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by Blakestr
2078 days ago
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No one has really mentioned mindfulness (the "muscle" or "skill" grown by the exercise of meditation) It seems like the real question in this thread is "How do I avoid being distracted" more than anything else. The best analogy I can give you is a good state of mindfulness is like a really strong windows task manager. You can actually see the processes of your mind, like thoughts popping up and begin to take up system resources. If you are mindful you can see this with much more clarity than if you don't have a meditation practice. With the clarity gives the side-effect of "control" |
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For some, it's dealing with repressed feelings - you're still angry at an ex, jealous of someone, traumatized by an event, fearful of your survival, and so on, and that feeling DDoSes your mind. Mindfulness clears it up, though too much can be hazardous in this situation.
For some, it's willpower training. Sitting there for 10 minutes trying to think of nothing is like a form of torture. It strengthens the 'muscle' of your 'do not' willpower as well as the 'do' willpower. Most will 'fail' at it, but like a good workout, failure means progression.
The next stage is concentration training. You develop a habit where, when you're idle, you intensify concentration rather than become apathetic and drowsy. Full lotus position is a cliché, but it's designed as the best posture to sit and focus intently for hours. A lot of other monk clichés - asceticism, segregation from other sexes, and so on are designed to get you into this stage as fast as possible.
Once you clear those stages, the higher level is sensitivity training. You meditate on a thing. It can be a breath or mantra. It can be a flame or your reflection in a pond. It can be a sore spot on your back, or a meal. Then you go into it in incredible detail. Feel the air going in and out of your lungs. Feel your chest moving, the air on your skin, the gravity, your own thoughts tugging at your mind, and so on.
Past all this is enlightenment. You become so sensitive to the world, and so aware of your own body, and the little internal forces, that it all starts to come together.
After enough stages, you should be able to command your attention perfectly at where you want it to be.