The Mindful Programmer - mindfully get more stuff done.
mindfulprogrammer.com
mindfulprogrammer.com
I noted down my experiences yesterday:
I find myself within a deeper state of experience, as if I've been missing something huge.
I find myself as a new person; I have my past but it does not feel as though it's my own, as if I can inspect it and observe it in an objective way without the burden of my own interpretation; my past no longer defines me. I feel transformed.
I find myself able to communicate with others in a more effective way; I can place my full attention on individuals and the conversation benefits as a result. I especially feel more connection to others.
I find my cognitive faculties sharpened since I am not in constant use of them; I feel as though they are well rested and are now under my control.
I find myself enjoying taste more; if I eat too fast, I must slow down so that I don't miss the experience.
I find tears of joy in my eyes when I listen to beautiful music; how could I have not noticed such beauty before?
Most importantly, I find myself able to simply feel; I have never been able to feel like I can feel now.
This is not to say that you should never use meditation as a tool. Samatha meditation is practiced explicitly to improve concentration, and Vipassana to improve insight. That being said, be mindful of your grasping and try to avoid meditating into your preconceptions. Ultimately meditation is a pure surrender to what is; not striving towards what you believe should be.
"Those who have great realization of delusion are buddhas; those who are greatly deluded about realization are sentient beings." -Zen master Eihei Dogen
If those feel uncomfortable, then the mindfulness practice is paying off ...
Not sure I agree. You quote a zen master. The book I am currently reading "The Three pillars of zen" gives much less judgmental advice.
I'm not gonna type the whole thing up, but it basically states that there is no problem with people just going after the goal of increased concentration, a state they describe as:
"this is more than the ability to concentrate in the usual sense of the word. It is a dynamic power which, once mobilized, enables us even in the most sudden and unexpected situations to act instantly. Those who have developed 'it' are no longer slaves to their passions."
It does say that this "quality" recedes without practice, it's something you have to maintain by meditating every day, as opposed to the actual deep changes that come from seeking enlightenment.
But it is perfectly fine for people to pursue meditation for benefits completely unrelated to spirituality or enlightenment.
The quote and paraphrasing are all from the book and come from zen master Yasutani-roshu.
Respectfully, I must also disagree with Yasutani Roshi. The dynamic power he refers to is the energy of mindfulness. While meditation is certainly a powerful way to cultivate it, if your ability to remain mindful recedes without it, you have a problem with leaky insight, not with inadequate sitting time. With the right insight, everything becomes meditation and mindfulness a way of life. The ability to be in doing is a pretty important step along the path. I am of course not encouraging not practicing sitting. By all means, practice diligently.
All the same, I have nothing against anyone practicing meditation for any reason.
Based on my experience, "to meditate for any reason other than because its the truth" and "It is a dynamic power which, once mobilized, enables us even the most sudden and unexpected situations to act instantly" do not contradict each other and are one and the same. You become less and less a slave of your own impulses and reactions. You perceive the truth of those impulses. You cut your way free and can act like a child, spontaneously correct in the moment without spinning in your mind.
But my experience doesn't mean anything to you. Leaning on it takes you away from your own experience of the present moment.
What? I get a type error when I try to parse that sentence (meditation isn't a boolean). Could you explain that part?
To meditate for any other reason would mean ignorance, partial or full, of the present. The title of this post is a hood example: you shouldn't meditate to get shit done because that is a goal, a fabrication of the mind and is based firmly in the future which means its most definitely not about experiencing the present.
"I want to get this shit done." <-- This is an artifact of the mind, though it feels real. In Noting practice, you attempt to "note" the arising and passing of artifacts. So, what is this?
"I feel an impulse to get shit done." <-- Letting go of "getting shit done" and staying more to the present. In the present, you feel the impulse, you are not spraying your mind out into the imagined future/past where the shit has to be done.
"I feel an impulse to finish." <-- Letting go on what you specifically needs to get done.
"I feel an impulse." <-- Letting go of the notion of "finishing" something.
"I feel." <-- Letting go of the notion of automatically reacting to impulses.
"Feel." <-- Letting go of the notion of "self".
"..." <-- Mu.
"" <--
<--
"Oh shit, what hell was that?!?" <-- Everything that lives, will die, and eventually, new things are born. Just as "these things will pass", there new thoughts and emotions will arise. And so it goes.
Meditation produces all of these wonderful side effects, but it's hard, what if I never get good at it? Well, it turns out that trying to meditate is just as effective as meditating! The reason for this is that every time you fail at meditating (when your mind wanders to something for a bit before you realize it and bring it back in line) you are just practicing refocusing your attention. That practice of deliberately focusing your attention is the key bit that brings all of the benefits! Whether you finally manage to focus for a large chunk of time is almost as immaterial as how long you hold up a bar bell at the top of a curl.
For me it would. Mindfulness meditation is accepting things as they are. When you are tired, you are tired. When you fall asleep, you fall asleep. I find peace in meditation exactly because there's nothing to attain.
Of course, gamification might help newcomers, so it's a worthwhile experiment.
The goals is not to not think about anything. The goal is to be aware of things as they are without judgment.
As long as it's being done your way, right? People get dogmatic and judgmental about everything, your post is evidence that meditation is no different.
I was looking deep into the gamification two years ago when it was first getting popular. I even tried to gamify my meditation practice at that point. It did not work. It did not work because I was using the gamification to avoid experiencing what arises during practice.
People who do not practice have an extremely difficult time starting a practice. I know this because I had trouble, and so do my buddies who practice.
When you decide to start, some part of you knows you will be sitting there. In a room. In the quiet. With. No. Escape. With no escape from yourself. Never mind that you "volunteered." There are lots and lots of issues that arises -- most people don't really like themselves, or like their life. People consume entertainment product precisely to avoid experiencing what is going on in the present -- and gamification is at its heart, an entertainment product used for avoiding suffering. People are chasing after ... something. The irony being that, if you were to look at what it is you are chasing after, it can only be found in the present moment.
I have been practicing daily for a year ... and I still have those pings I get whispering, "no... it is OK if you skip your practice today." It's really funny to see how my emotions start thrashing more as I approach the designated practice time. Or the kind of thoughts that arise to distract me from it.
I still use the Streak app to track my meditation practice. When I first started, I was so hung up on it. If I broke a streak, I'd flog myself for having failed, spiraling into loops of feeling inadequate, being a loser, "Why can't I ever sustain a practice!?" kind of stuff.
These days, I still use the app ... when I remember. Instead of having it on my home screen on my iphone, I keep it in the back. Even feelings of having accomplished an unbroken streak have attenuated. They vaguely arise like sleepy guests at a bed & breakfast; I feed them a bit of attention and let them go on their way.
Before you try that, you should try an older product called the Wild Divine.
It's a nice game, but since my practice has stabilized, I have not played with it.
But yeah, practice on the cushion is nice. It is also about integrating the insights you've attained with your life when you're not on the cushion. And to have the courage to change your career if you've decided this is no longer the life you want to live.
It's interesting for sure, but the post reaks of zealotry.
You're never going to prove anything about mindfulness, not from the outside. No one can ever force you to be mindful, so I'm not sure where zealotry comes in.
Poor science.