'Mindful people' feel less pain • Hacker News Board

Re: 'Mindful people' feel less pain

#31

Post by Timmah » Fri, Sep 07, 2018, 7:35 PM UTC

dx87 wrote: post #25

ryandrake wrote: post #17

> "Mindfulness is related to being aware of the present moment without too much emotional reaction or judgment," said the study's lead author, Fadel Zeidan I've always thought of the word "mindfulness" as one of those vague, new-age nonsense terms, like "psionic body energy" and "ethereal consciousness". Even given the above quoted definition, I still have no idea what it means. Does anyone know what is an example of…

I think the opposite of mindfulness would be anxiousness. Like, if your car breaks down and you start worrying about being late to work, then worry that it's going to cause you to get fired, then your partner might leave you, that's the opposite of mindfulness. But if your car breaks down and you just focus on fixing the immediate problem at hand instead of the potential problems in the future, that's what they norma…

I think what you described is more a situation of suppressing emotion and using pragmatism to reduce further harm.

To me mindfulness is stopping at lunch or after work, removing all distractions and worries, and focusing on yourself. Asking "what am I actually feeling right now? And why am I feeling this way? " instead of just cranking up the proverbial headphones and marching on, oblivious to what is happening to you or how you actually are feeling. It's about emotional intelligence.

Re: 'Mindful people' feel less pain

#32

Post by SketchySeaBeast » Fri, Sep 07, 2018, 7:36 PM UTC

trukterious wrote: post #10

My experience is that stopping and paying attention to a stubbed toe makes it more bearable than yelling and hopping around the room.

If not for yourself, for your roommates and cat.

Re: 'Mindful people' feel less pain

#33

Post by amelius » Fri, Sep 07, 2018, 7:37 PM UTC

ryandrake wrote: post #17

> "Mindfulness is related to being aware of the present moment without too much emotional reaction or judgment," said the study's lead author, Fadel Zeidan I've always thought of the word "mindfulness" as one of those vague, new-age nonsense terms, like "psionic body energy" and "ethereal consciousness". Even given the above quoted definition, I still have no idea what it means. Does anyone know what is an example of…

It is about letting go of your thoughts, and thus "mindlessness" would be a better term ;)

Re: 'Mindful people' feel less pain

#34

Post by chris_mc » Fri, Sep 07, 2018, 7:38 PM UTC

ryandrake wrote: post #17

> "Mindfulness is related to being aware of the present moment without too much emotional reaction or judgment," said the study's lead author, Fadel Zeidan I've always thought of the word "mindfulness" as one of those vague, new-age nonsense terms, like "psionic body energy" and "ethereal consciousness". Even given the above quoted definition, I still have no idea what it means. Does anyone know what is an example of…

I think of Mindfulness as setting a 'watchdog process' on your own brain: you think about how you're thinking, actively, so that you can control thoughts that might be unwanted at the time, like anger or fear. It takes you from a passenger, reacting to your brain's processing, to being an active driver of your thoughts. That's how I think of it, at least.

Re: 'Mindful people' feel less pain

#35

Post by jasonmp85 » Fri, Sep 07, 2018, 7:44 PM UTC

ryandrake wrote: post #17

> "Mindfulness is related to being aware of the present moment without too much emotional reaction or judgment," said the study's lead author, Fadel Zeidan I've always thought of the word "mindfulness" as one of those vague, new-age nonsense terms, like "psionic body energy" and "ethereal consciousness". Even given the above quoted definition, I still have no idea what it means. Does anyone know what is an example of…

> I don’t know anyone […] who is actually unaware of the present time.

That’s pretty superficial. People are seldom aware of now. We are thinking of how a meeting went in the past, or what we’ll make for dinner, or how we’ll handle an upcoming conflict, or whether a decision we made in the past was the right one. We aren’t even in our physical location: we think about wanting to go out on a walk, to be back on the beach, to rest in bed, to not have to suffer through a seminar.

