36 ms·

Put down devices, let your mind wander, study suggests

• zaik 4y ago
  > The thinking group expected to enjoy the task significantly less than the news-checking group, but afterward, the two groups reported similar enjoyment levels. Does the study really suggest not checking the news then?
  • aklemm 4y ago
    Following the news very closely is a dubious activity, even though being ignorant is worse.
• ilaksh 4y ago
  Don't most people think about stuff before they fall asleep? I know I do. Often it takes quite awhile to fall asleep for me and have plenty of time to do it.
  • Kaze404 4y ago
    Depends. I remember reading a while ago that the average time for a person to fall asleep is 15 minutes. I personally believe I fall asleep instantly, but maybe that’s just me not being conscious enough during those 15 minutes to remember them.
    • kar5pt 4y ago
      I envy you. It takes me an hour or more unless I've already stayed up way too late.
  • hammock 4y ago
    Not if you fall asleep to YouTube or TikTok
  • theshrike79 4y ago
    I specifically need to zone out and calm my mind TO fall asleep. Took me years to teach my brain that "lying down in bed" == "brain turns off". Otherwise I'd spiral into a web of incomplete thoughts that would never get anywhere and I'd just get really stressed - and then fall to a restless sleep, anxious. Now if I'm a bit wound up, I put on some wireless headphones and listen to some really boring or non-consequential podcast with a sleep timer on Overcast. Unless I'm really stressed, I never get to the end of a 10 minute episode.
    • intrasight 4y ago
      I can't emphasize enough what an impact this approach had for me. I suffered from sleep anxiety and insomnia. Took trazodone for years. It lost its potency and I wanted to get off the sleep drugs. Then I discovered history podcasts. The only ones that work have a single person talking and no ads intermixed with the podcast episode. Usually I'm asleep five minutes into the podcast. Then when I wake in the morning, I listen to it with my coffee. A few years ago my daughter was having similar problems and she too solved it with podcasts.
      • Flashtoo 4y ago
        Are there any specific podcasts you would recommend?
        • theshrike79 4y ago
          For history stuff, I just love: https://historyofeverythingpodcast.com https://historyofeverythingpodcast.com The creator got started on TikTok doing weird history trivia with is wife and has started a podcast after that. For my "going to sleep" podcasts, I use "The Indicator from Planet Money" (the ads are a bit distracting at times), "More or Less" (facts about numbers in the news), "Robot or Not" and "Ungeniused". All are long enough to fall asleep to, but interesting enough to start listening.
        • intrasight 4y ago
          History of Rome Revolutions The History of Bizantium The British History Podcast
  • david_allison 4y ago
    I fall asleep pretty much instantly. Isn't thinking about things distracting you from sleep?
    • ilaksh 4y ago
      I would love to be able to stop thinking just because I lay down or something.
• dexwiz 4y ago
  I wonder how much of the current anxiety wave that seems to have stricken Millennials and Gen Z is because they have no idea how to be alone with their thoughts. Anecdotally, I have heard a great many jokes about needing a distraction due to negative internal discourse. Like if they are left alone for more than 5 minutes by themselves, they will inevitably spiral into depression. I have people in my life that need a constant supply of internet, podcasts, music, tv, etc, or they start to get anxious. As an anxious person, I see why. Like any skill, guiding your thoughts away from negativity without repression, is something that needs practice. If you are constantly distracted, you never get to practice this trait. I see the rise of "wellness" and pop-meditation as a reaction.
  • chadlavi 4y ago
    Well, that and the world is a pretty terrible place. Think about it for too long and you'll get pretty depressed.
    • thatswrong0 4y ago
      Depends on your perspective. I know the more I’m on my phone, and the more social media I consume, the more I feel that way. But when I actually get out into the world and meet people and do stuff.. it’s not nearly so bad. And it’s cheesy but: “grant me the serenity to accept the things I cannot change, courage to change the things I can, and wisdom to know the difference.”
    • formerly_proven 4y ago
      "The world is awful. The world is much better. The world can be much better."
    • vorpalhex 4y ago
      The world is generally a better place than it has ever been. That trend seems to continue.
