Insights I gained from my one-day solo retreat at home

[CreamCat]

After finishing the bare minimum I had to get done today, I started doing nothing.

I had 2 one-hour do-nothing meditation sessions and 2 20-minute do-nothing meditation sessions. In total, I meditated for 2 hours and 40 minutes today.

Because I was having some ideas, I surfed the internet for 1 hour and 30 minutes. Through that, I resolved a long-running issue that harassed me for a long time.

Other than that web surfing, I basically loitered in my house like a zombie without any purpose. Sometimes, I wrote insights I had on my journal.

Below are the insights I gained from my half-assed one-day solo retreat.

• The art of doing things slowly, or the art of mindful practice
  • Because I was trying to do too much too fast, my mind was clouded.
  • When my mind was clouded, it was easy for distractions take over, and I couldn't think well. My intelligence decreased.
  • When my mind was clear, I could think clearly and decisively.
  • Thus, by trying to do too much too fast, you end up achieving nothing of significance.
  • Impatience is a distraction.
  • Counter-intuitively, I could substantially improve my execution by slowing it down mindfully. Less is more.
  • Slow is fast. By doing things slowly, you actually learn things faster. When you hurry things up, you don't learn. Learning boosts performance in the long run.
    • Fast often leads to multi-tasking which leads to distractions. Fast often means getting sucked into distractions fast. Thus, fast is often slow.
  • To put mindful practice in practice, for example, dedicate a day to learning something slowly. On that day, you do little else.
• The art of meditation
  • During the second one-hour do-nothing meditation, my mind was detaching from my sensations, and distractions were fading away quickly.
  • Doing a one-hour do-nothing meditation on a chair is difficult. I will buy a meditation cushion.
  • After having 2 one-hour do-nothing meditation sessions, meditating for 20 minutes was easy.

How can I do a solo retreat better? Shall I disconnect from the internet and just prepare a notepad for writing down insights?

• Update
  • I went to bed around 10:10PM and woke up at 5:02AM to an alarm without feeling fatigue. Because meditation and mindful practice removed distractions, I could sleep well. Distractions used to cause insomnia.

Conclusion

I had direct experience of how lifestyle minimalism is essential for a good life.

 

Edited January 1, 2019 by CreamCat