Quite a few people say that they find it hard to meditate. When asked what they are trying to do when they meditate, they usually reply that they are trying to still their minds. That is not meditation. Meditation is not about keeping your mind in some sort of catatonic state. Nature loathes a vacuum.

Meditation is all about 'sati' - awareness. Being aware of where the focus of your mind wanders and learning to take control of that focus. The observing of your breathing in meditation is merely a device used to catch your mind change focus. Nature loathes a vacuum, and keeping the mind still is like keeping a beautiful car in the garage. It was designed for movement. The idea is to get the car onto the road and move.

Now, it is important that you, as the driver, have total control of the car and not allow the car to have total control of you. It is exactly the same with the mind. To gain control over the mind we must become aware of how it works. Look at the nature of suffering. Unless you are in physical pain at the moment, then your suffering is a state of mind known as 'memory' or a state of mind known as 'anticipation'. Either you are dwelling on anger, hurt, guilt or failure - all of which exist in your mind as memory - or you are putting the focus of your mind on the last thing you want to have happen to you, or to someone you love. Anticipating the future with fear and anxiety. Focussing the mind on regrets of the past or fears of the future is one sure way of suffering.

Meditation should not be used as a psychological lobotomy by refusing to allow these emotions their existence. Above all you should use meditation to give these emotions their full expression. Blocking them out of your mind is as dangerous as taking drugs to stifle your emotions. You do not get to the cause by killing the symptoms. So how do you escape the fire in your mind? By going down into the furnace. You can work through your emotions without having to confront anyone physically. You can express your hurt and anger in the privacy of your own room. Punch a pillow as you penetrate the emotion in your mind.

Once you have given express and release to your fears and regrets you should quite consciously focus your mind on the ideal scenario instead of the worst possible scenario. For what you repeatedly sustain in the present becomes your personal experience in the future. You are, in a very real sense, putting out a psychic blueprint of the future.

Meditation is being aware of your negative feelings, expressing those feelings and creating new, positive feelings in their place. It is also very much about making contact with the Source of all life consciousness and energy.