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> lose myself into doing something that has the capability of swallowing me whole That's what being mindful is all about! It teaches you how to be present in t

> lose myself into doing something that has the capability of swallowing me whole That's what being mindful is all about! It teaches you how to be present in the moment and let those negative anxious thoughts pass by rather than consume you.

rwnspace 8y ago
Well, that's just as much something that can be learned through CBT or other means, and it's worth keeping in mind that negative effects are not unheard of [1]. [1] https://www.theguardian.com/society/2014/aug/25/mental-health-meditation https://www.theguardian.com/society/2014/aug/25/mental-healt...
- deleted 8y ago
  [deleted]
ljm 8y ago
This isn’t meditation or mindfulness, it’s just an aspirational sales pitch for it that says nothing about how fucking hard it is when you’re dealing with non-trivial stuff. Nobody at any level below enlightenment will let go of any particular emotion and let it pass by, just by engaging in this practice. There is no letting go unless your meditation practice has first allowed you to fully express that which is holding you back. Meditation isn’t just getting into the zone.
- phailhaus 8y ago
  > Nobody at any level below enlightenment will let go of any particular emotion and let it pass by, just by engaging in this practice. Have you tried? It's not easy. It's taken months but my anxiety has noticeably decreased, though there's still a long way to go. Several times I've "let my guard down" and relapsed, thinking that I didn't have to try so hard anymore. I've come to admit that it's going to be a daily thing that I have to watch for, though it does get easier. > There is no letting go unless your meditation practice has first allowed you to fully express that which is holding you back. Yes, that's exactly what you have to do. You can't let something go if you don't know what it is. Maybe you have an inaccurate idea of what mindfulness is?
- empath75 8y ago
  I’m no zen monk but I do this on a very surface level, detaching myself from my current emotions and trying to observe them going by. I’ve found it useful in controlling anger and anxiety. Does it solve it? No. But I do find it useful and it doesn’t take that much effort or practice to get some value out of it.
sridca 8y ago
> let those negative anxious thoughts pass by rather than consume you. Lol, I'd much rather prefer for those negative anxious thoughts to not occur in the first place (and there is a superior method to achieve this), much less having to have to let them pass by or consume me. This is why meditation is not a solution.
- newfoundglory 8y ago
  Most people will experience anxious/negative feelings throughout their life, and improving how they handle them will be useful on all those occasions. I don’t know how you think you are going to prevent this from happening to you - perhaps you are thinking specifically of an anxiety disorder or other extreme?
  - sridca 8y ago
    I've successfully disarmed myself off most of the normal everyday anxieties by investigating them one by one. What's left will also go away in due time.
- phailhaus 8y ago
  Trying to suppress your thoughts is not a solution either, that just gives them more weight. When you let them by, you realize that they were not worth the attention in the first place, and they fade away over time. There is no quick fix.
  - sridca 8y ago
    suppression != not-occurring
    - phailhaus 8y ago
      Unfortunately I think you'll find that not everything can be solved, and that you'll always have some anxiety. It would actually be strange if you didn't, everyone has these thoughts every so often. The trick is to not let them take over you, and just move on. I suspect you're doing this without realizing it; you're analyzing your anxieties until you understand them, and then they stop happening over time as you stop giving them so much attention.
palimpsests 8y ago
Being present in the moment - is one aspect of mindfulness. That this can facilitate less "holding on" to thoughts and emotional states is a nice side effect. For me and the communities I am a part of - I've noticed something that feels "deeper", here, which is that I've learned to not try to avoid things that feel negative - really, to befriend and even welcome every and all emotional state with curiosity and compassion. In this way, I've felt much less reactive, and much more capable of introspecting on what is going on within myself. This, combined with various other practices, support, and therapy, has been uncovering some really big changes in my life, both internally and externally. This reminds me of a concept that is frequently discussed by a teacher and author I recommend - Tara Brach (she has a great podcast series). She talks about the twin wings of compassion and awareness that are fundamental to many schools of Buddhism. Awareness === mindfulness, mastery of the mind and thought. Without compassion, i.e., opening of the heart - mindfulness doesn't have the same kind of potency for cultivation. It's hard to fly with only one wing. There's been a very large push for mindfulness but less so for unconditional love. Probably because we are a very cognitively-focused society, with many, many powerful disembodying influences. To stay connected to ones heart is a somatic experience. In my own experience and, again, hearing from many others, this is much more challenging than practicing different kinds of mindfulness meditation on a regular basis. Certainly not even remotely close to impossible - it's a natural state of our physiology that's often been deconditioned. There are many tools, techniques, and systems to help us re-access this state. With compassion, unconditional love can be brought to all aspects of yourself, all parts of experience that our egoic states might want to categorize as "bad" (or "good"). And, if we can really give this to ourselves, then we bring it out into the world, to share with as many beings as possible.

