Meditation Is Garbage Collection for Your Mind
dsernst.com
dsernst.com
The truth is that we all have plenty of time for mindful thinking, even if we don't actually set aside time to sit with eyes closed in a "meditation" state. Think about how much time is spent just sitting on a train, or in line doing nothing. The instant impulse most of the time in these types of situations is to pull out your phone and distract yourself from thinking by looking at a web article, or playing a game.
I found that by reducing this habit in my life (not completely eliminated or else I wouldn't be commenting here) I had much more time for mindful thinking in my normal day to day life.
Another way to get started is to go on a long walk without headphones. Maybe even leave your phone at home. A year or so ago I was working through some shit and found it extremely helpful to take long walks on a trail that I loved with no electronics at all. That time spent free from distractions allowed me to develop introspection that was extremely useful and therapeutic.
"Mindfulness" as used in insight/mindfulness meditation / vipassana and similar schools of mediation does not refers to thinking about something.
Rather it refers to detached but focused observation (though you may observe your thoughts). The point is to instead of "following a train of thought", to get off it and watch it closely from the sideline, and let each train disappear into the distance.
What your use of "mindful thinking" sounds like to me (and I might be wrong and you may be thinking of exactly what mindfulness meditation tends to refer to), is focused attention on a train of thought. That's important too, but very, very different.
From the sounds of it you are certainly practising your concentration and willpower, and that is certainly valuable in itself, and if whatever you're doing works for you of course you should keep doing it.
But I'd like to suggst an experiment: Try to "detach" from your train of thought sometime, even if just a minute here and a minute there (a minute can be frustrating enough...). E.g. when out walking, try to purposefully clear your mind and fix your attention on just the path. Try to be present and quietly observe every detail without trying to verbalize any thoughts. Thoughts will pop up and distract you anyway. Just gently nudge them away, or observe them but try not to "follow it up" and just let it dissipate. When you lose focus, and notice (whether 5 seconds later or 10 minutes), just gently nudge your attention back.
The "game" is to note when you lose concentration and try to gradually lengthen the time span where you are just present, detached from your thought stream and just observing. As I've heard someone say: it's when you notice you lost concentration you're learning.
Choosing to make the distinction between the thought stream, the external world, and the observant self is one way to think. It is already on a layer of abstract conceptualization that is more complicated than it need be.
I just like letting go of the idea of what everyone else says learning, experiencing, and thinking is, and just let everything flow. That's when I feel most comfortable. When I let go of 'a way I think I should be' and I know instead 'I have always been the way I should be. It feels like a conscious jerk in thought when you remember to stop guiding yourself, and you just know you are already there.
The first is an outward facing approach, where I try to clear my mind of all inner thoughts and focus completely on the external sensations I am experiencing right now. So for example when entering this mode of thought I focus on putting all thoughts and concerns out of my mind and instead focus solely on the sensation of wind blowing on my skin as I'm walking along, or the sound of birds, or the colors of objects around me. It is hard to explain but by focusing in this state it is as if the colors are brighter, the sounds more vivid, basically all sensations enhanced as I am paying attention more closely with full focus. It is as if the world was a YouTube video playing at 240p and suddenly it switched to an HD stream. The result is an intense feeling of satisfaction in my existence and place in reality.
The other technique I use is to focus entirely inward on identifying what I am feeling or thinking right now. In this state of self awareness I focus on acknowledging and identifying my inner feelings objectively and thinking deeply about where they are coming from, whether they are coming from opinions unsubstantiated by fact, or whether they are rational, etc. I find it helpful to imagine my inner emotions as if they were someone else's so that I can properly see them in the right scope. This is especially useful for dealing with feelings of anger, frustration, or stress. This technique is the exact opposite of the first in that I could walk a couple miles and not really notice anything around me because of the internal focus I had.
