• Meditation, mindfulness, and awareness thread -- Not a good excuse to smoke WEED
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When it comes to any sort of progress in these departments, the mind can be REMARKABLY inventive at coming up with ways to trick you into not continuing.
Restarted meditation and chanting. Had a bit of repressed emotions come back up from the breakup which I had been ignoring to deal with the situation these last few weeks, especially these last 4 or so days. It was really good to get them back out again though. It's never healthy to avoid these kinds of things. Definitely having an easier time dealing with these things since I've worked through the bulk of the issues earlier, but it's hard to find time to meditate with my living situation.
8th day of Headspace complete! I'm starting to notice something different about my own perspective but not enough to tell if its placebo or real. Feels nice at least! I have a question too about mindfulness. Am I supposed to / is it a good idea to employ mindfulness outside meditation? I'm not sure if I should only be doing 10 minutes a day or if those 10 minutes in Headspace is more of a lesson for techniques I can use otherwise? Is it enough for now to only do those 10 minutes or could it be beneficial to attempt mindfulness while doing other things like dishes etc?
A lot of advanced meditators will tell you that the goal of clearing your mind with meditation is to carry that outside of meditation. For me, after meditating consistently and frequently for a while, it just naturally carried over into my regular life. You might need to increase the length of your sessions to see that kind of thing happening though. I think it only started for me when I was doing 30 minute sessions for multiple days.
Alright, so basically I shouldn't think too much about it and simply keep my mindfulness routine up? I'll definitely consider longer sessions but for now I'm limited to 10 minutes per session and I'd rather not overdo it when I'm still new to this. I'm excited for what comes after these introductory sessions, wouldn't mind longer sessions at all as they seem to fly by so fast. Relaxing stuff!
Wonderful! The most important aspect of meditation is being able to return to it every day. Whether it's for a minute or for a hour, the act of attempting to become aware is the most important part. As you move forward in Headspace, he'll start to elaborate on integrating these techniques within the scope of daily. Just keep doing what you're doing and it'll start to become clear as time goes on.
2 weeks of mindfulness tomorrow and wow I should have picked this up way sooner. My life hasn't been flipped upside down, far from it, but I'm having more moments of clarity and presence than before. I didn't even notice that I spent all day every day inside my own head but now that I've kept this habit up for almost 2 weeks I can definitely notice a difference. I'm actually 'hearing' music now as weird as that sounds. I'm experiencing it rather than hearing it if that makes sense? I still spend most of my time inside my own head but when these moments pop up, I get so excited for the future if mindfulness will make it easier for me to become even more present.
It covers all the senses really. Food has taste again, smells suddenly mean something. At times I even feel like I'm pursuing that sensation rather than calm which probably isn't good.
I'm stupid. Started meditating and stoped in the middle of a week so that way I'm not gonna see the benefits. Right now I have been 2 days in a row meditating for at least 5 minutes.
I did some meditating in the past, nothing crazy, just some world building and then reflecting on why I came up with a particular setting after exploring it for awhile. One landscape I came up with was a long sidewalk with trees dotted all along the path with a coast stretching out to the one side. The path went on for as long as I could see with no end in sight, it felt very peaceful and relaxing. I've been wanting to get back in to meditation, it's a pretty nice habit.
Not sure if I should do morning meditation before or after tea. Thoughts?
Do it after so that you can additionally focus your awareness on the lingering taste of tea in your mouth
Lots of chanting lately. Haven't meditated in weeks and weeks, but haven't needed to. Been pretty damn happier! Picked up drawing again and have been having great fun just getting creative again, without any burdens.
