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If You're Too Busy to Meditate, Read This

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Re: If You're Too Busy to Meditate, Read This

#101

Post by shock-value »

KirinDave wrote: post #82
shock-value wrote: post #77

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Basically you are arguing that being able to resist distractions isn't a great value in and of itself, at least compared to some other values. Fine. I think a lot of people would disagree, but it's a legitimate viewpoint. But you also claim that taking a period of time in a day to train oneself to resist distractions does not lead to a more focused mindset throughout the day. I think most of us who have practiced med…

> But you also claim that taking a period of time in a day to train oneself to resist distractions does not lead to a more focused mindset throughout the day. I think most of us who have practiced meditation (and actually put real effort in, rather than reflecting on other thoughts during the practice) would disagree. Not to put too fine a point on this, because I'm not trying t pick a fight here, but... Homeopaths w…

Here's a study... http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/m/pubmed/22363278/?i=10&from...

It may have been mentioned already, I just did a simple pubmed search.

I would guess that exercise would have some of the same benefits, especially if it's exercise that one forces oneself to do, rather than just a fun activity. I don't have a study for that hypothesis though.

Re: If You're Too Busy to Meditate, Read This

#102

Post by webwanderings »

mck- wrote: post #93
webwanderings wrote: post #2

The misconception about meditation is that it requires one to give up everything and sit silently. This is not true in its entirety as it depends on how one interprets the word "meditation". The meditation does not necessarily require you to give up one thing for the sake of another. The goal of the meditation is to "be in awareness" and you can achieve this same goal by being alert and aware with any activity your f…

It's that feeling of being in the zone, completely forgetting about tomorrow's worries. But how does one raise awareness of being in the zone? It is that consciousness that I believe is paramount. Training your consciousness by playing sports vs sitting in lotus is analogous to training your biceps by rowing vs biceps curls. The latter is more targeted, hence more effective. When you do what you love and you complete…

Agree with your comment in general but on this ...

> But how does one raise awareness of being in the zone? It is that consciousness that I believe is paramount.

I believe first, we have to realize that people in general are not aware that they could be aware. What I mean by this is that at first, you have to realize that you can be better, or you can achieve better if you bring the rules, or guides, or signs, into your consciousness. For example, without being aware that your daily activities could be an activity towards self-improvement, you cannot really avail the opportunities to be conscious.

Secondly, and once you realize the above, you can further raise your consciousness level for the betterment of not only yourself, but for the humanity at large (starting from your immediate close-by people in your circle).

So all in all, with the combination as you suggest, people can become more conscious, more ethical, more compassionate....all because they are making an effort to staying in here-now.

Re: If You're Too Busy to Meditate, Read This

#103

Post by KirinDave »

bennesvig wrote: post #92
KirinDave wrote: post #72

Earlier quoted context omitted.

But these studies are on noticing structural changes, not changes in the subject's capability. What makes meditation better at this than, say, sitting down and doing math homework or going out and doing exercise? There's a lot of research to strongly correlate regular physical activity with intelligence (random googled summary with many citations here: http://www.unm.edu/~lkravitz/Article%20folder/brainandex.htm... )…

Structure changes behavior which improves capability.

The literal reading of this statement suggests hitting your head with a hammer could make you better at math.

Re: If You're Too Busy to Meditate, Read This

#104

Post by chc »

jemfinch wrote: post #7
webwanderings wrote: post #2

The misconception about meditation is that it requires one to give up everything and sit silently. This is not true in its entirety as it depends on how one interprets the word "meditation". The meditation does not necessarily require you to give up one thing for the sake of another. The goal of the meditation is to "be in awareness" and you can achieve this same goal by being alert and aware with any activity your f…

Sorry, this is hard for me to understand. You seem to be saying--and I apologize if I misinterpret you--that it is better to focus on dishwashing than to use otherwise idle mental time to plan one's future. Is that really the case? What gains could one expect from focusing on dishwashing, only to take time away from some other activity to plan one's future?

Let's phrase it another way: Is it good to make decisions about your future while 60% of your brainpower is focused on cleaning dishes?

You'll do both things more efficiently if you give them your all rather than having your attention constantly flit between them. Imagine if, while programming, you had to switch between projects every five minutes. You'd never get anything done! Yet we expect our brains to perform well under the same harsh circumstances.

Of course, if you don't care about what you're doing, it doesn't really hurt to let your mind wander. You'll probably do a sloppy job, but you don't care anyway. But the real payoff to concentrating on something like washing dishes is that your mind gets better at concentrating, so you'll instinctively do it when it really matters. It's like muscle training — you don't want to wait until you need to heft a couch to start doing it.

