A lesson inspired by Neville Goddard’s teachings.
What is Mindfulness Meditation?
It seems that mindfulness meditation is a bit of a buzzy phrase that entered the mainstream not so long ago. But it is not a trendy, woo-woo activity. Mastering awareness of your mind is paramount to becoming a master manifester, and regular meditation is one of the fastest, easiest ways to increase one’s awareness of the inner self.
First, “mindfulness” simply means being aware of your own mind and body in the present, as opposed to absentmindedness where you’re lost in your thoughts. So you become mindful instead of mindless as your habitual norm. In everyday life, you will find yourself as the observer aware of the thoughts instead of identifying with thoughts running on autopilot. This created space between observation and thoughts (including feelings, reactions, perceptions, assumptions, etc.) will allow you to redirect the thoughts; so you begin to think from the desired state, instead of continuing an old, habitual thought pattern that reinforces an undesirable reality.
This means the goal during meditation is not to “empty” the mind, but to be aware of it. The whole point of the practice is to notice when the mind wanders, and then gently redirect it back to what you want to focus on. This is the skill needed for a mental diet: awareness of your thoughts, plus the ability to redirect at will and hold your intended focus. Initially when meditating, you may not notice the wandering mind for many minutes. That’s normal and okay. The point of the practice is to get faster at noticing it. When you learn any skill, you don’t quit immediately because you’re not naturally good at it at first. You have to practice regularly to improve.
In time, you will also find the basic practice of mindfulness meditation to have increased your ability to focus during imaginal acts intended to manifest a desire. In other words, when you imagine multi-sensory scenes in a “state akin to sleep,” you will find your ability to focus and be wholly present in the scene easier.
Instead of assuming you, the reader, already knows exactly how to do mindfulness mediation, I will give you an easy, short step-by-step guide below.
The Basic Steps of Mindfulness Meditation:
- Meditate daily, at least once a day. Set a timer for 5-10 minutes to start and gradually increase to a minimum of 20 minutes. Get relaxed. Try lying down or sitting back comfortably. Close your eyes and count to ten as you breathe in and out, telling yourself you’re increasingly getting relaxed with every breath.
- Once you are very relaxed, mentally repeat a simple, chosen phrase such as “I AM” and focus on your breath. Your mind WILL wander. That’s not only fine but desirable, as the point is to become more aware of it and to learn redirection. As soon as you notice the mind wandering, just gently redirect back to “I AM” and focus on the breath.
- That’s it!
Another helpful trick is to set a timer for a few extra minutes afterwards and tell your mind it’s free to wander. You will probably find your mind quite still then! When you stop trying to control things, you naturally tend to relax. Because the point here is to learn a gentle direction, not a rigid controlling or blocking of thoughts.
Neville Goddard’s Teachings on Meditation
Wondering what Neville Goddard had to say about meditation? Read some excerpts from him below:
Many people tell me they cannot meditate. This seems to me a bit like saying they cannot play the piano after one attempt. Meditation, as in every art or expression, requires constant practice for perfect results.
Meditation, lecture by Neville Goddard
All that meditation amounts to is a controlled imagination and a well sustained attention. Simply hold the attention on a certain idea until it fills the mind and crowds all other ideas out of consciousness.
Meditation, lecture by Neville Goddard
When you first attempt this, you may find that all sorts of counter-thoughts try to distract you, but if you persist, you will achieve a passive state. When this passive state is reached, think only on “things of good report.” Imagine that you are now expressing your highest ideal, not how you will express it, but simply feel HERE and NOW that you are the noble one you desire to be. You are it now.
Meditation, lecture by Neville Goddard
Each man must find the means best suited to his nature to control his attention and concentrate it on the desired state. I find for myself the best state to be one of meditation, a relaxed state akin to sleep, but a state in which I am still consciously in control of my imagination and capable of fixing my attention on a mental object.
If it is difficult to control the direction of your attention while in this state akin to sleep, you may find gazing fixedly into an object very helpful… Imagine then, that in this depth you are seeing and hearing what you want to see and hear until your attention is exclusively occupied by the imagined state.
At the end of your meditation, when you awake from your controlled waking dream you feel as though you had returned from a great distance… if you remain faithful to your vision, this sustained mental attitude will give reality to your visions and they will become visible concrete facts in your world.
The Law of Assumption, lecture by Neville Goddard
I know this vision was the result of my intense meditation upon the idea of perfection, for my meditations invariably bring about union with the state contemplated.
The Search, a short book by Neville Goddard
Be still and know that you are. This stillness is attained by observing the observer. Repeat quietly but with feeling, “I AM – I AM”, until you have lost all consciousness of the world and know yourself just as being. Awareness, the knowing that you are, is Almighty God — I AM. After this is accomplished, define yourself as that which you desire to be by feeling yourself to be the thing desired: I AM that. This understanding that you are the thing desired will cause a thrill to course through your entire being.
Your Faith is Your Fortune, Chapter VI, by Neville Goddard