rwnspace 8y ago

Well, that's just as much something that can be learned through CBT or other means, and it's worth keeping in mind that negative effects are not unheard of [1]. [1] https://www.theguardian.com/society/2014/aug/25/mental-health-meditation https://www.theguardian.com/society/2014/aug/25/mental-healt...

deleted 8y ago
[deleted]

ljm 8y ago

This isn’t meditation or mindfulness, it’s just an aspirational sales pitch for it that says nothing about how fucking hard it is when you’re dealing with non-trivial stuff. Nobody at any level below enlightenment will let go of any particular emotion and let it pass by, just by engaging in this practice. There is no letting go unless your meditation practice has first allowed you to fully express that which is holding you back. Meditation isn’t just getting into the zone.

phailhaus 8y ago
> Nobody at any level below enlightenment will let go of any particular emotion and let it pass by, just by engaging in this practice. Have you tried? It's not easy. It's taken months but my anxiety has noticeably decreased, though there's still a long way to go. Several times I've "let my guard down" and relapsed, thinking that I didn't have to try so hard anymore. I've come to admit that it's going to be a daily thing that I have to watch for, though it does get easier. > There is no letting go unless your meditation practice has first allowed you to fully express that which is holding you back. Yes, that's exactly what you have to do. You can't let something go if you don't know what it is. Maybe you have an inaccurate idea of what mindfulness is?
empath75 8y ago
I’m no zen monk but I do this on a very surface level, detaching myself from my current emotions and trying to observe them going by. I’ve found it useful in controlling anger and anxiety. Does it solve it? No. But I do find it useful and it doesn’t take that much effort or practice to get some value out of it.

sridca 8y ago

> let those negative anxious thoughts pass by rather than consume you. Lol, I'd much rather prefer for those negative anxious thoughts to not occur in the first place (and there is a superior method to achieve this), much less having to have to let them pass by or consume me. This is why meditation is not a solution.

newfoundglory 8y ago
Most people will experience anxious/negative feelings throughout their life, and improving how they handle them will be useful on all those occasions. I don’t know how you think you are going to prevent this from happening to you - perhaps you are thinking specifically of an anxiety disorder or other extreme?
- sridca 8y ago
  I've successfully disarmed myself off most of the normal everyday anxieties by investigating them one by one. What's left will also go away in due time.
phailhaus 8y ago
Trying to suppress your thoughts is not a solution either, that just gives them more weight. When you let them by, you realize that they were not worth the attention in the first place, and they fade away over time. There is no quick fix.
- sridca 8y ago
  suppression != not-occurring
  - phailhaus 8y ago
    Unfortunately I think you'll find that not everything can be solved, and that you'll always have some anxiety. It would actually be strange if you didn't, everyone has these thoughts every so often. The trick is to not let them take over you, and just move on. I suspect you're doing this without realizing it; you're analyzing your anxieties until you understand them, and then they stop happening over time as you stop giving them so much attention.

palimpsests 8y ago

Being present in the moment - is one aspect of mindfulness. That this can facilitate less "holding on" to thoughts and emotional states is a nice side effect. For me and the communities I am a part of - I've noticed something that feels "deeper", here, which is that I've learned to not try to avoid things that feel negative - really, to befriend and even welcome every and all emotional state with curiosity and compassion. In this way, I've felt much less reactive, and much more capable of introspecting on what is going on within myself. This, combined with various other practices, support, and therapy, has been uncovering some really big changes in my life, both internally and externally. This reminds me of a concept that is frequently discussed by a teacher and author I recommend - Tara Brach (she has a great podcast series). She talks about the twin wings of compassion and awareness that are fundamental to many schools of Buddhism. Awareness === mindfulness, mastery of the mind and thought. Without compassion, i.e., opening of the heart - mindfulness doesn't have the same kind of potency for cultivation. It's hard to fly with only one wing. There's been a very large push for mindfulness but less so for unconditional love. Probably because we are a very cognitively-focused society, with many, many powerful disembodying influences. To stay connected to ones heart is a somatic experience. In my own experience and, again, hearing from many others, this is much more challenging than practicing different kinds of mindfulness meditation on a regular basis. Certainly not even remotely close to impossible - it's a natural state of our physiology that's often been deconditioned. There are many tools, techniques, and systems to help us re-access this state. With compassion, unconditional love can be brought to all aspects of yourself, all parts of experience that our egoic states might want to categorize as "bad" (or "good"). And, if we can really give this to ourselves, then we bring it out into the world, to share with as many beings as possible.