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Interestingly enough, it took until I stopped trying to think of meditation as something to game or try and get something out of, for it to finally start workin
by lawrenceyan 7y ago
Interestingly enough, it took until I stopped trying to think of meditation as something to game or try and get something out of, for it to finally start working.
My personal hypothesis is that the inherent expectation of wanting/needing to feel some kind of effect every time I tried meditating ended up being the very blockade that prevented me from doing so. I kept falling into a negative recursive thought loop of, “I haven’t noticed anything yet. This isn’t working. There’s no point in trying to continue meditating” that cycled into a cascading growth of anxiety that prevented me from reaching a state of balance.
It took me many months to realize that I was trapping myself inside this loop, but once I became aware of it, I was able to almost immediately start seeing results. The biggest thing that helped me was coming to a realization that the thoughts in my head are, at the end of the day, just thoughts. They have no ability to harm or control me other than what I choose to allow them to. The thought loop I was putting myself into could only continue because I chose to let it.
When I meditate in the present day, you might think that I no longer deal with any of these issues. That’s actually completely not the case. In fact, I constantly still get it, especially at the beginning of my sessions, but now instead of stressing out, I just choose to let it go. By actively choosing to accept and let things go, the loop breaks right from the beginning.
- ZitchDog 7y agoVery cool. I've been doing "the mind illuminated" technique for the past 4 months and it's slow going - I'm assuming because of my ADD. I am, however, far more patient with my children and content with my life in general when I meditate. I haven't seen much improvement in my ADD however, but I'm going to give it a few more months of 1hr / day practice before I try medication.
- grawprog 7y ago>The biggest thing that helped me was coming to a realization that the thoughts in my head are, at the end of the day, just thoughts. They have no ability to harm or control me other than what I choose to allow them to. This is probably one of the most important lessons i've learned in my life. Realizing this made a hugely drastic improvement to my emotions, my ability to control them and my ability to focus on things and pay attention. Learning to quiet that voice or just ignore it when I need to is a skill I think everyone should learn and would benefit from.
- TOGoS 7y agoThis reminds me of troubles I used to have falling asleep if anyone was making any noises nearby (I would get very annoyed at the fact that I was startled, which would make it even harder to fall asleep, in a terrible feedback loop). I think I managed to improve eventually, using the 'Paradoxical intention' technique that Viktor Frankl talks about in Man's Search for Meaning.