Arriving Home :: Building Trust In Yourself As A Meditator
Becoming a meditator isn’t like most endeavors. So much goes into making someone really ready to begin meditating. Often, at a certain level, there’s a basic recognition that you could feel better in some way. For me, after being introduced to meditation in high school, what brought me to a daily practice 6 years later was needing healing in a very deep way. As mentioned in a previous ‘Arriving Home’ knowing your why for meditating is a key ingredient when it comes to starting and sustaining a meditation practice.
What is also key is building trust in yourself as a meditator. This comes from:
1- Learning how to meditate in a simple, easy and approachable way
2- Through gaining experience in your practice.
Today I want to share with you my top suggested ways to build trust in yourself as a meditator and expand upon these two key ingredients.
How To Build Trust
Foundation. Foundation. Foundation. Just like with any new habit or change you want to bring into your life, how you lay the groundwork is pivotal. Anything built on a wobbly foundation is always susceptible to falling. Solid foundations not only provide the right framework and ground to build upon, but you also start off with a degree confidence - you know you are building on solid, trustworthy ground.
Let it be simple. It’s easy to get too in your head about meditation. That’s right, you can overthink even your meditation practice. One of the best instructions I have heard on how to meditate is from Joseph Goldstein, a founding mindfulness teacher at the Insight Meditation Society. He says, “Let it be simple. Let meditation be simple.” This is why learning meditation in a simple and approachable way is truly important when building trust in ourselves as a meditator. If it is simple, you know what you are doing, and you will sit down and just do it.
Trust the process. Trust the practice. If you look at the definition of the word practice, it means doing the same thing or action over and over again until you become proficient at it. The more you gain experience in meditation the more confident you will become in yourself as a meditator, and this takes practice. Building trust in yourself is a practice in itself, so for the times you may think that you are bad at meditation remember that meditation is a training for becoming more internally aware of who you are by learning how to also be present in your life. When you see what is pulling you out of the present moment, you receive great insights into what is also most likely causing you a degree of unhappiness.
Be dedicated to growth. The more you are dedicated to your meditation practice, the more opportunity you will have to build your trust in both yourself and your practice. Experiencing changes, shifts and results from meditation comes from a consistent practice and also from your internal willingness to be open to growth. You will trust yourself even more as a meditator, when you begin to experience and see the effects meditation is having on your life. Be dedicated, stay consistent, and keep showing up to continue building your trust.
