It takes time and repetition to learn a language. Well, we are learning a kind of language in meditation. We are learning actually the language of silence. So be patient and don’t be disappointed in the fact that it takes you a certain amount of time to learn. Just keep learning. The mantra will become embedded and em-bodied in you, and it will be the greatest gift that you will have for the rest of your life. So give your full attention to the word. Say it carefully, articulate it clearly in your mind, and listen to it as you say it. Give it your full attention. If you are lucky, you can do that for one second and then you’ll be thinking about what you are going to do this afternoon, you will be thinking about what you didn’t do last week, and you’ll be fantasising. And when your fantasies have run out then you’ll say ‘Now what can I think about – oh yes, I’ve got these old problems I have been thinking about for the last twenty years’, so you can dig those up again. That’s how the mind works. You are not unusual – we’ve all got the same kind of problem with consciousness.
( The Work of Selfless Attention Laurence Freeman )
