6 ms·

My mind: initial resistance, I don't really wanna do it. Whatever I started it. Okay, focus on the circle. Wow this feels like it's taking a while. Oh I wonder

My mind: initial resistance, I don't really wanna do it. Whatever I started it. Okay, focus on the circle. Wow this feels like it's taking a while. Oh I wonder how other people would react to being presented this. Some people would probably expect it to be some sort of scare jump prank. Back to focusing on the circle. What was the page called again? eyes go to URL bar Oh right, one minute focus. This is distracting I'll just start counting. 1, 2, [...], 42. Oh it finished.

manmal 3y ago
Meditation in a nutshell.
- Zelphyr 3y ago
  Agreed. The powerful part is, “Back to focusing on the circle.”
  - namaria 3y ago
    And it's a bit like weight lifting. I started with just the bar. In several weeks I was lifting my body weight. You start with just one minute. Pretty soon it's effortless to calm your mind for several whenever you want.
    - bluecheese452 3y ago
      That is an extraordinary rate of progression!
      - 6510 3y ago
        He could probably already lift that but was smart enough not to get hurt.
        namaria 3y ago
        No I'm just very skinny. But in a sense also yeah I think I could have pulled that off without much training but yeah I'd get hurt.
- jalk 3y ago
  Except I rarely think of goatsee when meditating
once_inc 3y ago
There's a countdown in light grey at the bottom.
bzmrgonz 3y ago
From Huberman's notes, I think we are suppose to match the expansion of the dot with an inhaling motion. The mechanics, iirc, is to increase oxygen to the brain by deliberate long inhales.
- lukas099 3y ago
  I hate timed controlled breathing exercises like that. The circle doesn't know the current oxygen needs of my body.
  - airstrike 3y ago
    IMHO the whole point is your body also doesn't really know how fast it needs to breathe. Often when we're stressed we're taking fast, shallow breaths even if there's no real lion in the vicinity. By telling your body to breathe at X speed, you break the stress cycle YMMV
    - lukas099 3y ago
      My mileage does indeed vary. I always feel either oxygen-deprived or high on hyperventilation after. Telling myself to breathe slower is fine. Just not at some predefined interval (or worse, whatever interval the yoga instructor feels like I should be breathing at)
  - gglitch 3y ago
    Thank you. Yes. I do too. I had asthma pretty bad as a child, and rate-limiting my air intake, or really in any way trying to ensure that my breathing is meeting some spec, is super stressful for me.
  - GuB-42 3y ago
    You can breathe deeper or shallower to control that. Maybe that's the point. Because you have to follow a certain timing, your body is not on autopilot anymore, so you have to be conscious of your oxygen needs, maybe even adjust them (for example, by calming down).
  - 3y ago
compumike 3y ago
The stream-of-thought reminded me of this depiction of meditation: https://www.sippan.se/_images/meditation.jpg https://www.sippan.se/_images/meditation.jpg :)
Hnrobert42 3y ago
Perfect! Your experience is the exact experience hoped for. Many people give up on learning to meditation because they cannot clear their mind for X minutes straight. Their mind runs away, and they must bring it back to focus. They see this as failure. Yet, this is exactly what is expected. How else to learn the invaluable skill of refocusing after distraction. If staring at a circle was so stimulating you never got distracted, then you would have no chance to build your focus muscles. Note: this comment is mostly about the first steps into meditation. I learned this idea from Shinzo Young.
- JohnFen 3y ago
  > Many people give up on learning to meditation because they cannot clear their mind for X minutes straight. Their mind runs away, and they must bring it back to focus. They see this as failure. Yes, this is a real block for lots of people. When I was teaching my children to meditate, I tried to head this off a bit by telling them "you'll probably find that your headvoice will keep chattering away at first. Let it. Don't really fight it. Just acknowledge without judgment, clear your mind again, and keep meditating. Your mind will grow quieter on its own as you practice more."
  - nonrandomstring 3y ago
    I'll share my ship trick. This is for those of you that live by the bay. Needs a clear day but no Otis Redding song necessary. Where I live it takes about a 20-30 mins for a ship that left the harbour to disappear over the horizon. As it leaves I can see all the details, the name of the ship, the containers or people. Lots to think about and observe. I don't take my eyes off it. Gradually it turns into a smaller and smaller square, and eventually a dot. All that it is, all the people and cargo and funnels become an ever smaller world. Somehow that grabs and keeps my focus. Actually started to do it as an exercise for vision from too much screen time. Apparently it helps to focus on a distant object and I think... maybe... hmm... maybe it helps. But anyway, after a half hour of watching a dot vanish over the horizon, it leaves you with a _good_ feeling. Like I used to get from astronomy before moving to the city. YMMV.
  - kccqzy 3y ago
RHSman2 3y ago
Basically how I felt in my ADHD assessments. ‘You won’t get me. I know what you are testing for. Hold the line. Hold. Oh, that’s why a sort is an expensive database function! Ooops’
rwoerz 3y ago
My mind: (1) Open that page for about 3 seconds, (2) go back to HN, (3) skim through the comments, (4) realizing the irony, (5) commenting on that
- altairTF 3y ago
  Damn, i did the exact same...
- 6510 3y ago
  Try it again, this time keep in mind that your previous record was focusing for 3 seconds. I try to convince myself an effort is precisely as pathetic as it sounds. Aim to make it all the way to 6 seconds. Tell yourself this is a major accomplishment for you - a 100% improvement. Then you need to take a break, have something to eat. Stretch your muscles, do some shadow boxing and see how far you can make it beyond 12 seconds. Scream inside your head, YES I'VE MADE IT! The other thought processes deserve to be mocked like this.
jimmydddd 3y ago
Ha. I was bracing for a jump scare also.
nerdponx 3y ago
One of the biggest obstacles to any kind of mind-body practice is the sense that you NEED TO DO SOMETHING ELSE RIGHT NOW. It's a mental habit a lot of us build up over a life full of being busy with various tasks and concerns. The way I get through it is to remind myself that the only reason to avoid doing anything is fear of death, and I know for sure that sitting here for 1 minute will not kill me, therefore I have no reason not to force myself to just do it.
- 93po 3y ago
  I save comments from time to time that seem sort of obvious but still resonate with me, and this is one such comment. Thanks! :)
JFKKFJ 3y ago
[dead]
xeromal 3y ago
I was thinking about a potential jump scare during the process and it makes me wonder if that's relegated to a specific generation (young gen x and older millenails). The early internet was chock full of things that tried to jump scare you. lol
berniedurfee 3y ago
I was waiting for the Rick roll.

