Struggling With Mindfulness Meditation, Could Use Help

[kieranperez]

Hey guys so I've been consistent with my mindfulness meditation with labeling of "see, hear, feel" for a little over a month now and I'm having a really hard time with the "meaning" behind certain labels more so than others. So when I notice I'm feeling something I'm good at just feeling the sensation in my body. However, when I label "hear" when I notice internal talk, my mind is so hung up by the words that are being "said". For example: I'll hear all this distressful internal talk like 'get me the fuck out of here!' and of course my mind is already making these emotional associations with those words and the tone that it's being said in my internal talk. This also goes for my visual field when I use the label "see". If I see a plant for example, my mind actually conjures up language to label that as a plant. 

I know fighting this sort of thing is a losing battle. What I want to know is...

• Is this normal for those of you when you started practicing mindfulness?
• Is this something that get's better with practice?
• Could I be making any errors or falling into any traps that may be leading to this?

[Crystalous]

It is normal.It will become better with practice...detach they are just thoughts just concentrate with power!!

[eskwire]

It seems like a matter of not yet detaching, which comes with time and practice.

The way I do it is I direct my attention rather than label whatever occurs. Label "see" - then I see. Not, "hey there's a plant" - then label "see." 

Same with internal hearing. Rather than focus on whatever internal thing you hear, then labelling it, only give the internal hearing attention on its turn as you cycle through the sensation channels. 

Please let me know if this is unclear.

[Colin]

I just read a book called meditation for fidgety skeptics, In a sense, it is about a dude who has been meditating for 8 years and still gets into hang-ups and beginner traps. It may offer some long-form perspective. it is also pretty funny and I liked it.

[kieranperez]

12 minutes ago, eskwire said:

It seems like a matter of not yet detaching, which comes with time and practice.

The way I do it is I direct my attention rather than label whatever occurs. Label "see" - then I see. Not, "hey there's a plant" - then label "see." 

Same with internal hearing. Rather than focus on whatever internal thing you hear, then labelling it, only give the internal hearing attention on its turn as you cycle through the sensation channels. 

Please let me know if this is unclear.

I'm not sure I understand. Do you follow a specific cycle? Or do you just label as a sensation comes up? The way I've been doing it is if I notice my awareness is being directed on something visual for example, then I label obviously "see" and then savor whatever it is that I'm focusing on until the next sensation arises. 

[InfinitePotential]

If you don't already you might want to include other labels. Shinzen Young distinguishes between outer and inner hearing and seeing. I use "think" a lot. Any mental speech or images, I mentally say "think". And noticing when I'm "thinking" and "feeling" seem to have the most practical benefit for me. 

So with your examples, it would be like notice you're seeing the plant, think "see", notice you're thinking it's a plant, think "think". 

 

There have definitely been long stretches of doing this noting technique where I'm like hmm this doesn't seem to be helping/doing much, but when I stick with it for a while the benefits become very profound. What I've enjoyed doing lately is noting for a while, and then sorta going with my awareness towards that which is aware of the objects to note... I.e. it feels like a great warm up for self-inquiry and/or letting go meditation. 

[eskwire]

37 minutes ago, kieranperez said:

I'm not sure I understand. Do you follow a specific cycle? Or do you just label as a sensation comes up? The way I've been doing it is if I notice my awareness is being directed on something visual for example, then I label obviously "see" and then savor whatever it is that I'm focusing on until the next sensation arises. 

So, rather than following your awareness, pick an order for your sensations and go through that predetermined order.

Do this for a while anyway, not forever if it's no longer necessary.

The purpose behind this is to help you not get stuck on something sticky. To detach and move on to the next sense. Any order is fine. 

[phoenix666]

I also added 'thinking' to the labels, like infinitePotential said. that helped me a lot. sometimes I just got hung up on 'was this hear or see?' for too long, it distracted me. then I added thinking and it got much smoother. hope that can help you!

[Aimblack]

That is actually a really nice realization because that always happens in daily life you are just not aware of this. That is why your goal should be that whenever a experience like that comes up you say the label with a strong neutrality or 'matter-of-factness' and allow the experience to be however it is.

Also try to notice that whenever you hear a distressed voice in your mind, you are probably also feeling the matching emotion somewhere in your body. Experience those sensations separately (sensory clarity) and accept them fully without trying to change them(equanimity)  without getting sucked in(concentration) 

Edited April 15, 2018 by Aimblack

[moon777light]

5 hours ago, kieranperez said:

If I see a plant for example, my mind actually conjures up language to label that as a plant. 

what do you mean by this? like when you see a plant, your mind says "plant" or you start thinking of descriptions for the plant?

[Colin]

We can't be talking about this technique without bringing up Leo's awesome mindfulness video
 

 

[kieranperez]

3 hours ago, Colin said:

We can't be talking about this technique without bringing up Leo's awesome mindfulness video
 

 

This was the technique I was basing my question around...

[Faceless]

@kieranperez

Have you checked out the topic on psychological time?