john5170

My mind in "monkey" talk mode constantly envisions myself in scenarios where I am a "higher status" person and people look up to me. For example: a movie star, instagram celebrity, famous singer, etc. - I imagine it is me being that person, and derive events from that (fans, fame, other's jealousy, etc.). It is not negative, but it constantly bothers me because it is very distracting from the present moment. Anyone else do that? Anyone knows how to solve this and reach peace? Maybe, given the emptiness of my life - I need those thoughts to pump my ego up - but that's just a thought... Even my meditation sessions, I cannot focus because of that...

I have been meditating today, and I was able to detach my consciousness or 'spirit' from my mind. I could feel them as separate entities. The term 'you are not your mind, you are not your body' made a lot more sense. But that got me thinking, why when my body sleeps, my 'spirit' sleeps too? This means, that my spirit IS actually my mind, and I AM my body. Otherwise, my body sleeping would not have affected my 'spirit' being inactive as well. This means that after death, my spirit will die too. So therefore, I AM my body, and my 'spirit' IS my mind. Please correct me if I am wrong.

I guess I haven't come to those realizations, because as of now, "I" am in my brain. I can FEEL my brain being an entity, but the "I" is a product of the brain.

Over the past month, I have been meditating daily. I can stay aware of my thoughts, but I cannot clear them to reach presence for a long period of time. Maybe for 30 seconds, but then I get in my head again. At this point, I am not trying to clear my mind or control my thoughts, as it feeds the ego. So I just try to stay aware. Am I on the right path?

So work and social media encourages thoughts to come, but other activities do not? I feel like it is opposite for me, I go on social media to stop thinking about my day...

This is related to those that have been meditating for more than a year. I have been meditating daily for several years now. The past couple of months I meditated for around 1 hour per day. I thought "more" = "better". But that is not true. I took a break for the first time for 3 days now, and did not meditate. And I felt more 'relaxed' in my mind than ever. Not necessarily present, but I felt that I do not need to 'try' to achieve presence, and it felt really good. So if a part of presence - by definition - is just 'letting be' and 'doing nothing', so doesn't the act of 'meditating' defy the 'doing nothing', because you are sitting down and 'doing something'. Meditation is a big time commitment, and I do not mind putting in the time if it is worth it. But now I am starting to doubt it. Maybe just being 'aware' throughout the day would be enough? Maybe I should meditate 1 day on then 1 day off? Can you 'experienced' meditators share your meditation routines?

Anyone who has been meditating for more than a year, do you mind sharing your routine (for sitting down and meditating) ? Example : Day 1 - 20 minutes Day 2 - 1 hour Day 3 -....

I have been meditating for quite some time now. I never had really vivid dreams while sleeping. I do have dreams from time to time, but I do not remember the content. Recently, I have been having (once a week) very 'real' dreams where I am very clear in my thoughts and intentions and I incorporate very specific facts from my life. I also remember my dreams very well. What does this mean? Does it have anything to do with meditation? Am I growing (in terms of my mind expanding)? Is it just a random experience? EDIT: I just did some more research, and this is what a post on Reddit says (not sure if its true):

I tried shrooms and I noticed for a short period of time, my mind was like a child's mind. Happy, amused by small things, worry-free. Very similar to children. How to get a tiny dose of such effect without drugs? I am very serious and take things in life too seriously. And after shrooms, I realized that it is my brain chemistry that is blocking it.

Enlightenment is a peak experience of your meditation session. I don't believe anyone (sane) walks enlightened all day. Note, I have only had a slight peak into enlightenment (and I am not sure if it was enlightenment at all).

Thanks for the advice. I will try the breathing. Is it possible to re-wire my brain if I go on Shrooms again and try to capture that child-like feeling, and replicate it in my life? has anyone tried that?

What happened to him? I don't think it's just plain crazy. He seems to have reached enlightenment but his brain cannot handle it....

I tried to meditate under direct sunlight, and found that I cannot focus. My mind is just too hyper and distracted. Is it the sun affecting it? or is it just me? If it is the sun that is adding distraction, is it good to do some "stress testing" and meditate under difficult conditions?

I recently got some good mindfulness and am able to watch my thoughts, and therefore take all significance out of them. However, now I feel empty inside. There is nothing I look forward to, nothing I am excited about, and the feeling of 'presence' starts to feel very empty and boring. All my 'visions' or 'dreams' about my future are now just insignificant thoughts. I have sudden urges to fill the emptiness with movies, porn, music, food, Facebook, etc. but it is not working anymore and I still feel empty. (it is kinda working for a bit actually and then I feel guilty for disturbing my mindfulness - it is hard to explain but I think you guys will get it). I feel like I am on the right track and its part of the 'dark sides of meditation' as Leo mentioned, but I am just making sure. How long will this phase last? I need someone to re-validate my progress. P.S. I created this post also out of a feeling of emptiness. Just sitting down and nothing is happening in my mind, so I typed this post to get some feedback and to have at least something going on.

Recently, I really got into the "do nothing" technique when meditating, and when facing external thoughts throughout the day. Note: I already achieved calmness with the "do nothing" method a few weeks ago, but now it stopped working. In the past couple of days, when I "do nothing", my mind just keeps raging and doesn't calm down. I completely let go of any control to calm thoughts, and as a result, they don't calm anymore. During my meditation, I am able to sit still and not move, however my mind still wanders. Is there gonna be a tipping point after extreme raging when my mind just accepts the noise and calms down? or do I need to interfere since it is not working. Maybe minimal effort just to set the mind back on track is needed?

@Gopackgo Wow thanks for the response. I think my problem is concentration. Even reading your response I got distracted 3 or 4 times. Maybe I have ADD, who knows.

Can you point me to some video guide about concentration? By Leo or anyone. Thanks, great reply. You are right about the silence. So how to pass through them if every shake now is a disturbance? let go of awareness?

Actually this video by Leo, says to bring the mind on track. Stage 2 actually means to calm thoughts down. So I guess that is the opposite of "Do Nothing".

So what should be my strategy? 1. To try to control my mind 2. To put minimal effort to set it back on track 3. To completely let go and do nothing Now I am more at #3 and it is not working too well. I am thinking of doing #2.

I noticed that some days I am just naturally more present. And others I can't focus at all and my mind just keeps going and going. I just can't find a solid correlation between most factors. For example, drinking green tea. Sometimes it helps, sometimes it doesn't. Maybe its just a placebo effect. I don't know. What have you guys/girls noticed affects your levels of presence? Either in a positive or in a negative way.

Yes that is important of course. But even with stress, I feel like presence is sometimes being pushed from within me regardless. Other times it is not. Hard to explain.

I know this may be silly, but what about: the amount of water you drink? When you hydrate your body, your cells change in size. This includes your brain cells. Has anyone found a pattern of how drinking too much or drinking too little (water) affects your presence?

I have never done any kind of this drugs before. Will it change my life? is it required to reach full enlightenment?

Yes, but what are some third party influences other than Meditation? I just can't find anything, but I know FOR SURE, that some days my mind is just naturally more present even though I did the exact same thing as I did the day before, when it was distracted AF.

So lets say your standard meditation time is 20 minutes. Would you extend your session and meditate longer than your standard time (40 minutes for example) if: A) You can focus well and stay very present for the majority of the session. or B) You cannot focus and keep getting distracted by your mind. So in other word: is meditation more effective when you have a presence streak and you are very focused? or when you 'force' (or 'discipline') yourself to sit down and get the most presence (even if its 5 seconds at a time) from a distracted mind?