What is Reflective meditation?

Once you start settling down and go beyond the basic meditation, you need to start doing reflective meditation.

Because meditation is not just sitting down with eyes closed.

It is your own time to analyze the life that you are living.

The center of your whole life is your mind.

And mind = thoughts.

Reflect on your thoughts ( not one particular thought, but the thinking process itself ).

Why do I have thoughts?

The answer could be “because I have desires.”

Why do I have desires?

What’s the point of having all these desires?

How many desires got fulfilled in the past?

Maybe 2 out of 100? ( if lucky )?

Even if they got fulfilled, do I even care about what I have achieved?

We never stay happy about our fulfilled desires, and keep having more and more desires.

Haven’t I lost interest in whatever has already been achieved?

How long did that new car keep me over-excited?

Then why is my mind fixated on getting more and more and more?

What’s the point?

Stand at a distance and, question your mind, analyze its strategy.

The mind doubts everything, but we never doubt the mind. 

So, this analytical meditation is called Reflective, or Contemplative meditation.

Only, such meditation eventually will change the course of your mind, and eventually your life.

Let the questions arise from within, and find your own answers from within.

Normally speaking, we should not start new thoughts in meditation, because the whole idea of meditation is to go above and beyond the mind and rise higher into spiritual consciousness.

But these are not thoughts.

These are inner reflections happening in a deeper state of meditation.

Reflections and contemplations are not thoughts.

Thoughts are about the outside world – people, objects, and situations.

Reflections are about your own inner world – your mind, your thoughts, etc.

They cannot be easily explained to each other.

They are your own.

They are just independent, unbiased, truthful observations.

When you observe something where you have no personal interest to gain anything, it is just a nonjudgmental pure observation.

A capacity to observe is a tough one to develop.

But it does, slowly.

We have to make sure while meditating that the observation is pure and non-judgmental.

This needs a lot of strength and insistence on the purity of the meditation, which is the only way to progress.

Only such a pure approach can reflect effectively and change the course of your life.