Mindfulness

[Gubby]

Okay, I posted something about buddhist practices before and it got deleted, and I can see why, controversial religious topics huh? So I want to start this off by saying I am NOT buddhist (or religious in any way in fact) and this is NOT religious what I am about to tell. Buddha's philosophies, as far as I've learned about them, were actually down to earth and practical ideas about achieving happiness which (so far as I know) don't involve any sort of God spirit magic afterlife etc. There's religious buddhism, and there is practical buddhism. This is the latter. So don't fu'cking delete my post damn you!:cuss:

Okay. Intrigued huh? All will become clear.

About a week ago I was philosophisin' really, really hard and ended up writing THIS article:

There are things you can change with effort and things you can't change with effort.

If something bad happens, some people may feel pain because they want to change it but can't. This pain is them TRYING to change it; their will smashing itself against the iron wall of reality. There is no way of this working.

There are some things which are fine until you try to get them to happen. You might hurt it by trying to do it better, or they may have even never have been fine because you ALWAYS tried to get them to happen, and never experienced how it could be if there were no effort put in!

If something is impossible to change, it cannot be changed. That means you must give up and forget it. For many people it is very hard to give up. They feel a failure.

But failure shouldn't be anything bad! The pain of failure comes from the discord of fighting against reality. When you give up, you realise there is no pain, and there is no such thing as failure, because nothing is the end of the world.

The future, by the same means, cannot be changed. Forcing your will on the future cannot make it be as you'd like it. The future will come, and it may be good, but what it is will bear no relation to how you want it to be except that of the effects of your actions.

If something doesn't work, the best path is to give up. Carrying on doing something that doesn't work, doesn't work. If you have, potentially, another method to achieve the same goal, then that can be used. Maybe you can find one. If you don't, If you can't, you must accept the situation. Unless the situation is that you die, you can then use your energies for other goals.

Whatever is, is.

Whatever will be, will be.

Whatever was, was.

And there is nothing more to it.

This is reality, and if it hurts this is because you are trying to fight it. You are trying to change what is.

As soon as you accept this truth and do not fight it, the pain will be gone.

After I wrote this, I thought to myself, "Holy sh'it! I'm a buddhist!"

I'd never learnt what buddhists do more than what I'd heard here and there because I think religion is a mind-virus that serves only to give people something for their fears and ego to latch onto and make pointless limitations to their freedom (*cough* </minirant>).... So I decided to read up on it.

http://www.serve.com/cmtan/buddhism/qna.html

Read the first one first.


Mindfulness. Being aware of everything you do or think. It simultaneously lets you overcome ego and fear, and gives you the power to consider your actions as you do them. I've wanted to be more "in the moment" but I didn't know how to achieve it--- here we go: Just observe everything you do. Your breathing, your thoughts; don't judge them - observe them. When you are aware of and accept your thoughts and actions, you can change them. Well, the guy explains it better, so if you're interested in improving your life check it out.

I tried something just now - doing things while breathing purposefully (instead of letting your unconscious mind take care of the breathing). It works like a charm, so long as you control your breathing you are "in the moment". You can still daydream etc, but it's on purpose and you can stop and do something else if that's what you need to do.

It felt a bit uncomfortable for a while. When you're in the moment you get a lot more information coming in and time seems to be slower than when you're not. You have to change that around, make the feeling of time zipping by feel "wrong" in your mind and make the feeling of being aware and awake feel "right". Just make the mental images and associate the feelings with them.



Anyway, just wrote that to help iron the facts into my subconscious, hope you got something out of it!

 

[Anomalous]

Summary of post: read the link, and do relaxation excircises.

Look man, this is nothing new.

 

[I love Hyori Lee]

Whatever is, is.

Whatever will be, will be.

Whatever was, was.

And there is nothing more to it.

This is reality, and if it hurts this is because you are trying to fight it. You are trying to change what is.

As soon as you accept this truth and do not fight it, the pain will be gone.

I like this right here. It's only six lines....but it says so much.

 

[Mantra]

Good post. Buddhism and mindfulness practice in general are treasure troves of useful information and practices.

And I can guarantee you, once, after I'd been on an intensive one week meditation retreat, followed by a one week solitary meditation retreat, when I got back to the city, chicks were checking me out from all angles, even as I walked down the street. It was as if I was "radiating" mindfulness, awareness, and focus, and this is hugely attractive to women. They sense it in a man. A man who is fully in the moment, focused like a spear is what they long for more than anything else.

