When people start practicing meditation, they often find themselves distracted by other thoughts.
After a minute or two of meditation, their minds wander off on a tangent that seems so much more interesting. Then they remember why they are there and abruptly focus back on the meditation. The question is, how can you gain enough focus and dedicated attention to go deeper into meditation?
As the old joke goes, a young musician once traveled to New York City especially to see the world’s top violin virtuoso perform at the legendary Carnegie Hall. Lost on the streets of New York and running late, he paused breathless and asked a senior gentleman on the street corner, “Can you tell me, please: How do I get to Carnegie Hall?” The wise-looking gentleman looked him in the eyes, thought for a moment, sighed deeply and replied, “Practice, practice, practice!”
And so it is with meditation… practice, practice, practice, except that it’s a lot easier!
As you practice, keep refocusing your mind whenever it wanders off, and always be patient with yourself when you do this. It is the nature of the conscious mind to wander off, so there is no point in feeling bad about it. Be kind to yourself always and nudge your attention back on-purpose whenever necessary. Be a detached observer and let thoughts pass by you just like passing clouds.
The other issue that people mention relates to feelings of self-worth. The phrase used in the Infinite Being Meditation, “I am Infinite Being”, is an affirmation of your oneness with the consciousness from which all life sprang.
If you find issues arising from this, such as feeling unworthy to be aligned with all that is, then just let those thoughts go and bring your focus back onto the phrase. You do not have to justify the words or settle any internal argument about them just because of some prior conditioning as to how someone said that you “should” think in this life.
Maintain the inner discipline to stay with the affirmation and let the issues fade away unchallenged. Your inner self knows the meaning of the words and resonates in joy with their exact and literal truth. Every time you repeat this affirmation, you become more connected with Infinite Being. Any lesser thoughts then become healed in the light of the greater truth.
For the complete Infinite Being Meditation article, go to: http://www.spiritualdynamics.net/articles/meditation/