    • pomian 4y ago
      The world, is full of goodness, hope, progress and humour. But, you need to accept that in between all the media (news) that focuses on the negative, and bad noise. Look at a parent playing with a kid, look at a kitten, look at a doctor, look at a teacher. Saving, creating, improving lives, in spite of the negativity of the 'press'.
• civilized 4y ago
  > It is important to note that participants did not rate thinking as an extremely enjoyable task, but simply as more enjoyable than they thought it would be, according to Murayama. On average, participants’ enjoyment level was around 3 to 4 on a 7-point scale Subtitle: you'll have a mediocre time doing it, but it'll be better than you expected!
  • lumb63 4y ago
    As if that were not bad enough, the news-checking group seemed to enjoy their time more than the thinking group. The article seems to be pitching the study as showing that thinking is preferable to other activities, but the data shows that simply isn’t the case.
    • deleted 4y ago
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• theshrike79 4y ago
  I've said this a thousand times and will repeat it until I die: The #1 job for a parent is to make sure their children are bored out of their minds regularly. Take away the sources of easy serotonin (usually the smartphone), either by taking the kid outside without it or whatever works for you. For example if you're on a 20 minute car ride as a family, the kids don't need to be on their smart device every second of the way - preferably at all. It's OK to be bored and just have your own thoughts to keep you entertained.
  • dQw4w9WgXcQ 4y ago
    100%. A book, a backyard and a stick is all kids need. For each birthday they get an additional book and stick.
    • dbtc 4y ago
      To pair with a book: blank paper and something to mark it with To pair with a stick, when old enough: a knife.
      • theshrike79 4y ago
        This is a good guide to follow with kids: https://www.fiftydangerousthings.com https://www.fiftydangerousthings.com Our kid started with a knife when they were around 2 or 3. A dull-ish slightly serrated one first and graduated to an actual kitchen knife at 4. Got their first actual outdoor knife for their 5th birthday.
        • stevage 4y ago
          I got a Swiss army knife when I was maybe ten. I never really used it for anything. I've done lots of outdoors things but I've never quite understood why people find knives so useful.
          • dfxm12 4y ago
            Lifestyle blogs and popular subreddits have done great marketing for knives in the past 12 or so years. As such, their fashion or status have surpassed their utility.
• nerdbaggy 4y ago
  I did a one hour float tank session before. It’s very interesting and kinda hard experience being with only yourself floating in water for a full hour.
  • GrifMD 4y ago
    I've enjoyed sensory deprivation tanks like this, but to be perfectly honest, I feel like I can let my mind wander the same way when I wake up an hour before my alarm goes off and manage to resist picking up my phone.
    • eastbound 4y ago
      But even resisting the urge takes brain cycles. One day you’ll reach the level of being happy not to have the choice - put the phone in another room and be fine with it.
• anvandare 4y ago
  "Tout le malheur des hommes vient d’une seule chose, qui est de ne savoir pas demeurer en repos dans une chambre." "All the unhappiness of men arises from a single fact, which is from not knowing how to stay at rest in a room." (Blaise Pascal, Pensées, 139) It is no coincidence that the word 'idle' means both 'doing nothing' and 'being worthless'. I could write out a longer comment with some more thoughts on the health of a society that is obsessed with productivity and 'staying busy', but I'd rather spend those minutes doing nothing instead.
  • liberia 4y ago
    All of humanity's problems stem from man's inability to sit quietly in a room alone. Blaise Pascal For another spin on it. That quote is brilliant and profound. Sad that thinking is regarded as an afflicting disease and our devices are the cure. I purposefully dedicate an hour to just do jack shit and be alone with my thoughts. ‘Oh you saw something in your mind? Relax it’s called an idea. Get used to them’
    • nonrandomstring 4y ago
      "The Belcerebons of Kakrafoon Kappa were sentenced to telepathy by a Galactic Tribunal because the rest of the galaxy found peaceful contemplation contemptuous." - HHGTTG I often think smartphones were inflicted upon Earth by our alien neighbours to distract us and stop us ever getting off this rock.
