I've been working on this lately as well. Not finished with the process but here's a few things I've tried: * Read part of a book before starting work. * No HN/reddit/etc until noon. * No Facebook until 6PM. * Disable almost all notifications. * Only check emails/texts once an hour at the top of the hour. * Use software that respects my desire for focus. The last one is currently the most interesting to me. When I wa…
How about "no facebook, period"?
Honestly since I removed the app from my phone my usage has dropped drastically. Haven't missed it much
Meditation is, essentially, concentrating on one thing (e.g. one's breathing, a phrase) for an extended period. It's kind of like using a piece of gym equipment to exercise just one set of muscles, repeatedly. So, how does one increase attention span? Practice paying attention, in an environment with fewer distractions, and keep practicing until you become good at it again (don't expect that to happen quickly). Also,…
Something I always like to add to suggestions of meditation is this clarification: clearing your mind completely is not the right way to do it, because completely clearing your mind is nearly impossible. At least for most, maybe some folks can do it. I cannot, and I don't know anyone who can. Instead, it makes me more susceptible to distraction, because brains want to be brains, they want to think and do work. A nice…
I've been meditating for a year or so. I think it's important to be clear about what meditation is and is not. I don't look at meditation as a way to clear my mind, as you said, that's nearly impossible to force; rather, I think of meditation as changing the way I associate with the thoughts that pass through my mind. Instead of stopping and engaging with each one, I let them pass on by like clouds in the sky. Disconnecting from the thoughts like that has allowed me to arrive at a clear mind.
This is a bit like recommending a marathon to someone who is sedentary. Building a daily meditation habit of at least 20-30 minutes of sustained attention might be a good preliminary step.
Prayer has been helping people for thousands of years, meditation is a new-age, godless impostor.
Which one of the many gods do you think it tries to impose upon and in what way? What do you think is the purpose of prayer and what do you think is the purpose of meditation?
If you are looking for books about getting your attention back, I can only recommend Flow by Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi [0] and Deep Work by Cal Newport [1] I wrote an extensive blog post about both books (which happened to be on HN too), because they are kinda life changing.
Prayer has been helping people for thousands of years, meditation is a new-age, godless impostor.
Which one of the many gods do you think it tries to impose upon and in what way? What do you think is the purpose of prayer and what do you think is the purpose of meditation?
There is only one God, by definition. If there were many, they wouldn't be God, by an obvious contradiction (since God is the greatest conceivable being, there is only one).