 

[thefonz]

There is some truth to this.....but I think everyone needs to find out their truth

My truth is that the more I try to control things and become the perfect DJ who can talk to anyone, anywhere, under an circumstances the more I find how long a way I have to go and want to quit because it's a LOT of work, on top of the pile of other things I've got going on in my life.

Yesterday I just started walking around with that quote from Fight Club in my head "Stop trying to control everything and just let go....LET GO!!!" I was saying it over and over and after awhile I started feeling this sense of peace. It was nice because lately I've been having alot of anxiety from my bootcamp, school, and family problems so this felt good to just give up for a second. I was actually able to focus more too while in that state of calmness.

 

[Gubby]

Summary of post: read the link, and do relaxation excircises.

Look man, this is nothing new.

Relaxation exercises? If I did relaxation exercises I'd sit down and never get up. These ain't no relaxation exercises, man

And no, there is more to my article than that... at least in my eyes. Did you actually check the link?

Well, whatever.

 

[Gubby]

There is some truth to this.....but I think everyone needs to find out their truth

I reckon the path that would lead to happiness is surprisingly alike from one person to the next... but you have to learn it for yourself really. It is hard to put to words, and even in words are useless unless you feel the meaning.

My truth is that the more I try to control things and become the perfect DJ who can talk to anyone, anywhere, under an circumstances the more I find how long a way I have to go and want to quit because it's a LOT of work, on top of the pile of other things I've got going on in my life.

Yesterday I just started walking around with that quote from Fight Club in my head "Stop trying to control everything and just let go....LET GO!!!" I was saying it over and over and after awhile I started feeling this sense of peace. It was nice because lately I've been having alot of anxiety from my bootcamp, school, and family problems so this felt good to just give up for a second. I was actually able to focus more too while in that state of calmness.

Wow dude... this underlines my ideas perfectly. Stress is trying to achieve the impossible. When you just relax and realise that whatever happens happens, you can do the same job without killing yourself over it. Hell, everyone falls short... so don't sweat it.

When I was about fourteen I was all about putting things in perspective. In 100 years will this REALLY matter sh'it? The universe is a huge place... can anything be THAT important?

Trying staring up at the stars for hours on end and try and fit the whole universe in your head... And everytime you get a new level of hugeness imagined realise it's not even the tip of the iceburg... get yourself feeling really small... And see how easily the words "fu'ck it" come to you then. Nothing really matters. Money, job, etc are all really means to an end (happiness)... so if it's bringing you grief, give it the finger. *grin*

Heh, got carried away here.. brings me back a bit. I'd pretty much exhausted for me this sort of philosophy (perspectives) a couple of years ago. Nice to bring it up again....

(Hey this is relevant... if you know the secrets to the universe picking up chicks is easy... :cheer: )

 

[Gubby]

And I can guarantee you, once, after I'd been on an intensive one week meditation retreat, followed by a one week solitary meditation retreat, when I got back to the city, chicks were checking me out from all angles, even as I walked down the street. It was as if I was "radiating" mindfulness, awareness, and focus, and this is hugely attractive to women. They sense it in a man. A man who is fully in the moment, focused like a spear is what they long for more than anything else.

Damn I gotta do that... tell me, do the effects (increased mindfulness etc) stick with you for the rest of your life or do you need to constantly top them up with more meditation?

 

[Mantra]

Hi Gubby. good question.
Unfortunately, in my and many other meditators experience, the effects of meditation do wear off when you get back from a retreat. For a start the level of openness you have built up naturally subsides due to the amount of sensory input we are bombarded by in a city environment. That is to say...the shutters get pulled back down a little to preserve the integrity of the self. If this self is a real self or not, well, that's a whole differnet thread!

But it is possible to maintain a higher level of awareness if you implement a routine of meditations and mindfulness checks upon your return, and the effects of this practice will always be cumulative too. Meaning that when you go for the intensity of a retreat next time, having built up a good head of steam from your practice, you will probably open up a lot more and go a lot deeper than would otherwise be possible.

The key is to working on this area of your life every day. And I absolutely reccomend the retreat experience. Best of all is going on a single-sex retreat ie. men only. Then you can switch off from the constant pull of desire and sexual projection while you're working on this stuff which is, believe me, a lot easier. This also gives you a great opportunity to, in a safe environment, reconnect with the masculine archetype. It is very empowering!!

With mindfulness, strive on!

 

[Dante3214]

Holy Sh!t.



This is the only forum I have ever been on that has had people as wise as this (not trying to flatter, stating the truth).


Hooray!