isn't automatically a reason to declare your meditation session a failure. You're even allowed to scratch them. Heck, half and hour tracking down and scratching itches could make for fairly decent meditation-- I think Raymond Smullyan (a Taoist philosopher who generates some interesting books) would be enchanted with the idea.
I'll take a guess that you've tried the "make your mind go completely blank" approaches to meditation, and find that you really need something to focus on. Many traditions start with focusing on your body-- usually your breathing-- some traditions use imagery, etc. Even at that, you will be distracted from the focus often, and that's not a sin. It gets easier with some practice, but being concerned about being "good" at meditation is purely counterproductive. There's no such thing, really. For me, even thinking of it as mental "discipline" pretty much ruins it.
The thing that worked best for me was choir. For eight years I was in an amateur choir. We were all volunteers and there was no audition (how else did I get in?), but the director still expected us to make really good music. Hard work on music I loved demanded total focus of body (producing the sounds), mind (keeping track of the measures, watching the conductor, etc), and spirit (music is profoundly emotional for me). So something that you can lose yourself in-- kythe, grok, whatever you care to call it-- can be a good gateway.
It's all very individual, of course, including whether or not you want to get into it, so I'll quit yammering at you about it. |
