[Kelly]

How on earth do you meditate? I've tried, but my brain is always going. I can't shut the damn thing up.

I've tried concentrating on my breath, but after about... oh, maybe five seconds, my mind starts to wander.

So if you have any tips, that'd be cool. Maybe I can try again over break.

Have a nice day,
Kelly

 

[Kelly]

So basically what you do is use, "Just this one breath" as your mantra? I was thinking about buying some mantra beads and using those to repeat some phrase - any phrase - to try to get me to focus on each individual bead.

Of course, I always like the expensive beads. (I saw some really nice red onyx ones for $45.) I think that's very un-Buddhist of me to place such value in the material aspect of it! (I'm drawn to Buddhism, though I don't really like all aspects of it.)

What usually happens if I concentrate on my breathing is this: "Okay, that's one breath. Okay, I'm breathing... breathing... oh, those birds outside sound really pretty... I like birds. Birds are cute... My cats are cute.... blah blah blah.)

So I don't know, maybe I need something physical to hold in my hands... or that could be the ex-Catholic in me. I need a rosary!

Have a nice day,
Kelly

 

[Kelly]

I've got a book that I've read the introduction to called Tibetan Wisdom for Western Life and it seems like it will be really helpful to me. I tried reading the first chapter before bed the other day, but I was sick and nothing was sinking in. I'm going to try again later. I want to read the whole thing over break. Maybe I could get this started.

Have a nice day,
Kelly