of California, Berkeley. Dr. Burns was also the creator of the “Meditation for Success” program and he is one of the founders of the Meditation Institute, which is an organization which provides meditation and other forms of self-awareness training. He is also a clinical psychologist, having trained at the University of California, San Diego and at the University of California, Los Angeles.
The idea behind meditation is to create an area of your brain that is “empty” where you’re not aware of your surroundings. This is the area where thoughts and emotions are stored. When you’re in this state, you’re more relaxed and less likely to be distracted by extraneous thoughts.
If you look at the brain as a computer, you’ll know what I mean. A lot of the neurons in your brain are connected, so when you’re concentrating your thoughts on a thought you may feel as though you’ve created a mini-brain that seems to be connected to other parts of your brain. This isn’t the case. Your brain is a dynamic process.
The idea behind object of meditation is that you focus on a thought in one part of your brain and the brain in that part of your brain acts as a filter that reduces any thoughts that are not relevant to your purpose. In other words, you are focused on a thought and the brain in that part of your brain acts as a filter that reduces the thoughts that are not relevant to your purpose. The more you focus your thought, the more theyre filtered out.
This might have been useful in the past, but in modern times I think it has lost its appeal. It has been a trend to make meditation programs longer and more complicated which has resulted in less practice. Its also become a trend to focus on the mind instead of the body, which has led to less experience.
What I think is really important is to not just meditate, but to practice meditation. It’s probably the easiest way to meditate. To focus on the breath as you breathe in and breathe out. This is a good way to relax the mind and body. To be able to focus on something for a long period of time, it increases the length of time you are able to meditate.
