How to Meditate

The point of meditation is that you eventually just meditate with your eyes open in everyday life. Because what does it mean to meditate? It means to become familiar. Basically, it's the practice of noticing your thoughts, understanding that you're the awareness that observes your thoughts, and you let them go. So you do— when you meditate, you sit down, you close your eyes, right? You observe your thoughts, you get lost, you realize you're off track, and you come back to the breath. You're building that skill of awareness, that separation between your mental content your thoughts and your emotions and your awareness. Eventually you get good enough to do that with your eyes open. So in the day-to-day, as you're interacting, as you're going through your day, you recognize when distractions come in— negative thoughts, limiting thoughts, certain emotions— and you can let them go in real time. That is the true test of meditation.