      • slowmovintarget 4y ago
        > ...And George, while his intelligence was way above normal, had a little mental handicap radio in his ear. He was required by law to wear it at all times. It was tuned to a government transmitter. Every twenty seconds or so, the transmitter would send out some sharp noise to keep people like George from taking unfair advantage of their brains. -- Harrison Bergeron, by Kurt Vonnegut We don't need Diana Moon Glampers, we do it to ourselves. Another quote: "Writing is thinking." -- David McCullough We need to write more, for ourselves, to others, in slow, careful sentences, building arguments. Tweets don't cut it.
• lampshades 4y ago
  Sometimes I wonder if our preoccupation with information consumption is a catalyst for our inability to have epiphanic thought. We’d probably have more Einstein-like breakthroughs in science if we weren’t constantly reading to find the answer and instead let our minds connect into the collective consciousness that already knows all.
  • theshrike79 4y ago
    We stand on the shoulders of giants. ...but the giants are getting bigger for every generation and it takes longer and longer to climb to the shoulders. Some people make it, some quit half way and some don't even try when they see the monumental effort needed. It takes huge effort and tons of time just to stay current on world events, never mind popular culture and hobbies and other interests. Combine that with 8-10 hours of work every day (including commutes) + family time + sleep and there really isn't time for epiphanic thought. A bit over a hundred years ago we had people like Sabine Baring-Gould[0], who wrote over a hundred books and published over a thousand papers. He was born to a rich family, though, which did give him the time and resources. But at the time it was possible for him to learn much of the existing knowledge and expand it radically during his lifetime. [0] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sabine_Baring-Gould https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sabine_Baring-Gould
  • pxue 4y ago
    I actually think it's the opposite. We put TOO much emphasis on epiphanic breakthroughs and often incorrectly attribute major discoveries to seemingly moments of epiphany. Einstein's biggest discovery took him decades to formalize, and definitely was not a eureka moment.
    • Khartoum 4y ago
      Perhaps Einstein had many small epiphantic thoughts along the way to his great breakthrough, that aren't of any real interest to the average person.
  • qlm 4y ago
    "We owe the cultural achievements of humanity—which include philosophy—to deep, contemplative attention. Culture presumes an environment in which deep attention is possible. Increasingly, such immersive reflection is being displaced by an entirely different form of attention: hyperattention. A rash change of focus between different tasks, sources of information, and processes characterizes this scattered mode of awareness. Since it also has a low tolerance for boredom, it does not admit the profound idleness that benefits the creative process. ... "hyperactive intensification leads to an abrupt switch into hyperpassivity; now one obeys every impulse or stimulus without resistance. Instead of freedom, it produces new constraints. It is an illusion to believe that being more active means being freer. "Without the “excluding instincts” Nietzsche praises, action scatters into restless, hyperactive reaction and abreaction. In a pure state, activity only prolongs what is already available. In contrast, a real turn to the Other presupposes the negativity of an interruption. Only by the negative means of making-pause can the subject of action thoroughly measure the sphere of contingency (which is unavailable when one is simply active)." "The Burnout Society" - Byung-Chul Han
• xcambar 4y ago
  As I grew older, there are certain things I have learned to enjoy more, such as slowness, inaction, loneliness, boredom. Boredom is typically the most controversial, so the reason here is that boredom first allows for moments you want out of, but also there's more: It expands the range of comfort zone of emotions and sets the ground floor of your emotions low enough that you can actually welcome more experiences as rather good. That limits the number of "meh" moments drastically. Beware though that setting the ground floor of your emotions lower doesn't mean it lowers down the average "feeling of happiness" in your life. The thing I reject the most today is the constant pressure for action, movement and performance. I used to love them though but now, nearing 40, I see them a way to escape rather than embrace what life has to offer.
  • liberia 4y ago
    Well as a hacker, boredom is the enemy and we’re always at war with boredom. For a hacker, boredom is a form of death.
    • ta988 4y ago
      Not my experience. I'm happy to hack things so I have more alone space and time too. I don't see the two opposed at all.
    • GrifMD 4y ago
      This sounds like a quote from Neal Stephenson's Snow Crash.
