From Janie:

“Michael Bernard Beckwith says that “choice is a function of awareness”; the more awareness we have, the more choice we have. I believe that our greatest privilege is our awareness. With ample awareness comes greater perspective, and freedom from the tyranny of the thought-reaction vortex. I equate awareness with the space between our thoughts; the more space we have the more choice we have.

I do not know of a better way to explore and expand that inner space than meditation, and I am very sympathetic to the conundrum many people have when they first begin to sit for meditation and cannot, for the life of them, get their minds to stop chattering long enough to experience the stillness and quietude they are told is in there. “I can’t meditate” are words I often hear, which is generally accompanied by self-judgement as not being good enough, smart enough, or disciplined enough to be capable of meditating.

This is why I am a proponent of guided meditation (also called visualization) for people who are newly launching their meditation practice. When we give our monkey-mind something specific to focus on -rather than attempt to focus on nothing at all- we are likely to be much more successful in accessing that inner space where we are freed from the gravity of our thoughts. Launching a meditation practice by attempting to jump into deep space without training can be futile, whereas skillful guidance can be a pleasure and a relief.”