Meditation

When you would like to consciously set some time apart in order to focus your attention on your inner Self, then meditation can be a choice. This means that for a while you shift the focus of your attention from the activities of your personality to your inner Self, thus allowing yourself to experience that aspect of yourself more consciously. You may want to meditate because you find that it helps you to release tension, or to deal with stress. But you may also want to do it simply because you like it, or because you feel it is a good or natural thing to do for you to consciously focus on your inner Self. 

Your Self is the way it is, you cannot strengthen it or train it, but you can rediscover it. It is already there in each of us, you only have to make place for it to come into your awareness. It does not follow the rules of your personality. You are likely to experience your Self as peaceful, quiet, loving, non-judgmental, and without a need to establish itself or proof something. When you make space for it in your awareness, it will fill that space spontaneous and effortless with Being.

You have made up your personality yourself in the course of your life. And when you start giving more attention to your inner Self, you are likely to spend it less on your personality, and a new balance may occur. The more you focus on your inner Self, the more you will start to remember its Being. And because it does not follow the well-known patterns and feelings of your personality, it is likely to take a while for you to adjust to these new aspects. Not in the least because you now notice two aspects within yourself, where till now you only expected one. 

Of course you can help yourself to divert your attention, away from the thoughts in your head and for example focus on music, a tape, a candle. But before you know it, this turns into a replacement for the mental activities or passivity, rather than making space for your inner Self. These techniques may bring you "to the door", but you have to consciously leave your techniques behind and enter the unknown behind that door yourself. So be consciously present in the moment, and do not get yourself distracted or asleep.

It is likely to take some experimenting before you know what works best for you. But it can be very easy. Boring your personality by concentrating on a simple, monotonous or non-challenging activity, like following your breath or counting backwards from one hundred, usually gives fine results. And you can do it everywhere. And then you simply let it happen. When thoughts come to mind, let them go by without entertaining them. The goal is not to be free of thoughts, but to make more mental space to remember your Self. And a thought every now and then will not disturb that process (only very few people are likely to succeed to stop this flow entirely). Teach yourself to deal with noises and other distractions around you, then it will become a natural thing to do without all kinds of rituals and special things before you could even start with it. Meditating for a quarter of an hour when you are sitting next to the driver of a car is an easy thing to do, once you get the hang of it.

Now while you meditate you are likely to feel very much at ease, natural and comfortable. The effect is likely to be noticed in the long run, because now you become more aware of your inner Self as well. And chances are that you may simply like it to be with this aspect of yourself every now and then. But do remember that while strengthening your inner Self without starting the process of weakening your personality, is likely to induce tension within you, a thing your personality is likely to win because he is the stronger part of you at this moment in time.

Meditating is not a necessary thing to do. You do it because you like it, because it adds something to your life. But you can have a fine life without meditating, and still experience great personal growth. Maybe it takes a little longer than when you would meditate every now and then, but you will get there anyway. It is simply a matter what suits your needs, and whether you like it to set aside some time to be with your inner Self, or you prefer to be aware every now and then without this kind of special routine.

Should you meditate, then do it as often and as long as feels good for you. That can be 30 seconds, or 30 minutes (although only a few people are likely to set aside that amount of time in our culture, our personality does not like sitting still and being quiet). Do remember to increase the time you spend on it slowly, and give yourself some time to adjust to it. You do it for yourself, and you need not compete with anyone else.