    • switchbak 4y ago
      Well, some hackers are also Buddhists, which don't tend to view boredom like that.
      • NovaVeles 4y ago
        And that is how we get Bodhi Linux. ;)
    • xcambar 4y ago
• jrs235 4y ago
  Hmmm. Just got home. While driving I noticed several bad drivers. I immediately assumed they were holding their cell phone in one hand and looking at it. I was right. Then I thought of making bumper stickers: "Do you hold your spouse's hand as much as you hold your phone while driving?!?" Then I reached over and held my wife's hand.
  • _c3ag 4y ago
    hahaha! that was so cute edit: ops i forgot there is a thumbs up button… so how about vehicles having a simple lock checking if driver phone is being used? that would save so much accidents
  • ocimbote 4y ago
    Many pediatricians in Berlin (presumably all around Germany as well) have a poster showing parents doom-scrolling with the mention "how much did you talk to your kids today?". Brutal and relevant. I think of it every time I have a "I am in this picture and I don't like it" moment.
    • stevage 4y ago
      My friends who are parents feel so guilty if they ever look at their phone while with kids. That message might have gotten through too strongly.
      • bigDinosaur 4y ago
        Why does that seem to be 'too strongly'? Just like how being very fit requires some level of guilt with eating cake, so too does avoiding overuse of smartphones.
        • xcambar 4y ago
          Because there is a middleground. Being fit or staying away from your phone doesn't require to run 20k a week or to remove the phone from your kids' perception of the world.
• osamagirl69 4y ago
  There is some interesting discussion in the analysis portion of the paper that resonated deeply with me. >However, the fact that participants underestimated the potential task motivation during the thinking period may indicate that people avoid thinking not because it is aversive but because it is expected to be aversive. >Such an inaccurate expectation may lead people to unnecessarily avoid spending time thinking in their daily life. >For example, the current widespread availability of the Internet and mobile phones makes it extremely easy for people to kill time when they have nothing to do, and our results suggest that people’s continual engagement in electronic devices may in part reflect inaccurate metacognitive beliefs about the value of not doing anything I found that hiking helps me break the addiction (or dopamine hits or whatever you prefer to call it) to the internet. I observe a similar effect to that described in the paper (not because it is aversive but because it is expected to be aversive) -- the act of filling my water bottle an getting in the car sometimes takes every ounce of my will, but after I am over that I absolutely enjoy the exercise and sense of clarity it brings to let my mind wonder for a few hours. As an experiment I just changed my HN bookmark to point to this story, to remind me that I shouldn't be refreshing HN for the 12th time today, and then add one more click to get to the homepage.
  • vavooom 4y ago
    Just did the same to my bookmark. In Smart Note Taking, the idea of focusing on what you are consuming for the purpose of learning and writing is constantly stressed. Namely, in reading something, how does this further my learning and/or writing? If it does, record a brief note of it. If it does not, consider, well, putting that away and moving back to something else.
  • pj_mukh 4y ago
    What are other good mobile strategies? I need my phone to keep an eye on some work stuff + elderly parents on WhatsApp, but clearly parts of the phone are neurologically optimized to keep me distracted (and it works!) So what are other good ways to fight this?
    • gukov 4y ago
• jerlam 4y ago
  There's also the long-standing idea that people come up with great/interesting ideas while in the shower (so much that it's an internet meme), and that's attributed to the shower being one of the few places where you don't have media or electronics trying to capture your attention.
  • kevinventullo 4y ago
    Not just media and electronics; nearly all sensory input is minimized in the shower.
  • arvinsim 4y ago
    I should stop bringing my smartphone to the shower!
    • mbg721 4y ago
      Indeed, that's what bubble-baths are for. How else are you going to do that rubber-duck debugging?
  • gofreddygo 4y ago
    That phenomenon is very real in my personal case. Unfortunately the ideas go away by the time i get hold of pen and paper after the shower. Possible solutions to this are welcome.
    • jahewson 4y ago
      I had one of these for a while, water proof: https://www.amazon.com/Aqua-Notes-Water-Proof-Note/dp/B01AS5I0ZS https://www.amazon.com/Aqua-Notes-Water-Proof-Note/dp/B01AS5...
