What’s the Difference Between Mindfulness and Meditation?
What’s the Difference Between Mindfulness and Meditation?

What’s the Difference Between Mindfulness and Meditation?

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Meditation is a practice of finding deep stillness within. There are many methods of meditation and many definitions, but one thing they seem to have in common is that the practice is meant to help one access the inner self. You can’t really do this if you’re staying “mindful” by focusing your mind on anything on the outside world such as sensations or movement.

Even if you focus your mind on your mind, it’s still a distraction that is preventing a deeper union with the self. This may sound paradoxical, but anyone who has done true meditation understands this. There just comes a point in the process when you are liberated past the mind to something greater than yourself. And yet, those who use the word “mindful” think that mindfulness is the same as meditation.

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Meditation Connects You With the Soul

Only in meditation can you reach a state of inner bliss that transcends physical reality. Mindfulness keeps you on the surface of life. If you try to be mindful, then what are you doing? What’s the goal? You may feel a little grounded, connected with the self, and focused temporarily, but to find long-lasting change and calm, you have to take up a meditation practice that puts you in touch with your soul.

You have to understand your true nature for any great transformation to happen. You have to learn to let go of this reality.

To be mindful is to resist the deep dive. The ego expects us to hang onto things like the physical world and worries about the future. We are slaves to the ego’s whims unless we learn to rise above them. We’ll be on a rollercoaster of ups and downs forever unless we make the choice to stop it. No one can save you from the vicious cycles of the ego-mind except yourself.

Meditation, when done with intention and dedication, leads to transformation at a quantum level. But it requires letting go. This is really hard for most people. That’s why it’s an endeavor worth attempting.

Free Yourself in Meditation

We can’t just indulge in circular thoughts and let our emotions take control of our lives. Anxiety shouldn’t be able to beat us and fears shouldn’t be able to rule us. The ego must be identified — that’s the first step — and then transcended so that the infinite, divine nature of things is always within awareness.

Mindfulness only teaches us to breathe and be in our bodies, but meditation teaches us to recognize the true nature of the self and of the universe.

Transcend Physical Reality

In meditation, I have had clarity come to me about my deepest purpose in life. I have had revelations about the nature and fabric of reality — which is energy, constantly in flux. Freedom exists in meditation — a place where anything is possible. There, I clearly see that it is my own belief system that is holding me back — and it’s the only thing that has ever held me back in life. I can rise above physical reality and go to the non-local spiritual plane to explore questions of existence.

It soothes my soul to connect with this higher reality — it’s a practice that reminds me not to worry about the mundane day-to-day problems experienced by my ego.

Choose Meditation, Not Mindfulness

So, next time you are attempting to be mindful, remind yourself that you’re scratching the surface of your potential. You could be learning about your soul. You could be astrally traveling to other realities. You could be deeply healing your trauma, touching your shadow, or raising your own consciousness. But as long as you’re hanging onto your small self, you won’t get there. You have to let go and move past mindfulness to something that really impacts your life.

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About Emily

Emily is a writer, coach, intuitive reader, and content creator with a background in philosophy.