How to Tell the Difference Between Forced Silence and True Spontaneous Silence?

[Meditative]

Hi all,

How do you know when you've silenced the mind by force rather than by letting it become silent spontaneously? From my experience when I do guided body scan meditations that are structured, or any type of meditation that involves a lot of repetition, my mind tends to become dull, spacey, and somewhat sleepy. I tend to forget what I'm doing in the middle of a meditation. Also when doing structured meditations I sometimes get very angry, agitated, and sad for no reason.

However, when I do meditations on my own, it's so much easier because I have the freedom to shift my awareness where ever I want. It feels more dynamic and alive. Also, when doing it on my own after 20 or 30 minutes I get this couch lock feeling where I could just sit and observe my body for an hour or two straight without becoming bored or agitated. Along with this I usually get a warm fuzzy expansive feeling in my belly and chest. It's like I'm just observing while the grass grows by itself.

I may be answering my own question, but I would like advice from more experienced meditators. Thank you!

[Matthew]

You answered your own question 

[Attachless]

You did, yeah. I´m not a fan of guided meditations, too. Because no one is guiding you through the other 23 hours 40 minutes a day (pretending the guided meditation is 20 minutes long), reminding you of being aware, mindful, present - whatever, unless you wearing headphones all day long :-) Which may be a possibility - but that doesn`t make it the better option in the long run, even if one was wearing the headphones 24/7 :-P


Just joking around, but you get the point :-P

[Matthew]

Keep investigating with diligence and cool calmness that which leads you to observing peacefully and insightfully.

[Meditative]

Great! Good to know that I already had the answers. I just like to make sure. Thank you guys for the responses!