Over that past ten or 15 years, Americans have placed more emphasis on relaxation, recreation and stress reduction as crucial components of a healthy lifestyle. Although getting a massage, writing in a journal and taking a walk are helpful tools, they are quite different from sitting quietly and attempting to empty your mind.

As Westerners we are very concerned with doing and are less comfortable with the art of being. Our culture is achievement-driven and goal-oriented. This is why meditation is challenging and even threatening to most Westerners.

One of the reasons traditional meditation is so difficult for us is there are often no obvious results. We want a quick-fix and are used to having our needs met immediately. Meditation doesn’t work that way. Instead, it is a practice that changes your life gradually in a way that can be hard to define.

When you go for a massage, you definitely feel relaxed. You can be sure it “worked” and that “something happened.” When you sit in meditation, it is common to feel it “isn’t working.” Your meditation practice is probably the only thing you do each day that may provide no measurable result. Eastern cultures teach us that there is more to an experience than meets the eye. When the least seems to be happening, the most is actually occurring in a hidden dimension.

Let’s say you feel frustrated with your busy mind – it just won’t stop chattering! You think you should give up meditating because you “can’t do it.” However, an Eastern perspective would be that you must recognize the fact that your thinking drives you up a wall! This is the first step in taking control of your mind. You may never have noticed your constant mental chaos. Experiencing your unruly thoughts is a great spiritual lesson.

Sitting in silence can also bring up a problem that has been covered by a crammed schedule. Instead of feeling happy, you may become painfully aware that your daily activities are not filling you with joy and that in fact, you feel empty. “What’s the point of this,” you think, “meditation is supposed to make me feel good.” Not necessarily. If you feel worse, rather than better when you meditate, you are being given the opportunity to look your despair square in the face. Do you honestly enjoy your day to day events? Do you need to look for another job? Is it time to confront a person you love about an important issue? If anything stands in the way of your joy, meditation will reveal it to you.

Or perhaps you meditate, feel absolutely nothing and think it is a complete waste of time. Think again. You have made an effort to connect with the inner you – the real you – and that energy is never wasted. Check to see if your behaviors are different. Are you more patient with your spouse, children or parents? Are you more pleasant to the supermarket clerk? Are you eating healthier foods and able to resist the cookies and Haagen Dazs that you normally eat mindlessly each evening? “Something” is definitely happening, but not in the way you thought it would.

Meditation will change you. Just let go of your expectations. As Westerners we are limited by our expectations. We tend to have set ideas about an event before we experience it, rather than experiencing it with an open mind. Release attachment to the results of your actions and you can experience the beauty of being.

This month, meditate without any goal or outcome in mind. You don’t have to meditate in order to relax, solve a problem or be filled with spiritual bliss. Just be with yourself quietly and be present to the gift of your inner self. Also remember that meditation alters your entire day, not merely your meditation time.

Aluna Michaels is a second generation astrologer and soul evolutionist practitioner, holds a Masters in Spiritual Counseling. (248) 583-1663, www.ascension.net/aluna.