manmal 3y ago

Meditation in a nutshell.

Zelphyr 3y ago
Agreed. The powerful part is, “Back to focusing on the circle.”
- namaria 3y ago
  And it's a bit like weight lifting. I started with just the bar. In several weeks I was lifting my body weight. You start with just one minute. Pretty soon it's effortless to calm your mind for several whenever you want.
  - bluecheese452 3y ago
    That is an extraordinary rate of progression!
    - 6510 3y ago
      He could probably already lift that but was smart enough not to get hurt.
      - namaria 3y ago
        No I'm just very skinny. But in a sense also yeah I think I could have pulled that off without much training but yeah I'd get hurt.
jalk 3y ago
Except I rarely think of goatsee when meditating

once_inc 3y ago

There's a countdown in light grey at the bottom.

bzmrgonz 3y ago

From Huberman's notes, I think we are suppose to match the expansion of the dot with an inhaling motion. The mechanics, iirc, is to increase oxygen to the brain by deliberate long inhales.

lukas099 3y ago
I hate timed controlled breathing exercises like that. The circle doesn't know the current oxygen needs of my body.
- airstrike 3y ago
  IMHO the whole point is your body also doesn't really know how fast it needs to breathe. Often when we're stressed we're taking fast, shallow breaths even if there's no real lion in the vicinity. By telling your body to breathe at X speed, you break the stress cycle YMMV
  - lukas099 3y ago
    My mileage does indeed vary. I always feel either oxygen-deprived or high on hyperventilation after. Telling myself to breathe slower is fine. Just not at some predefined interval (or worse, whatever interval the yoga instructor feels like I should be breathing at)
- gglitch 3y ago
  Thank you. Yes. I do too. I had asthma pretty bad as a child, and rate-limiting my air intake, or really in any way trying to ensure that my breathing is meeting some spec, is super stressful for me.
- GuB-42 3y ago
  You can breathe deeper or shallower to control that. Maybe that's the point. Because you have to follow a certain timing, your body is not on autopilot anymore, so you have to be conscious of your oxygen needs, maybe even adjust them (for example, by calming down).
- 3y ago

compumike 3y ago

The stream-of-thought reminded me of this depiction of meditation: https://www.sippan.se/_images/meditation.jpg https://www.sippan.se/_images/meditation.jpg :)

