Many people feel a sense of fascination when confronted with the possibility of mystic visions, psychic intuition and heightened mental functioning.  While meditators often report these sorts of improvements, these experiences should not be the primary reason for practice.  The purpose of meditation is to bring us back to ourselves.

As we become healthier, happier and realize greater self-awareness, the other benefits of meditation begin to follow naturally -- improved mental functioning, greater intuition as well as greater access to unconscious resources and abilities.

Meditation Secret #2: Distraction Does Not Equal Failure

Meditation is not work in the sense that you have to 'force' yourself to concentrate completely for long periods of time.  If we consciously try to prevent thinking, it's going to have a negative impact on the meditation.

Instead, whenever we become lost in thought or confusion, we simply acknowledge those thoughts and then gently return the attention to the object of the meditation.  We do this as many times as distraction or thought occurs.  Eventually, the mind becomes calmer and discursive thought begins to slow.

Meditation Secret #3: Insight Alone Is Not Enough

Insight alone will not transform our lives.  Meditation is likely to help us by giving us larger perspectives and increasing clarity of thought.  But although our sense of inner guidance might become stronger, unless we ACT on that guidance, we will never manifest the changes we truly want in our lives. This doesn't just mean we need to take action in our outer world, for example, having an honest conversation with a friend or paying a bill. It also means we must actively request the assistance of the unconscious in a clear and persistent way.  When you do that, as I teach in 'Secrets of Meditation, Energy and Manifestation,' you find yourself magnetically drawn toward your dreams with an irresistible impulse.

Meditation Secret #4: Learn To Let Go

Once you have made your request, it's important that you let go. Don't be concerned with HOW you're going to get what you truly want in your life.  Needing to know how can hamper the process of making it manifest in the outer world.  Learn to trust your unconscious.

Some changes -- perhaps all of them -- will happen automatically. I have personally found that many of my destructive habits simply dropped away with minimal conscious effort.

For me, this was achieved not by self-discipline and will power, but rather a "letting go" and a realization that spiritual growth is a natural process powered by parts of ourselves that know more than we can understand consciously.

As we let go consciously and receive more input from these parts, we learn to trust this feeling, this feeling that we are in safe hands and that something amazing is about to happen.

Secret #5: Get The Daily Meditations mini-course here