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The quiet art of attention

billwear.github.io

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Re: The quiet art of attention

#231

Post by keybored »

fzeroracer wrote: post #75

I'm going to be That Guy and say I didn't particularly care for this piece. it reads like every single self-help or mindfulness book I've had the misfortune of skimming or having pushed down on me. That isn't to say I fully discount mindfulness but rather the art of people being able to say a lot about ultimately nothing.

It resonated with me.

I am partial to the mindfulness idea. But that doesn’t mean that I like everything that it is written on the topic. Some pieces on the topic are a bit too opinionated on what exactly mindfulness and attention are. Too opinionated to be short pieces on it. But this one just says that you can be curious about what the mind does and observe that it has a mind of its own. Which is true in my experience.

Your critique is fair of course.

Re: The quiet art of attention

#232

Post by desertraven »

MrMcCall wrote: post #227
padraigf wrote: post #209

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I meditate a good bit, an hour a day, and it doesn't stop thoughts arising, so I've had some time to think about this. My guess is, it's just an evolutionarily useful thing, for your brain to keep pinging you about various things. It doesn't mean of course that meditation is not useful. But you want to have control over these thoughts. Without a meditative practice, it's all too easy to allow your consciousness to be…

The best we can do with them is to "pay them no mind", i.e. just let them pass though us and then into the void of non-effect. The important understanding is that we can choose to act upon them or ignore them. Ignoring negative impulses is essential for developing compassion as a way of life, and doing so is no less than warfare, the most important we can ever undertake. Of course, if the impulse is "you left the bur…

How?! Sometimes I feel a family is a path to more busy-brained activity. Less inclination to actually look what the mind is doing at a given moment. So I’m interested in that. But also logistically, what is a life of poverty for you, and how did you come to achieve it?

Re: The quiet art of attention

#235

Post by criddell »

desertraven wrote: post #188

In regard to watching the mind, one thing I’ve observed is a little strange, and I was hoping to get other’s experiences. I like to watch the movement of my attention. Nothing abstract, just to observe where attention is aimed - it takes a mere 30 seconds of watching. What I’ve noticed, is it moves around, seemingly without my input, and lacking any conscious intent (a concept the blog post makes a point to reclaim).…

> I like to watch the movement of my attention

I've never really liked the present-tense expression of this idea. If you are watching your attention, is that you directing your attention at your attention? Can you step back again and watch yourself watching yourself watch yourself?

Or is it really a past-tense thing where you notice that your attention has drifted?

Re: The quiet art of attention

#236

Post by greggyb »

guerrilla wrote: post #168
greggyb wrote: post #43

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I suffer from RSI and definitely do not move enough when I am invested in some piece of work (personal or professional). I recently installed workrave[0] and have noticed marked improvements in just a couple weeks of actually taking breaks when it indicates. I take a 25 second break every 5 minutes, and use this time to do one hand and wrist exercise (I keep some resistance bands and hand exercise balls at the desk).…

This microbreaks idea is something I've come to myself. I noticed that when reading very difficult stuff (serious math or complex APIs) then I get to that point where I repeatedly read the same sentence over and over again. I realized that at that point I should be taking a break even before my usual 25 minutes is up. Maybe you 25s/5m would help me. I like the numerical aesthetics. It seems I wrote my own keycounter…

I have some graduated resistance hand exercise balls and bands for various exercise (different variations on squeezing, mobility, and extending fingers). I stare out the window at things far away while doing hand exercises.

I did pick the times because of the symmetry of the numbers (:

Re: The quiet art of attention

#238

Post by hammock »

criddell wrote: post #235
desertraven wrote: post #188

In regard to watching the mind, one thing I’ve observed is a little strange, and I was hoping to get other’s experiences. I like to watch the movement of my attention. Nothing abstract, just to observe where attention is aimed - it takes a mere 30 seconds of watching. What I’ve noticed, is it moves around, seemingly without my input, and lacking any conscious intent (a concept the blog post makes a point to reclaim).…

> I like to watch the movement of my attention I've never really liked the present-tense expression of this idea. If you are watching your attention, is that you directing your attention at your attention? Can you step back again and watch yourself watching yourself watch yourself? Or is it really a past-tense thing where you notice that your attention has drifted?

Isn't "watching the movement of my attention" another way of saying "being in the present"? To include body scans, etc.

Re: The quiet art of attention

#239

Post by criddell »

MrMcCall wrote: post #222
eightysixfour wrote: post #200

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Sam Harris makes the point that this, our actual observable experience, is the strongest argument against free will.

And yet he cannot explain where the impulses come from. As to argument against free will: do you not have the ability to choose between giving the next homeless person you see some money or being rude to them? Of course you do. You are also free to believe and then claim that the world is flat, but that don't make it true. We can each choose to be compassionate, callous, or cruel -- to whomever we choose, to whatever…

> he cannot explain where the impulses come from

His explanation is that your next action is determined by everything that came previously. It's not predetermined - you could roll a die and base your next action off that - but it isn't magic either.

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