Hnrobert42 3y ago

Perfect! Your experience is the exact experience hoped for. Many people give up on learning to meditation because they cannot clear their mind for X minutes straight. Their mind runs away, and they must bring it back to focus. They see this as failure. Yet, this is exactly what is expected. How else to learn the invaluable skill of refocusing after distraction. If staring at a circle was so stimulating you never got distracted, then you would have no chance to build your focus muscles. Note: this comment is mostly about the first steps into meditation. I learned this idea from Shinzo Young.

JohnFen 3y ago
> Many people give up on learning to meditation because they cannot clear their mind for X minutes straight. Their mind runs away, and they must bring it back to focus. They see this as failure. Yes, this is a real block for lots of people. When I was teaching my children to meditate, I tried to head this off a bit by telling them "you'll probably find that your headvoice will keep chattering away at first. Let it. Don't really fight it. Just acknowledge without judgment, clear your mind again, and keep meditating. Your mind will grow quieter on its own as you practice more."
- nonrandomstring 3y ago
  I'll share my ship trick. This is for those of you that live by the bay. Needs a clear day but no Otis Redding song necessary. Where I live it takes about a 20-30 mins for a ship that left the harbour to disappear over the horizon. As it leaves I can see all the details, the name of the ship, the containers or people. Lots to think about and observe. I don't take my eyes off it. Gradually it turns into a smaller and smaller square, and eventually a dot. All that it is, all the people and cargo and funnels become an ever smaller world. Somehow that grabs and keeps my focus. Actually started to do it as an exercise for vision from too much screen time. Apparently it helps to focus on a distant object and I think... maybe... hmm... maybe it helps. But anyway, after a half hour of watching a dot vanish over the horizon, it leaves you with a _good_ feeling. Like I used to get from astronomy before moving to the city. YMMV.
- kccqzy 3y ago

RHSman2 3y ago

Basically how I felt in my ADHD assessments. ‘You won’t get me. I know what you are testing for. Hold the line. Hold. Oh, that’s why a sort is an expensive database function! Ooops’

rwoerz 3y ago

My mind: (1) Open that page for about 3 seconds, (2) go back to HN, (3) skim through the comments, (4) realizing the irony, (5) commenting on that

altairTF 3y ago
Damn, i did the exact same...
6510 3y ago
Try it again, this time keep in mind that your previous record was focusing for 3 seconds. I try to convince myself an effort is precisely as pathetic as it sounds. Aim to make it all the way to 6 seconds. Tell yourself this is a major accomplishment for you - a 100% improvement. Then you need to take a break, have something to eat. Stretch your muscles, do some shadow boxing and see how far you can make it beyond 12 seconds. Scream inside your head, YES I'VE MADE IT! The other thought processes deserve to be mocked like this.

jimmydddd 3y ago

Ha. I was bracing for a jump scare also.

nerdponx 3y ago

One of the biggest obstacles to any kind of mind-body practice is the sense that you NEED TO DO SOMETHING ELSE RIGHT NOW. It's a mental habit a lot of us build up over a life full of being busy with various tasks and concerns. The way I get through it is to remind myself that the only reason to avoid doing anything is fear of death, and I know for sure that sitting here for 1 minute will not kill me, therefore I have no reason not to force myself to just do it.

93po 3y ago
I save comments from time to time that seem sort of obvious but still resonate with me, and this is one such comment. Thanks! :)

JFKKFJ 3y ago

[dead]

xeromal 3y ago

I was thinking about a potential jump scare during the process and it makes me wonder if that's relegated to a specific generation (young gen x and older millenails). The early internet was chock full of things that tried to jump scare you. lol

berniedurfee 3y ago

I was waiting for the Rick roll.