Mindfulness Meditation and ‘Finding Yourself’

‘Finding yourself’ is a phrase that’s been coined many times over the years. In a world that, for many, has sped up, where people are working longer hours and in which communication through every type of media has expanded, the idea of having the time to ‘find yourself’ has become an unlikely panacea. This is made worse by the term ‘finding yourself’ coming with no strict definition; it isn’t easily understandable so it can’t be easily achieved and ticked off. Let’s face it that’s what most of us do every day. We have a list of stuff to do, we do it and we tick it off and there is a brief contentment that comes with that but ‘finding yourself’ is a bit elusive.

So what does it mean? Or rather, what could it mean? For each of us, it probably has its own definition but for me ‘finding yourself’ means being able to step off of life’s treadmill, pause and develop an understanding of my place in the world, what I might believe, how I want to live both for myself and others and establishing what’s important to me. In the western world, life will quickly carry us along, disorientating us and putting us somewhere we might not want to be, both literally and metaphorically.

Meditation is a space that allows us to pause and observe our thoughts and feelings, it is a space where we can look upon ourselves without judgement and slow ourselves down. In that time and space, when we are anchored by our breathing and experiencing the richness of every moment, other thoughts and ideas cross our minds and we become more aware of the whole of us and not just the daily list and the rush of endless media and commitments.

Is that the rush of the adult world different to the world children inhabit? The answer to this, I think, is not really. So giving children the opportunity to pause, observe and just be still, in a place of non-judgement through child meditation should be a priority so they too can experience the richness of the moment and have the chance to begin to understand their own thoughts and possibilities.

Meditation, unlike almost every other aspect of our lives can allow us to witness our thoughts and feelings without judgement and allow ourselves to get closer to better understanding who we really are.

So press pause.

Written by Chris Ludlow, Founder of Thought Bubbles