One more book, this one on meditation
Jul. 2nd, 2015 10:13 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
flexagonI don't meditate; that is, I don't do sitting meditation. But ![[livejournal.com profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/external/lj-userinfo.gif)
heisenbug does, and other friends do, and I like reading, so I did sit and read a book on the topic. Despite the terrible title of Real Happiness, it had some concepts that I really liked.
1) "Effort needn't be struggling or straining -- it can be relaxed perseverance." Well THERE'S a nice thought. Speaks for itself, doesn't it? A whole new style to aim for, in fact, and I love it and am thinking of it often.
2) The idea of being able to always calmly start again, presented as a life skill.
3) The idea of "add-on" thoughts, where we begin with one sensation or experience and make it ever so much worse by piling on our fears for the future, our (negative) impression of ourselves in light of the initial thing, and our projections of all that into forever. This one is a keeper, and has wormed itself into my head. If I'm worried about a work email and I start to go off into "this is always my problem, I'm never good at thinking big-picture, I'm actually not as expert as people think, and OH GOD, how am I ever going to keep being productive for another twenty terrifying years..." I'm a lot more likely now to say "add-on!" and think again about that one email. This is a good trick. "Add-on!" :-)
I am now expecting a flood of "you should meditate" comments. Here's the funny thing; when I read about the mind states of meditation I'm filled with constant "oh, I do that" recognition. I practice my focusing deliberately, I often move mindfully, I basically do the book's body-scan meditation while lying in bed, I am very often conscious of trying not to identify overmuch with thoughts or emotions (and being aware of them in the first place). I don't much like to hold physically still, this is true... I like to find mindfulness in motion, instead. Or in the world.
One day perhaps I'll become a practitioner of mysore yoga, and lose myself every day in a slow, memorized, solipsistic recreation of the Ashtanga primary series. That, I could imagine.
heisenbug does, and other friends do, and I like reading, so I did sit and read a book on the topic. Despite the terrible title of Real Happiness, it had some concepts that I really liked.1) "Effort needn't be struggling or straining -- it can be relaxed perseverance." Well THERE'S a nice thought. Speaks for itself, doesn't it? A whole new style to aim for, in fact, and I love it and am thinking of it often.
2) The idea of being able to always calmly start again, presented as a life skill.
3) The idea of "add-on" thoughts, where we begin with one sensation or experience and make it ever so much worse by piling on our fears for the future, our (negative) impression of ourselves in light of the initial thing, and our projections of all that into forever. This one is a keeper, and has wormed itself into my head. If I'm worried about a work email and I start to go off into "this is always my problem, I'm never good at thinking big-picture, I'm actually not as expert as people think, and OH GOD, how am I ever going to keep being productive for another twenty terrifying years..." I'm a lot more likely now to say "add-on!" and think again about that one email. This is a good trick. "Add-on!" :-)
I am now expecting a flood of "you should meditate" comments. Here's the funny thing; when I read about the mind states of meditation I'm filled with constant "oh, I do that" recognition. I practice my focusing deliberately, I often move mindfully, I basically do the book's body-scan meditation while lying in bed, I am very often conscious of trying not to identify overmuch with thoughts or emotions (and being aware of them in the first place). I don't much like to hold physically still, this is true... I like to find mindfulness in motion, instead. Or in the world.
One day perhaps I'll become a practitioner of mysore yoga, and lose myself every day in a slow, memorized, solipsistic recreation of the Ashtanga primary series. That, I could imagine.
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Date: 2015-07-03 02:14 pm (UTC)yea, I don't tend to stick with sitting meditation because it's just the prayerful state of mind I try to cultivate throughout the day whenever I can, but walking meditation works better for me, the rhythm helps with mindfulness & the progressing route helps with awareness.