Ask Lewis: Tips On The Best Zen Meditation

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ing.</p><p id="fa96">Once you begin consistent mediation practice, you will become aware of Monkey Mind. Don’t judge your mediation as good or bad based on how much you can focus or how much you fall into a Monkey Mind. If the mind is trained improperly to deal with this pattern, it can lead to a never-ending cycle of grief and emotional pain for the individual in this state. If Monkey Mind becomes a dominant pattern in your life, you are likely to be seen by others as mentally scattered and emotionally unstable. Children with this pattern are often improperly diagnosed with attention-deficient disorder or as dysfunctionally hyperactive.</p><p id="7e0b">Monkey Mind is more common than one might think. Likely, master multitaskers — those who believe they can talk on a cell phone, text, tweet, and watch a music video on YouTube and Google all at the same time — have created a minimally functional pattern of behaviors that reflect the normalization of Monkey Mind in everyday life. As Western culture has become ever more technologically driven in the last half of the 20th century and the beginning of the 21st, Monkey Mind has become more common, so common that many educators complain that their students have shorter attention spans than ever before. So, what are we to do about Monkey Mind? Let’s explore this further. There is no easy answer.</p><p id="a96d">©Lewis Harrison, all rights reserved.</p><p id="77ba">Here are other of my stories in a similar vein @askLewis</p><div id="5d36" class="link-block"> <a href="https://readmedium.com/ask-lewis-what-is-the-difference-between-guilt-and-shame-efdccf79e20d"> <div> <div> <h2>Ask Lewis: What Is The Difference Between Guilt and Shame?</h2> <div><h3>Tips for emotional healing and for manifestation</h3></div> <div><p>medium.com</p></div> </div> <div> <div style="background-image: url(https://miro.readmedium.com/v2/resize:fit:320/1*S8uWCGICi_jrAq8o2xfhPw.jpeg)"></div> </div> </div> </a> </div><div id="e9e2" class="link-block"> <a href="https://readmedium.com/ask-lewis-how-can-i-define-reality-5d87bb85aa08"> <div> <div> <h2>Ask Lewis: How Can I Define Reality?</h2> <div><h3>…And is the world just an illusion</h3></div> <div><p>medium.com</p></div> </div> <div> <div style="background-image: url(https://miro.readmedium.com/v2/resize:fit:320/0*7RGyKUB5SASIph4z.jpeg)"></div> </div> </div> </a> </div><h2 id="1401">Before you go…</h2><p id="c240">I am Lewis Harrison, an award-winning author of over twenty books on personal growth and strategic thinking. For over a decade I was the producer and host of the show “What’s Up” on NPR-affiliated WIOX FM in New York.</p><p id="bd88">Now, aside from writing on Medium, and connecting personally with my readers, I teach seminars an

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d speak on personal development, and life strategies throughout the world.</p><h2 id="5981">To learn more about my thread — Ask Lewis — please read this short piece below…</h2><div id="5b3f" class="link-block"> <a href="https://lewiscoaches.medium.com/about-ask-lewis-0080d181e677"> <div> <div> <h2>About “Ask Lewis”…</h2> <div><h3>My information portal in some of the best Medium publications</h3></div> <div><p>lewiscoaches.medium.com</p></div> </div> <div> <div style="background-image: url(https://miro.readmedium.com/v2/resize:fit:320/1*S8uWCGICi_jrAq8o2xfhPw.jpeg)"></div> </div> </div> </a> </div><h2 id="4ee7">As a subscriber to my newsletter, ensure you download my free eBook with action-packed tips to help you in your personal growth.</h2><p id="aec7">“<a href="https://exciting-mover-2586.ck.page/6a672cc4bf">Join my group of 18,000 influencers</a>”.</p><p id="3e99">All the best</p><p id="28ce"><i>Lewis Harrison</i></p><p id="f2ad">P.S. I am also on Substack at AskLewis.Substack.com. Check out my weekly newsletters there. Filled with many course options to give you insights for crafting a life of happiness, meaning, well-being, and abundance.</p><p id="3d17">I write full-time for Medium, Ask Lewis, RealUGuru, and The International Association of Healing Professionals. If you enjoy my stories and would like to support my work please donate at</p><div id="6354" class="link-block"> <a href="https://asklewisharrison.com/"> <div> <div> <h2>Ask Lewis Harrison - Problem Solving through Efficiency, Effectiveness, Precision, Self-Awareness…</h2> <div><h3>Lewis Harrison-The RealUGuru-is an international best-selling author.He is recognized as a leading expert on…</h3></div> <div><p>asklewisharrison.com</p></div> </div> <div> <div style="background-image: url(https://miro.readmedium.com/v2/resize:fit:320/0*IjBv09cQMp2s01hg)"></div> </div> </div> </a> </div><p id="2219">Just click on the “Support the Project Button” there…</p><div id="69ea" class="link-block"> <a href="https://asklewis.substack.com/p/7-best-social-media-platforms-for?utm_source=substack&utm_campaign=post_embed&utm_medium=web&source=post_page-----d2eef9ce0860--------------------------------"> <div> <div> <h2>Connect With Me Throughout Social Media</h2> <div><h3>All the tips, tools, techniques, hacks, and shortcuts you will ever need to live your best life.</h3></div> <div><p>asklewis.substack.com</p></div> </div> <div> <div style="background-image: url(https://miro.readmedium.com/v2/resize:fit:320/0*J6V49ELjJ-F9mpi5)"></div> </div> </div> </a> </div></article></body>

