So if irritation arises in any moment, it may be helpful not to take the route of judgment and fantasy, but rather simply to note it as “irritation,” labeling it as a way of acknowledging it for what it is. Then we can gently redirect our attention back to the breath.
Be gentle with yourself. Don’t berate yourself when meditating just accept and repeat awareness off the breath again. Then catch the distraction and go back to breath awareness. No need to be angry with you mind. It’s just doing what it does but you are gently training it to do something new. Which is to shut the hell up for a change. Ha!