      • zw7 4y ago
        Nice! I've been wanting something to take notes on in the shower and this looks perfect. Are you able to share your thoughts on how well it worked? I don't trust Amazon reviews.
• p1esk 4y ago
  I can’t, I gotta check hackernews
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• presentation 4y ago
  I found that a two week long vipassana meditation retreat was a great way to really come to appreciate being alone with your thoughts. I experienced a clarity of mind I pretty much never experienced in my life up to that point, mostly from spending two weeks of having no choice but to be alone with myself. It’s materially different than a 20 minute interlude of solitude/meditation (and also far more difficult both to make the time and to persist through it), but also very rewarding.
  • thewarrior 4y ago
    How did the experience change you in the long term
    • presentation 4y ago
      A few things - I have a better awareness of how I’m feeling in general. This let’s me not wallow in my lows and really enjoy my highs - I found a formulaic way that I can calm my mind - useful when I’m restless but want to sleep, stressed out and avoiding work, just want to think rationally about something, etc - I feel just generally more open and flexible as a result of noticing how my emotions influence my thoughts.
• bamboozled 4y ago
  Has anyone experimented with having a "dumb phone" and taking that with them just in-case people need to contact them or for emergencies? Lately, I've had a few times when I accidentally left my phone at home and after an hour or so realized how much fun I've had without it.
  • cmurf 4y ago
    I wish my stupid smart phone had a dumb phone mode.
    • m_mueller 4y ago
      iOS has it, it’s called focus mode. But good luck actually having the resolve to stay in it. (Plus the app drawer kinda defeats the idea again).
      • tillcarlos 4y ago
        Yes. The idea is great: hide some of the screens when in focus mode. Problems: cannot totally disable apps like in the app usage settings. And there you cannot really schedule blocks where you can access them. Also: the allowed apps list has a bug which makes it unusable. I have no idea why these two features are distinct. (mean thought: maybe apple doesn’t actually want us to use it properly?)
        • m_mueller 4y ago
          To me it seems that for a while Apple has become a bit Microsoft-ish with iOS (certainly influenced by its immense popularity) in that they never clean out the old stuff, only add in new stuff on top of it. Exhibit A: Stage manager living on top of but not replacing the previous multitasking features. On your point I totally agree, app usage should be unified with focus mode.
  • alatkins 4y ago
    Apple Watch with cellular lets me leave behind my phone when I feel like it and still be contactable.
• chevman 4y ago
  "The difference between loneliness and solitude is who you are alone with and who made the choice." I was told this 3 weeks in to an Outward Bound course in the colorado wilderness when I was 18. It has stayed with me my whole life now (i'm 43!) and I think of it often.
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• kumarvvr 4y ago
  Recently un-installed the following apps. - Reddit - Amazon Prime Video - Netflix I could not shake off the addiction of scrolling for new content and news, all day long. I could not concentrate on any work. I would either be scrolling on reddit or kept a show running "in the background" while doing work. I suffered like this for 4 years Thank god I was self aware enough of my addiction. Planning to stay off them even on desktops.
  • arthurcolle 4y ago
    I feel like reddit is unusable these days without prepending old. as a subdomain. And I never use netflix or prime video on a mobile device, but I mean that's cool if you find that useful! When in your day do you find yourself using video streaming apps on mobile
    • kumarvvr 4y ago
      On desktop, I always use the old. site. On mobile, the app is decent enough (meaning extremely addictive). I used to use the streaming apps to have something like Seinfeld, Friends or BBT running in the background. I would have the streaming apps on at home all the time, and even at work, when I am working alone (my office situation is such that I can work in a separate conference room, with a wide view to let me know if someone is coming). So, my streaming would be several hours every day. Thanks to dead cheap internet charges in India, and the fact that my provider allows for bandwidth carry forward, I have no worries about the bill.
  • enasterosophes 4y ago
    Yeah, I recently gave up reddit too, for the same reason. It was interfering with my concentration too much, not only when working, but also when just trying to do something productive with my liesure time. I was clicking refresh hundreds of times a day. Very much a "poker machine" mentality. The clicks are free, but attention is priceless.