A guide to the simplest, most basic, and easiest way to begin

Credit: Steve Weinberg

Meditation is a process that exists on many levels. According to Shunryu Suzuki, the author of Zen Mind Beginner’s Mind, “The best way and the highest stage of meditation is just to do it without having any joy in it, not even spiritual joy.”

Just sit on a pad or stool with your back straight and focus on the breath and mindfulness. If sitting is not your thing, stand or walk slowly while observing your breath or contemplating on kōans. The greatest level of awareness is to forget physical feelings, mental opinions, or even yourself and meditate without goals, expectations, or intentions — Just sit.

In the level that lies just below this, you are likely to seek physical pleasure and emotional fulfillment from your meditation. The mind is often motivated by the avoidance of discomfort or the experience of pleasure so if the meditation experience is pleasurable then you are more likely to meditate. If emotional stress and inner conflict are reduced by meditation, then you will again be more likely to meditate.

The next level down is to focus on meditation as a source of physical pleasure. In this space, the mind is exclusively motivated by the avoidance of discomfort and the experience of pleasure. Even if one does not experience mental calmness or emotional peace, if the experience one has from meditation is physically pleasurable, then one will be more likely to meditate.

The least desirable form of meditation is one motivated by fear, regret, guilt, shame, expectation, or envy. Here, you will want to be a better meditator than another person or meditate better this time than last time. There is an expectation here that meditating will make you more spiritual. Of course, any meditation, even selfish meditation is desirable because in time you will gain wisdom about the Path.

Meditation is an inch-by-inch step-by-step process that can be started with just one second of practice a day. Whatever form your meditation may take you will soon be dealing with what we call Monkey Mind.

Monkey Mind is the term used to describe the seemingly endless, obsessive process of thinking about one thing after another for a short time without any specific intention or desire to have these thoughts. The term Monkey Mind is based on the common observation in Asia of monkeys jumping quickly, and without any seeming purpose, from one place to another. With Monkey Mind, there is a chaotic process of concept formation, where thoughts come and go constantly chattering and in internal conversation. With Monkey Mind, there is momentum where one endlessly jumps from thought to thought, constantly daydreaming, analyzing, and worrying.

Once you begin consistent mediation practice, you will become aware of Monkey Mind. Don’t judge your mediation as good or bad based on how much you can focus or how much you fall into a Monkey Mind. If the mind is trained improperly to deal with this pattern, it can lead to a never-ending cycle of grief and emotional pain for the individual in this state. If Monkey Mind becomes a dominant pattern in your life, you are likely to be seen by others as mentally scattered and emotionally unstable. Children with this pattern are often improperly diagnosed with attention-deficient disorder or as dysfunctionally hyperactive.

Monkey Mind is more common than one might think. Likely, master multitaskers — those who believe they can talk on a cell phone, text, tweet, and watch a music video on YouTube and Google all at the same time — have created a minimally functional pattern of behaviors that reflect the normalization of Monkey Mind in everyday life. As Western culture has become ever more technologically driven in the last half of the 20th century and the beginning of the 21st, Monkey Mind has become more common, so common that many educators complain that their students have shorter attention spans than ever before. So, what are we to do about Monkey Mind? Let’s explore this further. There is no easy answer.

Here are other of my stories in a similar vein @askLewis

Before you go…

I am Lewis Harrison, an award-winning author of over twenty books on personal growth and strategic thinking. For over a decade I was the producer and host of the show “What’s Up” on NPR-affiliated WIOX FM in New York.

Now, aside from writing on Medium, and connecting personally with my readers, I teach seminars and speak on personal development, and life strategies throughout the world.