Follow your mind with a meditation journal.
A meditation journal can be a helpful way to spot patterns in challenges you’re encountering while meditating and that can help you figure out ways to support yourself in overcoming those challenges. I started a journal last week to track the experience of going through the eight weeks of meditation exercises for our Full Catastrophe Living book club.
It’s okay for meditation to be a struggle. Just trying to meditate is useful. As you can see from the entries in my journal, I didn’t just sit and meditate perfectly for 15 minutes every day this past week. I started a new job and that had my mind jumping all over the place so my meditation practice was all about trying to get my mind to sit. I also missed one day because I told myself I would meditate at night (but I didn’t). One of the benefits of keeping your journal is learning about the excuses you make to skip out on meditation. When your mind throws them at you in the future, you’ll be better prepared to laugh at them.
Try keeping your own meditation journal but don’t meditate just to write it down. Use the journal to record challenges and also successes. See what works and build on that. Watch how your struggles diminish over time and also how your mind gradually changes.
Learning the Basics of Mindfulness with the Full Catastrophe Living Book Club | MARK FREEMAN
December 8, 2013 @ 2:19 am
[…] You can learn how to be successful with meditation by using a journal to track the context around your practice. Track the challenges you encounter and the supports that help you succeed. You can read about some of the challenges I had this past week in this blog post about my meditation journal: www.markfreeman.ca/follow-your-mind-with-a-meditation-journal/ […]
April 28, 2014 @ 1:35 pm
Mark,
I really like the idea of a meditation journal. I have dedicated significant time in my recovery to mindfulness meditation – be it sitting on my couch, laying in bed, washing the dishes or going for a walk. It is amazing at how thoughts can present themselves and if we are aware enough, awake enough to spot them, we can pull on that thread and see what the belief is that is promoting this thought to continue to present itself. Sometimes the belief is an unhealthy one that needs to be explored and understood. Often with the help of others.
I fought the idea of a journal for so long – I am not even sure why now. But I journal everyday now and sometimes more than once if there is something that I am experiencing that I would like to understand.
Thank you for sharing your perspective.
Be well,
Gregory
May 3, 2014 @ 3:43 pm
I’m a big fan of meditation journals! In fact, I have spent a few years building a community around sharing our meditation practice. You might like it: http://opensit.com
Happy sitting,
Dan 🙂