• quickthrower2 4y ago
  My anecdotal experience is this is good thing to do. But I am addicted to devices, especially HN, Reddit and a game I won't mention because I don't want to get you addicted to it too. I think you can get a lot of joy by letting your mind wander! It may not be productive (like an Eureka moment), but it can be fun, it can also remembering to do something you would have otherwise not thought about.
  • pddpro 4y ago
    Try me.
    • quickthrower2 4y ago
      ROT13: fyvgure.vb
      • Yajirobe 4y ago
        slither.io?
        • itsmemattchung 4y ago
          Wished I never saw this comment :)
        • quickthrower2 4y ago
          it was meant to be a spoiler proof comment
  • silentsea90 4y ago
    It takes a fair bit to go from hearing about a game to being addicted to it. What game is it?
    • fastball 4y ago
      My money is on one of the classic HN-crowd time-sinks: KSP, Factorio, EVE Online, Stardew Valley, Rimworld, etc. edit: can't believe I almost forgot Universal Paperclips
• eastbound 4y ago
  > Not all thinking is intrinsically rewarding, and in fact some people are prone to vicious cycles of negative thinking Major reason why I avoid thinking. If I’m left to wander, I have dark ideas, remember the bad parts of my life, and have hate for everyone. What social networks and Youtube help me for, is cover these thoughts and let me spend my time in the present, at the price of not enjoying creativity anymore, or not being able to debrief on my day / month, because any debrieffing would cause think about the past. Our societies are challenging and nothing happens like we want, and no amount of psychiatrist has helped, because psychiatrists don’t change society.
  • calf 4y ago
    Ironically this is what I'm going through; as I read these comments, in the back of my head I'm darkly ruminating about my day.
• abhaynayar 4y ago
  I have stopped listening to audiobooks while I'm out for a walk. At first, audiobooks seemed like such an efficient use of time. But after finishing a couple of audiobooks on my walks, I felt that my brain and my ears always yearned for not listening to audiobooks and instead just wanted to enjoy the walk itself. Now I just walk. If I'm not feeling that well, I do put on some music for a while, but never an audiobook or a podcast. On that note, I have decided to just read physical books. For all the inconveniences that reading a physical book has, I have felt that it makes reading more intentional. I can't just read anywhere or anytime I want. I have to now deliberately decide to read, even if it is way more inefficient. It lets my thoughts breath and settle. The purpose for me now is not to read as many books as possible, but to enjoy the books that I do read, and absorb them down to their core.
  • syntheweave 4y ago
    I took a sketchbook on my walk today. I did have my phone and used it some, but drawing things from life, with traditional materials, is a nice way to slow down and engage with the immediate world. Especially since with walking routes, it's usually the same things every day, so while you might think "I've seen this before", once you try to draw it and capture everything you can, it's like you haven't seen it at all.
    • nicbou 4y ago
      Sketching forces you to pay attention. It's a very deliberate thing.
  • nicbou 4y ago
    My walks got a lot better when I started looking up birds and plants. Now green spaces aren't just a nice background, but a rich, immersive world. Even in the city, it's fun to watch and listen. There's a ton going on, and you rob yourself of that experience when you have something playing over it.
  • nvarsj 4y ago
    Walking without distraction is a pleasure that I rediscovered recently. It’s been great for my mental health. I also seem to solve problems out of nowhere on my walks.
• tjr225 4y ago
  Try to for a moment enjoy the irony and beauty in the fact that a bunch of technocratic tards might realize that the very thing that they created that pays for their mcmansion townhouse in Fremont or Bellevue is actually not good for their health. Movies will be made about this. We are unfortunately cartoons.
• mellavora 4y ago
  Sabbath. Friday evening at the end of the workday, close your computer and put down your phone. Don't open them until Saturday after dinner. It is damn hard, and worth it.
• vjk800 4y ago
  I've played with the idea that the internet should just have mandatory closing hours. Every day at 20:00 the ISPs would just stop routing traffic except maybe to a handful of critical services. In Scandinavia we have a long history of limiting services (for example, sales of alcohol) for the collective benefit. Why not rekindle these type of policies?
