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Men who stare at walls

alexselimov.com

251–260 of 346 posts

Re: Men who stare at walls

#251
post #236

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Meditation, like exercise, can be a lot of things. Choosing a brief walk can be exercise, or a brisk walk that's a little longer - maybe doing some forms of housework can be exercise. But exercise can also be running marathons, swimming laps, playing street hockey, dancing in your kitchen, skateboarding or messing around on the monkey bars. Those would all make you feel your body in various ways, both during and afte…

If someone wrote about how taking a twenty minute walk in nature made them more productive, I don't think anyone would reply 'I swear every day I see a "new" fad targeted at fixing one's mood and every time they're doing so much mental gymnastics to not use the word "exercise."' Who cares if they're doing exercise or not? The person who takes walks presumably knows it's a form of exercise. They're not talking about t…

Yeah, I think that's probably correct.

I do somewhat see the value in promoting specific, accessible meditative practices without necessarily using the word meditation for it, simply because it can be needlessly intimidating and put some people off because they come carrying a number of assumptions.

Maybe that same principle does also apply to exercise - some people will do it by accident and have a good time, but still balk at idea of doing capital E Exercise as a distinct activity in itself. Sometimes it really is just a mindset thing.

Re: Men who stare at walls

#252

OP mentions they are a coffee drinker, and use caffeine a lot to fight tiredness and brainfog. While the suggested methods to refocus are great, maybe there is some improvement potential by looking at root causes? As a former heavy coffee consumer, I experienced varying degrees of tiredness over my workday, and inconsistent sleep patterns. Ever since I stopped drinking it, my energy levels have been far more predicta…

same experience here. I had similar hitting the wall problem in early afternoon. After stopping caffeine it's exactly as you describe

Re: Men who stare at walls

#253

I've recently realised that the biggest problem with smartphones is not that they steal your attention (which is bad enough), but that they steal your disattention I don't know of a better word for it than disattention. Perhaps downtime? But it's not so structured. It's just those moments where you'd previously let your mind wander. Gone forever.

I used to be addicted to cannabis and one quote that snapped me out of it, and made me move on with life, was Randy Marsh in South Park saying something along the lines of "Weed makes it fun to do nothing and be bored".

That's the same with smartphones and those scrolling apps, they make it fun to do nothing and be bored.

Re: Men who stare at walls

#254
post #242

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It depends on who you ask. Some Zen teachers think that it is impossible to meditate while walking as it keeps the mind moving rather than still. These are the folks that go against any kind of seasoning in food for the same reason. I always thought that was a very restrictive way to box in and needlessly constrain what meditation can be. If it works for you, great but don't sell it as the only path. That is the thin…

Rumi (the Sufi mystic) apparently walked and turned in circles in order to contemplate. The tradition merges music and movement with philosophy and religious mysticism. Walking, dancing or manual labor (for example gardening or cleaning) can all be done in a meditative way. But these are likely different types of meditation that have different effects. Even just a calm, sitting meditations might be vastly different f…

I buy it. I'm not really into meditation, but am deep thinking/reflection.

I found I got by far the most intense deep thinking sessions while mowing the lawn with a push mower. It was a large-ish yard, took around an hour. It's boring, monotonous, requires no thought. Keeps your hands occupied so you won't be tempted to 'check something real quick'. And lastly, loud enough to block any other sounds that could make your mind drift(sirens, birds, dogs barking, etc).

Re: Men who stare at walls

#255

I've recently realised that the biggest problem with smartphones is not that they steal your attention (which is bad enough), but that they steal your disattention I don't know of a better word for it than disattention. Perhaps downtime? But it's not so structured. It's just those moments where you'd previously let your mind wander. Gone forever.

It's called default mode thinking. Or the default mode network [1]. And I agree, not letting your mind do this from time to time results in higher stress and less ability to focus. [1] - https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Default_mode_network

And mostly reduced creativity.

I'm addicted to reading, I take my kindle and phone everywhere, so will grab them when I'm walking, taking a shower, waiting in line, going to the restroom... Between my kindle and my phone, I read a lot more books than I ever did but I don't digest the information as much as I used to. I also don't make as much associations between what I read and things going on in my own life. So, in a way, despite reading a lot more, I don't think I benefit as much from it.

Now, I'm purposefully forcing myself not to reach to my kindle when taking a walk so that my mind can wander as much as I do.

Re: Men who stare at walls

#256
post #255

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It's called default mode thinking. Or the default mode network [1]. And I agree, not letting your mind do this from time to time results in higher stress and less ability to focus. [1] - https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Default_mode_network

And mostly reduced creativity. I'm addicted to reading, I take my kindle and phone everywhere, so will grab them when I'm walking, taking a shower, waiting in line, going to the restroom... Between my kindle and my phone, I read a lot more books than I ever did but I don't digest the information as much as I used to. I also don't make as much associations between what I read and things going on in my own life. So, in…

This is a bit outside the point, but how do you actually read while taking a walk, logistically speaking? Do you mean you take a walk somewhere, sit down on a bench, then take your kindle out? Or actually read WHILE walking?

Re: Men who stare at walls

#257
post #240

I've recently realised that the biggest problem with smartphones is not that they steal your attention (which is bad enough), but that they steal your disattention I don't know of a better word for it than disattention. Perhaps downtime? But it's not so structured. It's just those moments where you'd previously let your mind wander. Gone forever.

While I don’t want to downplay the toxicity of smartphones, couldn’t the same be said for books and newspapers?

Yes, but you tend to carry around a smartphone all the time and the temptation to whip it out whenever there's more than a 5s window can be very strong.

Re: Men who stare at walls

#258
I have been doing this for years already after finding out by myself that it worked. Staring at anything works, even staring at your screen as long as you make sure you focus out.

Re: Men who stare at walls

#259

I've recently realised that the biggest problem with smartphones is not that they steal your attention (which is bad enough), but that they steal your disattention I don't know of a better word for it than disattention. Perhaps downtime? But it's not so structured. It's just those moments where you'd previously let your mind wander. Gone forever.

Quite true

Re: Men who stare at walls

#260
post #256
post #255

Earlier quoted context omitted.

And mostly reduced creativity. I'm addicted to reading, I take my kindle and phone everywhere, so will grab them when I'm walking, taking a shower, waiting in line, going to the restroom... Between my kindle and my phone, I read a lot more books than I ever did but I don't digest the information as much as I used to. I also don't make as much associations between what I read and things going on in my own life. So, in…

This is a bit outside the point, but how do you actually read while taking a walk, logistically speaking? Do you mean you take a walk somewhere, sit down on a bench, then take your kindle out? Or actually read WHILE walking?

Reading while walking is possible. I used to do this. But with physical books
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