22 day streak on mindfulness so far! Just wanted to chime in with some new positive experiences I've had after I started doing this. Yesterday, I got to experience what I imagine is the benefits of mindfulness yet again. Me and my SO was out for a walk to the store since it was sunny and nice. We rarely do it and it was nice! We bought ourselves some ice cream, went over to the playground at the local school and fooled around and talked some. It sounds like a nice evening but my thoughts clouded over everything and I wasn't able to properly enjoy it because of that. Thoughts like "why aren't we talking more? why aren't there more jokes?" and so on came into my head and it made me focus intensely on those things which made the experience feel awkward for me. I started worrying about our relationship and it went quite deep like anxiety usually does. This is something I've always done despite there not being all that much negativity to pick up on. However, I recognized it as anxiety yesterday. I saw the irrationality of it, that there was no logic behind it. I realized that I have incredibly high expectations even though I don't consciously create those expectations. It's like a feeling that sits in your body and no matter how rational you try to be, it's still felt in the body when this unconcious expectation isn't met. I tend to ask a lot of questions when feelings like these pop up, like "you enjoy my company, right?" just to assure myself that there's nothing wrong. Previously I haven't seen any issues with that but now that I was able to recognize that it was anxiety, I also realized that by asking all those questions and bringing it up I'm listening to my anxiety and giving in to it. I've done these things all my life so it's refreshing to become aware of my own patterns, especially the negative ones so I can actually do something about it. It was also another eye opener for how negative I really am towards myself, the world and others. I'm so happy I started doing this. Meditation sessions are also getting easier and easier as I've become a lot more positive towards my sessions rather than impatient. Feels nice with a 20 minute pause every day, that's for sure
I hit a little bit of a roadblock these last few days. It wasn't an intentional thing, but some mental block I was ignoring. Mixing the mantra with song seems to have helped overcome it. I'm a bit weird at the moment, in the sense that I'm actively avoiding sitting down and doing mindfulness meditation. I suppose chanting the mantra in itself is still considered meditation, and with just the mantra I am still able to catch out my ruminating thoughts and bring back my focus. I think I'm still a little scared of what such heavy meditation did last time to my ego. I wouldn't say that I'm afraid of losing my ego, hell, after my final awakening I don't even fear death anymore after the realisation of my connection to the universe. But there are certain things that are tied up with it that I'd like to achieve in this life before I wash my hands of it. Either way, I'll be free of my ego when I pass. I'm sure it hates that realisation. I'd love to post my drawings on Facepunch but it's uh, not the most work-safe. I am really enjoying it all though. I hated that I avoided drawing for so long because I believed I wasn't that good of an artist. But acknowledging my true self made me realise I was always a capable artist. I definitely have a lot to learn, and there are many areas I want to focus on, but even then I am not afraid of trying. I don't even believe in failing anymore when I try. Everything is a positive experience, something to be learned from. It's a beautiful mindset. I still struggle with where I am, but I am making great strides in following where I want to go. I'm not denying the person I am, the person I love anymore, someone I hid away for so many years in fear of pushing people away or worrying about how they perceive me. I have no doubts that I will fall backwards a little, maybe even go off the path for a while, but I have the knowledge that will bring me back to it. That reminder of what the universe has to offer me, and how it will gently lead me. I hope everyone is well. Keep up your meditation, your songs and love for yourself and others.
Had a 30 day streak but lost it after going on a small vacation to Sweden, whoops. It is surprisingly easy to fall out of routine haha. I'm feeling a bit intimidated by 20 minute long sessions now so I think I'll pick back up on 10 or 15 mins then increase it back up to 20 when I'm feeling ready for that again. Even when I was in my streak I felt it was difficult to maintain 20 minutes but I suppose that means I'm doing it right. 10 and 15 minutes back then didn't feel adequate enough at least which is sorta fun, feels like progress of sorts. Also, anyone else find the benefits of meditation fading quickly after only 1 week with no meditation? I am still catching my thoughts as they pop up and I'm still able to observe and be curious about them but I feel somewhat less present. During my streak, I'd have several moments a day where I'd remember to be present and shortly after I'd feel more present in the now. These moments are mostly gone now. If I compare meditation with exercise, is it more like cardio where the progress quickly drops and builds or is it more like weight lifting where it's more difficult to make progress but also harder to lose it?
In a sense, meditation is an entirely different way of thinking -- one most people aren't born with. To be able for it to have any lasting effects, it needs to be done enough times to break your old habits. Because of this, it can be very disheartening to try and pick up meditation again after taking any sort of hiatus. It's completely natural and happens to the best of us. When this happens, you should do exactly what you're doing -- smaller sessions to slowly ease yourself back into it. If you're using Headspace, don't be afraid to veer outside of your selected meditation pack for a day or two. Pick out a neat looking mini and jump back into it.
I hadn't thought about it that way before. Now meditation is even more exciting! I did just that, a shorter session today, and I'm already feeling a lot more refreshed despite it only being 10 minutes. It is a lot easier to appreciate the positive things in our lives when you've had a break I find and it reignited why I'd like to continue doing this.
Restarting mindfulness. I can't really say why, but it's something that I've been needing to do for a while. I'm ready this time.
Been doing mindfulness for a total of 45 days now and the guy from Headspace makes it seem like I'm supposed to be able to label my thoughts and feelings when they arise by now but I keep forgetting it. It's fine during my sessions of course but its in every day life where I keep forgetting. I catch myself sometimes but I don't know, he makes it seem like I'm supposed to do it more frequently than sometimes. I felt a lot more aware of these things in the beginning but now that its losing its novelty it's easier to forget. I'll keep trucking along but is this something I need to "fix"? Or will it come more and more as I keep it up? Other than that, I've felt a lot less stressed out the past few weeks which I blame mindfulness for. I seem to be less caught up in thoughts and feelings than before which is nice.
