chris
Brown Shirt
Posts: 25
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Post by chris on Sept 14, 2009 17:35:23 GMT -5
Have any of you meditated for any length of time?
I've been trying it recently, and trying to keep it up
Had a half hour walk to do today, so i tried focussing on the sounds and sights around me instead of walking in my head of thoughts. Tried to experience the world around me, not just the rambling mental crap that never leaves me alone
Any time i remember, i try and focus on sounds, as anytime i realise, i'll be lost in mundane thoughts - everytime
So any regular meditators here, if so any advice or DLs for beginners?
Thanks
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Post by maddogblues on Sept 14, 2009 21:11:35 GMT -5
Meditation. It has been a mystery to me for a long time. Alan Watts has made it simple for me. Doing what you are doing with the walk, I think is the right thing. I have had this experience after almost dying and then recovering by walking. I wrote this poem in 2005 about walking: THE PURPOSE IN WALKING I have taken up walking. I do it now that I have discerned it's purpose. I walk until my thoughts have been displaced and in their former location there is nothing but the hawk pirouetting dizzily on the thermals in the blue sky; nothing but the hawk in the blue sky. I walk until there is the robin on the lawn. Nothing but the robin on the lawn. I walk until there is nothing but the stream by the road and nothing but the stream by the road and the gurgle it makes. Then when that is all I can hear and see my walk is complete. The purpose in walking then is to empty and fill, empty and fill, empty and fill. I do this in bed too. I listen to the traffic in the distance, just listening to it, and it lulls me to sleep. Meditation for me is being caught up in the momentary experience so that nothing else is important. Like this: You need to have a framework of thought to be comfortable with this. A photo I took in Oregon a few years ago. Meditation is the appreciation of the moment.
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chris
Brown Shirt
Posts: 25
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Post by chris on Sept 14, 2009 22:03:31 GMT -5
Thanks maddogblues that was a really good anwser and i appreciated your poem and picture. Poetry and art are two things which require a meditative state to appreciate. I find it really apt that i've had ZERO interest in poetry or art in the past
I will keep using my daily cycles or walks to try quiet the head. It's an interesting thing to focus on. I find people i come across are the biggest distractions, but i'm sure that'll drop off as i keep practicing
I came across some Alan Watts stuff, really interesting stuff. He was talking about how most people have replaced reality with words and how very few people can actually see anything for what it really is
Just lying here at night, like you say, is a great time to practice meditation. The only sound is the hum of my laptop, but its a nice sound to focus on. Do you also find night time the easiest time to meditate? It's probably to do with our brain waves slowing as you tire, plus the fact everyone else is sleeping, and the house is quiet
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Post by maddogblues on Sept 14, 2009 22:20:24 GMT -5
Thanks maddogblues that was a really good anwser and i appreciated your poem and picture. Poetry and art are two things which require a meditative state to appreciate. I find it really apt that i've had ZERO interest in poetry or art in the past I will keep using my daily cycles or walks to try quiet the head. It's an interesting thing to focus on. I find people i come across are the biggest distractions, but i'm sure that'll drop off as i keep practicing I came across some Alan Watts stuff, really interesting stuff. He was talking about how most people have replaced reality with words and how very few people can actually see anything for what it really is Just lying here at night, like you say, is a great time to practice meditation. The only sound is the hum of my laptop, but its a nice sound to focus on. Do you also find night time the easiest time to meditate? It's probably to do with our brain waves slowing as you tire, plus the fact everyone else is sleeping, and the house is quiet Well, everything depends on how you evaluate yourself. Who are you? That is the question to address.
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chris
Brown Shirt
Posts: 25
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Post by chris on Sept 14, 2009 22:42:53 GMT -5
what do you mean?
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Post by Freedom on Sept 15, 2009 0:13:10 GMT -5
I'm more at peace when i'm out in the woods with no one around. The most mentally tranquil activity i find is to either walk or lay in a shallow river with water rushing around.
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Post by maddogblues on Sept 15, 2009 2:02:44 GMT -5
I don't mean this sarcastically, but you are the only one to know or to be able to understand the answer. Follow the tracks a bird leaves in the sky. I don't know what else to say. Maybe this I'm hesitant to give an answer beyond 'keep on truckin'.
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Post by maddogblues on Sept 15, 2009 2:43:05 GMT -5
Thanks maddogblues that was a really good anwser and i appreciated your poem and picture. Poetry and art are two things which require a meditative state to appreciate. I find it really apt that i've had ZERO interest in poetry or art in the past I will keep using my daily cycles or walks to try quiet the head. It's an interesting thing to focus on. I find people i come across are the biggest distractions, but i'm sure that'll drop off as i keep practicing I came across some Alan Watts stuff, really interesting stuff. He was talking about how most people have replaced reality with words and how very few people can actually see anything for what it really is Just lying here at night, like you say, is a great time to practice meditation. The only sound is the hum of my laptop, but its a nice sound to focus on. Do you also find night time the easiest time to meditate? It's probably to do with our brain waves slowing as you tire, plus the fact everyone else is sleeping, and the house is quiet The night and the dawn are my favorite times. For me they are magic. I found that it takes 4 miles at least to walk into a different consciousness. At that point the outside begins to take over the inside. When you see a hawk drop out of the sky and a commotion on the ground you can begin to understand things Trust yourself. Don't trust anyone else.
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