Both techniques are similar in that they put away all non essential distractions, and non productive thought in favor of enhanced focus on the here and now and my own existence and place in reality. However, the first is focused on where I am externally, while the second is focused on what I am internally.
At any rate, I find that both techniques are useful to avoid getting wrapped up in a distracted state of non-awareness of self and the real world. I feel that especially working in tech it is easy to become so focused on computer code, and/or distracted by the dopamine triggers from Instagram, Reddit, Netflix, video games, and other distractions that you never stop to think through your own internal thoughts, or fully experience the reality around you.
But by spending time each day to focus on regrounding myself in both my true external reality, and my true internal state it helps me to keep these outside distractions from taking over my life completely and causing me to waste my life on nonessential things that in my opinion don't bring true happiness, just distraction from unhappiness.
This article, which has been submitted to HN before, investigates several severe reactions to meditation and the nonexistent research in, or even interest in researching, its downsides.
Having a negative reaction to meditation is not surprising, if you think about it. Deep introspection can lead to crippling mental states, depending on what you do or do not find. You may expect to find meaning and find none, or you may find something haunting from your past or within your psyche. Either can be a disaster for your personal well-being. I find it somewhat vapid to discuss meditation as simply an efficiency lifehack.
From the article:
> For Britton, this widespread assumption—that meditation exists only for stress reduction and labor productivity, "because that's what Americans value"—narrows the scope of the scientific lens. When the time comes to develop hypotheses around the effects of meditation, the only acceptable—and fundable—research questions are the ones that promise to deliver the answers we want to hear.
> ..."But," she cautions, "what about when meditation plays a role in creating an experience that then leads to a breakup, a psychotic break, or an inability to focus at work?"
I think in most cases it is better to begin that introspection process and endure some temporary pain in order to work through the root issue rather than trying to put it off by avoiding it.
In other words, avoiding introspection won't solve the problem.
It's actually pretty thoroughly documented in all the Buddhist commentaries that people can have a very shitty time with meditation.
"Master, I see hell, demons torment me, I'm burning!"
"It's a distraction. Carry on sitting."
"Master, I see heaven, filled with love and bliss!"
"It's a distraction. Carry on sitting."
(heavily paraphrased from decades old memory)
> Within the Buddhist tradition, [this] is sometimes referred to as 'falling into the Pit of the Void.' It entails an authentic and irreversible insight into Emptiness and No Self. Instead of being empowering and fulfilling … it turns into the opposite. In a sense, it's Enlightenment's Evil Twin. This is serious but still manageable through intensive … guidance under a competent teacher. In some cases, it takes months or even years to fully metabolize, but in my experience the results are almost always highly positive.
He goes on to add:
> If we don't describe the possibility of Dark Night, then we leave people without a context should it occur. On the other hand, if we do discuss it, people get scared and assume it's going to happen to them, even if we point out (as I just did), that it's relatively infrequent. So the take-home message is:
> 1. Don't worry, it's probably not going to happen to you.
> 2. Even if it does, that's not necessarily a problem.
The post is worth reading in its entirety. It also mentions software that "simulates an intricate tailored meditation [for] you."
The vast majority of these cases always end up being result of a genetic predisposition to psychosis.
That seems exceedingly likely to be the case with those who undergo psychotic episodes due to meditation.
I think highly introspective and mind-alerting experiences and substances like meditation, cannabis, and psychedelics all have the unfortunate side effect of potentially causing latent mental illness to surface. But it only happens when there is a latent mental illness.
Better advice might be to warn people about meditation if their family has a history of mental illness or if a doctor thinks they have an increased risk of mental illness. It should not pose any risks for an average person.
For example, I sleep 8 hours, work 8 hours, commute 1.5 hours, and take an hour for lunch.
Not counting other meals and chores, that leaves me with 5.5 discretionary hours a day.
So does learning The Knowledge.
So... defragmentation? :)
That's an initial, low level in meditation. Not meditation per se, more like getting your mind ready for it. It may take years to go beyond it, which is why a lot of people confuse it with meditation proper.