Re: If You're Too Busy to Meditate, Read This

#105

Post by kstenerud »

eof wrote: post #57
KirinDave wrote: post #8

Wait. Wait wait wait. > Research shows that an ability to resist urges will improve your relationships, increase your dependability, and raise your performance... Great. Yes. Impulse control is key. Delayed gratification is part of how we define higher intelligence. Meditation has what do with this, exactly? > How [does meditation help]? By increasing your capacity to resist distracting urges. This entire article is…

Article is not wrong about this. It is hard to measure what meditation is doing on a subjective level, which is very specific and easy to talk about amongst people who have spent even an hour meditating. The key here, which for you might be a leap of faith, is that when one tries to simply focus on their breath (or the dishes), completely without our permission thoughts continue to pop into our head. The 'natural' th…

I've spent many hours of my life meditating. Looking back now, they were pretty much a waste of time.

My strength of will comes from adversity, not passivity.

Re: If You're Too Busy to Meditate, Read This

#106

Post by agumonkey »

mck- wrote: post #99
agumonkey wrote: post #87

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Man, I was already embarrassed to write about it. I only do that inside walls of course. Outside I'm a perfectly normal alien.

Never be embarrassed. I do it all the time ;) I'd be walking home from work, focussing hard not to walk. Just staring blindly ahead, allowing auto-pilot to take me home, and focus on every sensation of every muscle in every part of my body. Then again, this was in Hong Kong, where you see groups of oldies doing Taichi and what-not in every corner of the city. I still do it occasionally here in Vancouver, the city of…

In-house the game is to be as stealth as possible while doing any kind of chore. Ninja mode, or 'do not wake women at night' mode. Just moving a cup (even worse, a metallic object) from A to B becomes a challenge, but when you drop the cup on the table without any sound you feel like a magician.

Re: If You're Too Busy to Meditate, Read This

#107

Post by samstave »

prawks wrote: post #25
zoul wrote: post #12

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It’s better to let yourself to be swallowed whole by your current activity (be it just doing the dishes) than to continue in the endless chatter of your mind. Doing the dishes can be fun if you pay attention to the textures, temperatures, smells and sounds. You can plan your future later, giving it full attention again. That’s the idea.

Doing the dishes can be fun if you pay attention to the textures, temperatures, smells and sounds. I can't wait to do the dishes when I get home today.

All cleaning can be a meditative action - I find cleaning very cathartic.

Re: If You're Too Busy to Meditate, Read This

#108

Post by mck- »

papsosouid wrote: post #97
mck- wrote: post #93

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It's that feeling of being in the zone, completely forgetting about tomorrow's worries. But how does one raise awareness of being in the zone? It is that consciousness that I believe is paramount. Training your consciousness by playing sports vs sitting in lotus is analogous to training your biceps by rowing vs biceps curls. The latter is more targeted, hence more effective. When you do what you love and you complete…

>Training your consciousness by playing sports vs sitting in lotus is analogous to training your biceps by rowing vs biceps curls. The latter is more targeted, hence more effective. Only if your goal is to make your biceps bigger. If your goal is to gain strength, isolation is less effective, as strength involves more than just one muscle, it also involves stabilizing muscles, tendons, ligaments, etc. Who says traini…

Interesting.. how many moving parts does consciousness have? To me, consciousness and the mind are but one thing.

Re: If You're Too Busy to Meditate, Read This

#109

Post by aneth4 »

KirinDave wrote: post #62
roqetman wrote: post #59

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I used to also wait for all the data before I tried things like this. Then due to "reasons" I actually started meditation, daily, for just 10 minutes. I've now been doing it for 3 years and I have no data to give you, but the effects on me are subtle yet profound. If you can spare 10 minutes a day you still won't have any data, but you'll have an answer.

I am here to tell you the placebo effect is nearly impossible to spot from the inside out. Your brain is just not wired to pierce the veil of selection bias without a lot of effort. You are saying, "Doing X made me feel good." But I am saying that nearly anything in that X spot might do the same. It's just the way the human mind works. In testing out Piracetam on myself I've been especially aware of this, because eve…

Placebo effect has no meaning in this context. Placebo effects are caused by mind rather than a substance. In this case, the entire treatment is in the mind.

There are many, many, many studies on the benefits and effects of meditation. If you haven't found any, it's because you are not looking.

Re: If You're Too Busy to Meditate, Read This

#110

Post by jjclarkson »

prawks wrote: post #25
zoul wrote: post #12

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It’s better to let yourself to be swallowed whole by your current activity (be it just doing the dishes) than to continue in the endless chatter of your mind. Doing the dishes can be fun if you pay attention to the textures, temperatures, smells and sounds. You can plan your future later, giving it full attention again. That’s the idea.

Doing the dishes can be fun if you pay attention to the textures, temperatures, smells and sounds. I can't wait to do the dishes when I get home today.

Why wait for the dishes? The beauty of mindfulness can manifest itself wonderfully in office work. Shut out the distractions from your mind; then the clack of the keyboard, the feel of your desk, and the flow of code, can fill your senses as well.
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