  • corobo 4y ago
    Which timezone? > Why not rekindle these type of policies? Giving any government that much power right now is probably not the greatest move. Personally I think any type of restriction like this is the government overstepping. You're allowed to turn your personal router off whenever you want. They can't stop you. Don't take peoples freedom away because you can't put down the phone.
• rzz3 4y ago
  What if you’re not comfortable alone with your thoughts? To be honest, long drives alone have a way of dwelling up some tough memories.
  • vosper 4y ago
    Then don’t do it.
  • theshrike79 4y ago
    Therapy. It's OK to have tough memories, it's bad to dwell on them without any resolution. Talking to a friend or SO might work too, but some things are better told to a professional who has no emotional ties to the issue.
• k__ 4y ago
  Any idea how to get rid of vicious cycles? I like letting my mind wander, but often I hit unpleasent thoughts and it throws me off.
  • theshrike79 4y ago
    Might be a bit world-huggy, but here goes: Accept the unpleasant thoughts, but don't dwell on them. One advice I got was to give yourself a set amount of time for unpleasant thoughts or worrying. After that you can let it go and move on. The most important bit is noticing when you're just thinking in circles without any extra input, that's the route to anxiety and depression.
  • dmichulke 4y ago
    The only way out is through. Therapy while "being away from the pressure"* helped me. * Go away from your job / family / country / ... - whereever you feel the pressure arises.
• iancmceachern 4y ago
  This is one of the main benefits of meditation IMO. It's more about giving yourself the time and space to think through things to your own minds satisfaction. Giving your mind the space it needs to process things.
• ChildOfChaos 4y ago
  I'm trying to do this more. It's a tough one, because with access to so much information, I feel like there are a lot of interesting things to see and learn which could impact my thinking and the stuff I do a great deal, but at the same time, all of that stuff and content seems to have crept into every spare moment of time, I am not sure how much I know how to genuinely think deeply about things for myself anymore. Most of my 'ideas' or view points are more just something I read from somewhere and I wonder about this is terms of how do these people come up with these thoughts and ideas? i'm just copying there view points but not having much original thoughts of my own, they are just people like me, everyone seems to look up to certain people or 'leaders' but they are just people. I feel like I need more time and space to have more thoughts of my own. Last year I did experiences with just sitting in silence for an hour a day, or doing a meditiation where I just allowed myself to think whatever thoughts I wanted, it felt really nice, but in the end I wasn't so sure I could spend an hour a day on it.
  • juve1996 4y ago
    > It's a tough one, because with access to so much information, I feel like there are a lot of interesting things to see and learn which could impact my thinking and the stuff I do a great deal, but at the same time, all of that stuff and content seems to have crept into every spare moment of time, I am not sure how much I know how to genuinely think deeply about things for myself anymore. This resonates with me, not from an originality standpoint only, but from just a contentment standpoint as well. While there is this great potential for me to see interesting things or learn something new, I find my appreciation for a lot of things has also gone way down. Nothing seems to be special anymore. Even if I do find something cool, my appreciation for it is non-existent because "there could be something else."
• commandlinefan 4y ago
  It's really surprising how many things clarify for me when I take the dog for a long walk and have no choice but to think about random things for a half hour or so.
  • fatnoah 4y ago
    My ideal "day off" is basically aimlessly wandering around my city. During the walk, my brain just goes on its own adventure. After a full day of that, I'm always amazingly relaxed.
• grvdrm 4y ago
  For me, this is running in a nutshell. Everyone is shocked because I don't listen to music or anything else when I run. It's my time for completely uninterrupted thinking about anything. It's lovely.
  • rochak 4y ago
    I’ll start doing this
• fraXis 4y ago
  I heard an interview with Steven Spielberg years ago. I wish I could find it for reference. He said in the interview that anytime he drives in his car, he would not talk on his phone or listen to the radio. It was complete silence for the duration of the drive. And most of his best work and ideas came from these "silent drives" because he was forced to be creative and use his imagination to keep himself entertained.