Harris/Goldstein meditation video - Notes and points

Meditation can seem boring and weird but it is not something one is "good at" or "bad at". You might have nerve problems that interfere with use of table silverware but you learn to use a knife and fork or chopsticks. You learn to walk and to tie a bow. Whether you use meditation beads or a rosary, or focus on your breath, or keep your eyes on a spot you can see in front of you, the point is to put your attention on something to help you notice when you begin attending to something else.

The point is not to concentrate but to try concentrating SO THAT YOU CAN TELL WHEN YOUR ATTENTION HAS MOVED. I purposely don't write "when your attention wandered" because that sounds a bad thing, like loosing your focusing. MINDFUL meditation is about the mind, about increasing your ability to notice what you are attending to, or paying attention to, or thinking about.

The mind is built to change its focus, to be alert to new possibilities, to ponder a question or wonder what just made that noise. It is supposed to do that but we are stronger and happier if we can be aware of what we have chosen to notice or to think about. Mindful meditation is a kind of training to notice the mind's activities.