Is meditation the cure for neurosis?

[Andreas]

If I meditate for 1-3 hours a day for a year, will I free myself from any type of neurosis? If not, is there anything more effective?

[Nahm]

@Andreas What’s the opposite of neurosis? 

[Andreas]

15 minutes ago, Nahm said:

@Andreas What’s the opposite of neurosis? 

I have no idea. What is it?

[Nahm]

@Andreas If I had something, first thing I’d consider is what is it’s opposite.  If you have neurosis, and it doesn’t feel good - great, you know what you don’t want. It served you. No need to focus on it Now that you know what you don’t want, you know what you do want, and it’s the opposite of neurosis. If you’re interested in changing from experiencing what you don’t want, to what you do want, it might behoove you to google what you want. 

[Andreas]

2 minutes ago, Nahm said:

@Andreas If I had something, first thing I’d consider is what is it’s opposite.  If you have neurosis, and it doesn’t feel good - great, you know what you don’t want. It served you. No need to focus on it Now that you know what you don’t want, you know what you do want, and it’s the opposite of neurosis. If you’re interested in changing from experiencing what you don’t want, to what you do want, it might behoove you to google what you want. 

I definitly want to be less neurotic. Will meditation do that? Im a bit confused. 

[lmfao]

1 hour ago, Andreas said:

If I meditate for 1-3 hours a day for a year, will I free myself from any type of neurosis?

I hope so

[Nahm]

@Andreas The meditation serves to allow thoughts to subside, via relaxing the body, and attention on breathing from the stomach (attention is removed from thoughts). Meditation positions you to have clarity, to inquire. Then with a clear mind, you can inquire into the nature of the neurosis. 

Also though, meditation could in and of itself serve to surrender the self image, thus ending neurosis. But there is much to be said for understanding the nature of overthinking. This solidifies that if and when it begins to resurface, it is easily identified, understood and let go.

 

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Neurosis

“In Horney's view, mild anxiety disorders and full-blown personality disorders all fall under her basic scheme of neurosis as variations in the degree of severity and in the individual dynamics.The opposite of neurosis is a condition Horney calls self-realization, a state of being in which the person responds to the world with the full depth of his or her spontaneous feelings, rather than with anxiety-driven compulsion. Thus the person grows to actualize his or her inborn potentialities. Horney compares this process to an acorn that grows and becomes a tree: the acorn has had the potential for a tree inside it all along.”

 

I’m happy to try and help, but it’s all relative to what you want. 

This....

32 minutes ago, Andreas said:

I definitly want to be less neurotic. Will meditation do that? Im a bit confused. 

Is that all you want? Less of what sucks ass? You just want less of what you don’t want? Lame.

What do you really want?

[Andreas]

19 minutes ago, Nahm said:

@Andreas The meditation serves to allow thoughts to subside, via relaxing the body, and attention on breathing from the stomach (attention is removed from thoughts). Meditation positions you to have clarity, to inquire. Then with a clear mind, you can inquire into the nature of the neurosis. 

Also though, meditation could in and of itself serve to surrender the self image, thus ending neurosis. But there is much to be said for understanding the nature of overthinking. This solidifies that if and when it begins to resurface, it is easily identified, understood and let go.

 

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Neurosis

“In Horney's view, mild anxiety disorders and full-blown personality disorders all fall under her basic scheme of neurosis as variations in the degree of severity and in the individual dynamics.The opposite of neurosis is a condition Horney calls self-realization, a state of being in which the person responds to the world with the full depth of his or her spontaneous feelings, rather than with anxiety-driven compulsion. Thus the person grows to actualize his or her inborn potentialities. Horney compares this process to an acorn that grows and becomes a tree: the acorn has had the potential for a tree inside it all along.”

 

I’m happy to try and help, but it’s all relative to what you want. 

This....

Is that all you want? Less of what sucks ass? You just want less of what you don’t want? Lame.

What do you really want?

Thank you for your help and sorry that my mind is so slow! 

I think I want to be more pressent and have more mental clarity. And maybe have higher emotional intelligence and have an easier time doing stuff that isn’t comfortable. I think I just want more consciousness and I hope that is the same as being less neurotic. I also want to be less self interested in me and more out in the world if that makes sence. 

