I often find when I’m struggling with a problem, I circle around a set of potential solutions that seems to magnify the problem itself. Now that’s a problem. This week, after a restless night, I thought there must be a better way to deal with life’s inevitable conflicts. The following morning, I came across an article by Dr. Sanjay Gupta, Chief Medical Correspondent.
Dr. Gupta recently met with the Dalai Lama who explained to Gupta a process called “analytical meditation.” Instead of focusing on a chosen object, as in single-point meditation, the Dalai Lama suggested thinking about a problem to solve. Once the problem has been identified, imagine placing the physical embodiment of the issue into a clear bubble. Let the problem, in the bubble, float in front of you. Rotate it, flip it upside down, and allow it to be weightless.
I tried this myself, and like Dr. Gupta, I realized that the meditation isolated the problem from what I had attached to it. It was now floating, disentangled from my emotions. Within minutes everything irrelevant to the problem fell away, and instead of making the problem bigger, it allowed me to see how small the problem actually was. After 10 minutes of meditation, I began to realize that it wasn’t actually a problem at all, but a passing experience that simply needed to be released from my emotional interpretations. Thank you Dalai Lama!
If you would like to read more here is the link.