There is a point where your state of consciousness in meditation combines attributes of the waking state, the dream state, and the dreamless sleep state. When that happens, meditation indeed becomes a GC for the mind. But then sleep becomes optional, among other unusual occurrences.
Do you have a non-anecdotal source for that claim?
tx
That's a rather low bar, though.
Any "science" on meditation faces the same problems that "psychology" faced ~100 years ago, when practitioners simply described their mental states. It was only when psychology embraced empiricism and left self-descriptions of mental state behind that it was able to advance as a science.
Typing this quickly since I'm on a deadline at work, but for those interested in getting started, I set up a quarterly "Meditation Challenge" online group to track progress and keep people motivated by having a group of people and a goal. Myself and people in /r/meditation run it, so it's not a corporate anything, just a public service.
You an add your email and it will notify you when the next challenge starts:
And why do you generate less garbage? It's because you become better focused (concentration) on whatever you do (which by the way brings mindfullness as a side-effect, not on purpose). With proper concentration, you also become aware of the "dirt" (word that was used in the article from the atlatnic) and will tend to avoid this dirt. This is important, because if you want to get better at something, you must be able to recognize what's wrong. The problem with having these insights is that if you don't have a teacher to help you, you will get stuck at best or regress at worse.
Also there are alot of different meditation techniques, and although they are similar, the devil is in the details. I'm sure this definition is not appliable to every type of meditation, and that's OK.
[1] http://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Depersonalization_disorder
You've experienced an expansion of awareness. It's pretty cool when it happens. You should "encourage" it and practice it more.
Turiya is far beyond the reach of basically everyone in their normal state. It takes very long and very difficult preparation to get anywhere near it. If it's easy to get there, you're basically an avatar.
Very similar things happened to me when I first started. Likewise I didn't know who to talk with about it. Feel free to reach out to me (contact info on website), would be a pleasure to talk more with you.
> "In a series of new studies on mice, her team discovered exactly that: When the mouse brain is sleeping or under anesthesia, it’s busy cleaning out the waste that accumulated while it was awake."
The NIH [also wrote about this in optimistic tones][1], if you're not a fan of mainstream science reporting.
[0]: http://www.nytimes.com/2014/01/12/opinion/sunday/goodnight-s...
[1]: http://www.nih.gov/researchmatters/october2013/10282013clear...
You may think clearer after sleep, but you think clearer about the same things, and fall into the same mindless patterns.
Sleep lets you think clearer, more logically and faster about what you're thinking about. Meditation helps you clear out attachments and observe and learn about the way you think and why you think the ways you do and clear out the cruft that falls apart under observation.
Would be helpful to include a brief summary of the three different practises of Vipassana or insight medidation as a whole just to provide an introduction.
So I'll try to go into more details for you!
The Vipassana tradition I've been taught in includes three techniques:
* Concentration meditation, called Anapana, where you observe your breath. Just watching the rhythm in and out. Trying not to miss a single breath. It helps to focus on just a very small region, like the triangle from your nostrils to your lips.
* Insight meditation, called Vipassana, where you observe the physical sensations in each part of your body, in a systematic way, from top to bottom and bottom to top. This is pretty tricky, especially at first, and believe it or not took me over 80 hours of practice before it really "clicked". If you're trying to teach yourself, I'd recommend the ebook Meditation In Plain English, linked in the post.
* Loving-Kindness meditation, called Metta, where you generate good thoughts and compassion towards yourself and others. This one is even trickier to explain! Wish I could do it justice. But it's super powerful, and especially nice way to finish after practicing the other two techniques, which can leave you feeling a tad 'raw'. There are lots of different recommended ways of practicing Metta, but I'd recommend searching for "Metta meditation" for videos and other descriptions.
Hope this helps! Thanks for the question and I'm happy to do my best with any more.