Meditation is the practise of the observation of thought. The point of meditation is to sit in silence and become aware. To lose who you are and find what you are. There is no who, who is an illusion. You are a focal point of consciousness that thought flows through, merely a vessel. There are several benefits to meditation for people suffering mental illness, and it can often alleviate symptoms of anxiety and depression. I would recommend everyone at least try one week of meditation and mindfulness to see if it works for you.

Focus on the breath.

Ten minutes every day before you do anything else, sit in silence, listen to the sounds, smell the smells, and focus on the breath. Breathe slowly and become conscious of your breath. Observe your thoughts; notice that what you are is not the same as what you think. Thoughts come as easily as they go, and don’t follow any sort of pattern. Recognise the thought and let it slip away back into nothingness. You will then realise that there is nothing, just a void of nothing inside your head, which calms down as you watch it. Then soon you will not even notice you’re meditating, a quiet mind. Realising this quiet mind is important for people with mental illness as you can identify with what you are rather than what you think.

It brings you back into the moment.

When you’re thinking about an anxious future or a regretful past, meditation brings you out of these states, back to the eternal moment. A quiet mind allows you to recognise the stillness and peace living in the moment brings, and returns your perspective back to the present. Not looking too far back or forward in time is a great technique to stop triggering negative states of mind. This is so important for people living with a mental illness, for both functioning day to day and maintaining healthy relationships. Living in the moment gives opportunity for you to notice the smaller things we often overlook in a busy working day, such as nice weather or food.

Observe your thoughts.

When someone is in a depressed state of mind, the observation of his or her thoughts through meditation is a good way of breaking the spiralling thought pattern. If you’re thinking you’re worthless, take a step back for a second and notice that you’re just thinking that you’re worthless, don’t identify with it. That thought is not you; you just have to be redirected to a different path. Separating yourself from your thoughts is a good way for anxious people to stop thinking about what might happen. They’re just thoughts, there is nothing material about them, and they will return to nothingness if you let them. But you must be willing to let them go. You start to ask the question “why am I thinking that?” a lot more once you start meditating, which can help you on the search for answers.

Nowadays people are so caught up with their social status, work or money to give it a time out. People often don’t even recognise that they can separate themselves from their thoughts. Be still. Realise the irrelevance of thought, and how you can become the master of your own thoughts. Just because you think it may happen doesn’t mean it will. Just because you think you aren’t of value doesn’t mean you aren’t. These are all just notions that happened to pop up inside your consciousness. I’m not saying its fair, but I am saying it can be conquered through meditation and mindfulness.

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From the ashes, you will rise.

Liam

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