Relationship with meditation

Has anyone ever had problems treating meditation as a rumination or a way to "figure" things out. I really wanna be able to have a healthy relationship with my meditation practices but not sure if I can.. any suggestions?

[SayNOtoPanic]

Totally! What helped me is an audible book How to train your Mind by Chris Bailey. Teaches and explains meditation and tricks when starting to get over the rumination or excessive thoughts which then defeats the point. Check it out. Also I worked up slowly that helped a lot. Two min max then increased them every few days. Hugs.

[designguy]

What helps me, knowing I have an anxious mind, is I don't do meditating but instead I do simple mindfulness. For me it is just sitting, focusing on my breathing and letting the thoughts just flow in and out and not attaching to them. If my mind wanders I just gently bring it back and focus on the thoughts flowing in and out or on my breath. It's the attachment to our thoughts that causes our frustration so just let them flow.

[Hidden in reply to designguy]

Wow, thank you!!!

[Hidden in reply to designguy]

I don't receive advise completely which you might be able to tell.

[designguy in reply to Hidden]

I've found that a good way to "figure things out" is to write down my thoughts as they come up throughout the day and go back later and review them. The thoughts that repeatedly come up can be clues to investigate further which can help in figuring out our subconscious beliefs. It's our subconscious thoughts and beliefs that are usually driving our big issues.

[Hidden in reply to designguy]

Did you use a journal?

[Hidden in reply to Hidden]

Did you include emotions or only thoughts??

[designguy in reply to Hidden]

I just used a spiral bound inexpensive notebook and I wrote down thoughts, emotions, insights, anything that came to mind. I also usually made note of the date of them so I could track my progress in the future. If I was feeling really emotionally triggered I would just tap into the emotion and let the stream of thoughts and emotions flow out, just writing them and not editing them. I know there are formal journals that even include prompts in them but I haven't used them. You can probably find something on google images and download it and print it out.

[Hidden]

Thanks for the help!

[Focusedmind]

I agree with everything that "Designguy" says above. He states, "focusing on my breathing and letting the thoughts flow in and out and not attaching to them. If my mind wanders, I gently bring it back and focus on the thoughts flowing in and out or on my breath."

Personally, I try focusing on my breath or a simple word. I gently bring my mind back to the moment and try to calm my "squirrel brain" when it is ruminating. Often I play meditation music and go with the flow of the vibrations by being mindful. I imagine my brain as a large muscle that gets tensed up, and I try to send calming sensations to these stressed muscles to relax them. For me, this helps with headaches. I also try to be aware of other parts of my body that may feel pain and soothe them with calming mental vibrations.

Imagine that your mind is a river and that thoughts and feelings are leaves going down the river. Imagine sitting on the grass, watching the leaves float by. Describe or label each thought or feeling coming up (e.g., worry thoughts, thoughts about my past, thoughts about my parents, angry feelings, sad feelings.) Put each thought or feeling on a leaf as it floats down the river and let it go.