[r0b05]

This is a profound realisation that is usually preceded by experiencing the sickness and suffering that comes with unrestrained desire. How it takes over one's discriminating faculties until one becomes blind to everyday beauty.

I cannot recommend meditation enough to train the mind to stay calm when desires want to run rampant. No mantras or music, just sit in silence and boredom. Thoughts will come and go and eventually you will learn to cope with yourself.

[TuringNYC]

Mindfulness came to mind for me specifically. I used to jump from work to coffee meetings to fancy restaurant dinners out with both clients and friends to meet-ups at NY's Meatpacking District...to deeply enjoying the feeling of just sitting in a nature preserve, smelling sap, listening to birds, and breathing in the entire environment. (a benefit of taking a job in the burbs.)

Before the lockdown, I did an experiment where I either walked (through a forest path) to work everyday or biked leisurely to work (also thru a forest path.) [I realize having the ability to do that is itself a blessing.] In winters, the walk was difficult (ice, elements, frozen mud) but it came to a point where the morning and evening "commutes" were the best part of my day. I would even take detours to more remote benches to clear my mind.

I was incredibly productive at work throughout this 18month experiment, until lockdown.

I captured some of this on Strava if anyone is curious: https://www.strava.com/activities/3211639111

[tidenly]

Not to be facetious but the juxtaposition of the romantic description of the value of personal time you made against the last line link to some kind of walk-sharing social media app did give me a laugh. Completely agreed on every word though.

[TuringNYC]

I do get your comment :-) But I'm also an Engineer, Data Scientist, and thus I feel obliged to measure efficacy.

The app is part of the efficacy measurement. I try to evaluate everything I do. I've been measuring everything I can from number of code commits to lines of code committed to sprint points, to weight/bodycomp, to time wearables' meta scores.

[Leparamour]

Invoking Alan Watts here, how else would one be able to broadcast one's spiritual superiority? /s

[bayindirh]

> I cannot recommend meditation enough to train the mind to stay calm...

Actually came here to just say that. After reading the piece and just trying to sit tight, I was pleasantly surprised how meditation changed me over the years, in a good way.

My path also has no mantras or music. Just inner reflection. Sometimes things got tough, but it transformed me dearly.

[dctoedt]

How long did it take you to notice that meditation made a difference?

[danielheath]

Now that I know how to do it, I personally notice improvement after 15 minutes or so, lasting for about two days.

Embarrassingly, even that’s often still not enough to get me doing it regularly. Habits are hard to build.

[swayvil]

The subject of meditation is what cropped up first in my mind too.

That dimension of exploration addresses this quite directly.