The idea here is to be _present_ in the moment, in this place, because that’s all there is: everything else is a delusion. Being present also means appropriate response: a pond ripples precisely as much as it should when a stone is thrown in: not too much, not too little. Too often we are carried too and fro by our thoughts; they drive us, we respond automatically, being pushed from one thought to the next. Mindfulness is being able to observe these thoughts as they pass by and realizing how to respond appropriately, as we choose; being truly alive and not a mindless automaton responding to things that “happen” to us. There really isn’t any new age or spiritual component here if you wish.

Re: 'Mindful people' feel less pain

#36

Post by gdubs » Fri, Sep 07, 2018, 7:44 PM UTC

ryandrake wrote: post #17

> "Mindfulness is related to being aware of the present moment without too much emotional reaction or judgment," said the study's lead author, Fadel Zeidan I've always thought of the word "mindfulness" as one of those vague, new-age nonsense terms, like "psionic body energy" and "ethereal consciousness". Even given the above quoted definition, I still have no idea what it means. Does anyone know what is an example of…

At any given moment we typically have a lot of thoughts racing through our minds. We’re thinking about yesterday, or tomorrow, working through some problem.

Mindfulness is stepping back and observing that phenomena, that process, and entering a state of awareness rather than “active” thinking.

Meditation is a kind of practice - you learn over time how to simply observe the mechanics of the mind as a kind of “3rd party” observer (this is probably where a lot of the spiritual / mystical feelings arise from — what people describe as a feeling of “oneness”, etc.)

Mindfulness is carrying that feeling of calm awareness throughout the rest of the day’s activities. For instance, going for a run and really just running and taking in the sensations without following every thought that pops into your head.

Re: 'Mindful people' feel less pain

#37

Post by kstrauser » Fri, Sep 07, 2018, 7:47 PM UTC

nabla9 wrote: post #7

I think Marvin Minsky had it right in his book The Emotion Machine (2006): From Chapter III. From Pain to Suffering >Why does the sensation called pain sometimes lead to what we call suffering? How could such a simple event distort all your other thoughts so much? This chapter proposes a theory of this: if a pain is intense and persistent enough, it will stir up a certain set of resources, and then these, in turn, ar…

I think so, too (even though I haven't read it). That jibes with my own experiences in meditating. Part of the process is going through a quick scan of your body and just noticing how your different parts feel: "huh, there's tenseness in my jaw", "there's a headache", "there's soreness in my leg" etc. It's amazing how quickly you can turn that from "my head hurts" to "there's pain in my head", which is a subtle but important distinction. You can't choose not to experience the pain sensation, but up to a point you can decide to simply note it and not react to it as pain.

Re: 'Mindful people' feel less pain

#38

Post by TACIXAT » Fri, Sep 07, 2018, 7:47 PM UTC

ryandrake wrote: post #17

> "Mindfulness is related to being aware of the present moment without too much emotional reaction or judgment," said the study's lead author, Fadel Zeidan I've always thought of the word "mindfulness" as one of those vague, new-age nonsense terms, like "psionic body energy" and "ethereal consciousness". Even given the above quoted definition, I still have no idea what it means. Does anyone know what is an example of…

It is observation, with low emotional reaction, in the present moment.

The classic example would be focusing on your breathing. You may have thoughts arise during this time, but you do not react to those thoughts, instead just acknowledge them and return your focus to your breath. This can be extended out to many other things that you are doing, for example, driving and having your whole head in the action of driving.

A counter example would be having anxiety over a hypothetical situation that may or may not ever occur. As well, being angry about something that happened in the past. In these situations you would refocus on the present moment and do your best to let the emotions go.

Re: 'Mindful people' feel less pain

#39

Post by desmondw » Fri, Sep 07, 2018, 7:48 PM UTC

The concept of being more pain-free is dangerous to take at face value. Being 'pain-free' through mindfulness comes from a deep understanding of any given pain, which comes from feeling it fully and coming to terms with that feeling. Which, is itself very painful.

Re: 'Mindful people' feel less pain

#40

Post by dang » Fri, Sep 07, 2018, 7:49 PM UTC

mcculley wrote: post #5

Mindfulness meditation taught me something that Haruki Murakami describes well about running: “Pain is inevitable. Suffering is optional.”

That's a well-known Buddhist proverb but I don't know what the textual source is, or if there is one.

This is the sort of thing one can email to the Quote Investigator. Maybe I will.