I don't know of your specific practices so I can't say much about what to expect, except from my own progress (I haven't done much/any mindfulness practicing so keep that in mind). As time goes on I've noticed that I've been becoming more aware of my moods and state of mind, and it's been becoming easier to identify particular feelings with more specificity as time goes on. Personally I've felt that identifying what it is that I'm feeling helps me in acknowledging what kind of mood that I'm in, and that it's entirely normal to feel that way as opposed to silencing those emotions (you are feeling what you're feeling and there's a reason to it, figuring out that reason is important). After silencing my own emotions for the longest time it's taken a lot of weight off my shoulders when I acknowledge what's going on with my body/brain/mind. I think in your case it's just a matter of patience and giving yourself ample time to becoming skilled in identifying your thoughts and feelings, especially if you've dealt with any traumatic events recently as you may need more time to "rebuild" your previous skills.
I started to use an app called "Aware" since I got a premium licence for free last week and I have a question. I started meditating again, and everytime I "restart" I suffer the same: the same day I start meditation again, I have a huge anxiety attack and I'm not sure if this is just coincidence or is it because of meditation.
Does it happen every time you meditate or just when you're starting up the habit again? I've had a similar experience myself but never gotten a full on panic attack from it yet. Sometimes I'm calm and fine during meditation but the rest of the time I'll experience anxiety while meditating. 50/50 split almost. In my case, I think it happens because I've suppressed some of my anxiety and when I meditate, I bring it back up. At this point I view it as a form of exposure therapy and I think that by keeping it up I'll be able to accept it more for what it is.
Every time I start up again the habit. It may happen because I haven't got the habit yet and may go after I get used to it,
Meditation connects a bridge between the conscious mind and the subconscious one. You could say mindfulness meditation is like turning on a lamp, it was dark before you started to meditate and now there are all these emotions, memories, thoughts and feelings that clutter the space. You're doing correct here by allowing yourself to feel anxious. Try to find the root cause of why you experience anxiety. Often during Vipassana (insight) meditation we can try to reason with ourselves, in a way that feels liberating. Like finding key words that massages the mental stress-points in the brain. Phrases like: "Here is my friend, anxiety, visiting me during my relaxation time.", you notice and accept. Then there's the reasoning: "Anxiety, why are you here?" "- To protect you." "Thank you anxiety for protecting me, but I don't need you in this situation." This works for some people. How long are your meditation sessions? When you meditate for longer than 35 minutes each day, the mind start surfacing things that come from your subconscious level, that you have to deal with. If that is the case, I'd recommend shortening your sitting sessions to 10 minutes. Also try to practice simply sitting with eye's closed, so that your mind associates the body position with calmness. The best thing to do about anxiety otherwise, is to just be with it, and if it is not too uncomfortable try continuing your daily meditation routine. The thing is to try and find where the anxiety comes from. Another thing, starting meditating as a beginner can often have unwanted effects as, trying to make your mind do something it is very not used to do, it can sort of fight back. This would then be due to hard rooted conditioning, your daily activity consists of such nature in reasoning pattern that as soon as you try to feel yourself, like unmask and perceive naked from habituated reasoning, there would be anxiety under that rock. If you really want to meditate and this keeps bothering you, and nothing I wrote helped, I would probably see a therapist and ask about reasons for having latent anxiety(-attacks?).
@Memnoth I just happened the first day of the routine. My meditation sessions last 10 or 20 minutes de most. I have not experienced any anxiety the rest of the days which is good I guess. Maybe it was just a coincidence.
I'm glad to hear that.
I had that thought too. After I started with mindfulness I've felt much more in touch with myself and I've been able to appreciate simple things like being human and alive. Thoughts like these would've never crossed my mind before but now that I feel more aware, I also realize how lucky I am to be alive in the first place. Thank you by the way. Yesterday, I took the train back home from my father who lives at the other side of the country. The trip took about 8 hours and I had to be up early for it. I've struggled with insomnia for as long as I can remember so I only got about 4 hours of sleep that night. The reason I'm writing this is because I developed panic attacks after two traumatic bad trips, involving 2C-B + weed and LSD, that I had in February and March this year. I've managed to accept it for what it is so luckily I don't experience frequent panic attacks anymore. However, if I've missed out on sleep, I'm a lot more vulnerable to them and they start coming back. That combined with a full wagon of people + the train horn and no way to escape, I could feel one coming up. Usually I'm able to deal with them before they get to the point like I experienced on the train, but like I mentioned, I was sleep deprived and vulnerable in an unfortunate situation. Fortunately though I remembered your post, specifically the phrases you wrote with questioning and reasoning with anxiety. I took some deep breaths, recognized the anxiety and reasoned with it much like what you wrote. The anxiety quickly started dropping off and I was able to sit with my thoughts for the remaining 8 hours with no more problems. The mind is a powerful thing so learning how to approach it correctly is invaluable. Thank you yet again, I'll definitely keep this experience and what you wrote in mind for the future as well
I can confirm that Headspace is top shelf.
namaste my dudes *tokes up*
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