Is it true that mindfullness meditation increase consciousness? 

Edited March 17, 2019 by Andreas

[Nahm]

6 minutes ago, Andreas said:

Thank you for your help and sorry that my mind is so slow! 

It’s not slow, it’s exactly how is should be. You can’t actually compare it to another mind, so it can’t be true that it is slow. Stop diminishing yourself, and stop apologizing unnecessarily. Undo those habits effortlessly by being willing to be aware of it, when you’re doing it. Love yourself with the habits. Love the clarity willingness and awareness bring.

I think I want to be more pressent and have more mental clarity.

You think you want to or you are going to? Is your notion strong? Have you suffered enough already or not?

And maybe have higher emotional intelligence and have an easier time doing stuff that isn’t comfortable.

This is easier than you might be thinking. You have emotions you can learn everything you need to from.  Easier still, the emotional intelligence diffuses the ‘isn’t comfortable’ appearance of ‘doing stuff’.

 

I think I just want more consciousness and I hope that is the same as being less neurotic.

Let’s first check and see how much consciousness you already have.    And the inherent nature of “neurosis” is repeating thoughts / overthinking, right? So we inherently must stop identifying with “neurosis”. It’d be fine with me if you never said that word again. 

I also want to be less self interested in me and more out in the world if that makes sence. 

Yes. A lot. That’s possible for you. 

Is it true that mindfullness meditation increase consciousness? 

If it plays a role in helping to let go of the delusion & false limitations we don’t realize we’re adding.  

 

[Sahil Pandit]

@Andreas Read Maslow's "Toward a Psychology of Being"

Spend more time Being, and less time thinking.

Watch your mind's projections, imaginations, and feeling of separateness from that which IS. 

Over time, these should help.

[veqsms]

Short answer "NO" 

to overcome neuroses one must meet his needs e.g financial security sex etcc

my perception only

[Commodent]

Meditation can quickly become a source of neurosis too. "Am I doing it correctly? Am I doing it enough? etc etc" I would say only meditate if you actually enjoy the experience itself.

My top list of advice would be:

1. Get of the Internet, ditch the smartphone or at least severely restrict its use.
2. Spend more time in solitude, time without input from other minds that is. Lack of solitude is a huge source of anxiety.
3. Discover hobbies, I personally enjoy BJJ and climbing which is a great way of meeting other people, which brings me to my 4th point.
4. Spend more time with real-life interactions.
5. Be kind to yourself, ALWAYS. Speak to yourself like you would to a small child or loved one. Without exception.

[SunnyNewDay]

Having tried to fix my life problems with meditation I will say that for me meditation alone is not a fix all for life problems. It isn't even a fix all for emotional issues. It's an important habit because it can help you understand yourself more and your emotions and thus this can help you make the right decisions for yourself. There is more to life than this. The actions you make off the mat are probably more important than actually meditating. I think a proper and really deeply integrated meditation habit will be one which really merges all aspects of life, action, morality and awareness together. 

[ivory]

On 3/18/2019 at 4:12 PM, SunnyNewDay said:

Having tried to fix my life problems with meditation I will say that for me meditation alone is not a fix all for life problems. It isn't even a fix all for emotional issues. It's an important habit because it can help you understand yourself more and your emotions and thus this can help you make the right decisions for yourself. There is more to life than this. The actions you make off the mat are probably more important than actually meditating. I think a proper and really deeply integrated meditation habit will be one which really merges all aspects of life, action, morality and awareness together. 

This ^^

[Vipassana]

I would imagine once you cross 10,000 hours of commiting to one powerful technique of spiritual purification, you'll be free from unconscious neuroses. 

[Mezanti]

Being neurotic is much more than just a character trait, it's how you choose to react to the world.

When you're a neurotic you react to the world in such a manner where you produce anxiety and fear at an overwhelming degree.

The good news is that this can be stopped. 

The whole aim of meditation is to shine awareness on your thoughts and emotions, making a distinction between them and reality.

Your problem is that, you don't value thoughts as just thoughts you believe them to be REALITY. 

so yes meditation helps with becoming aware of the distinction between thoughts and reality, but if you really want results, aim for enlightenment.