Now if you think that meditation is not for you because you are worried that you are going to become some mindless zombie as a result, don’t worry, that won’t happen. For most people the initial process of trying to meditate will consist of sitting quietly and beginning to concentrate on some object such as the breath for example. They sit and try and concentrate and then a thought comes, maybe something work related such as “the company’s sales are not doing so hot”, which then leads to “I wonder how the new hot shot CEO feels about his promotion now that the company is tanking”, which may then lead to “if I get laid off, how long will we be able to survive without my income”, and then it may be at this point where you realize, “I’m thinking, and I’m supposed to be meditating” and at that point you begin to try and concentrate on the breath again.
After a few moments of concentrating on the breath going in and the breath going out, another thought comes, maybe something family related like, “I wonder how my sister is getting along in Chicago?”, which then leads to “It’s got to be freezing in Chicago”, which then leads to a memory of enduring freezing weather in the Marines in mountain warfare training, which then leads to a memory of being scalded in the shower when someone flushed the toilet at camp Bridgeport, and right about then you might realize that you’re thinking again, and that’s when you steer your concentration back to your breath. It is this process of concentrating or rather trying to concentrate, being interrupted by thought, and then catching yourself thinking, and then going back to concentrating that is the process of meditation for a beginner. Get the picture? Don’t worry if you don’t.