Divided Attention During Meditation

[Morten]

My prefered meditation practice is Mindfulness where I concentrate on my breathing, particularly on the stomach movements when breathing in and breathing out. I feel it nicely during meditation and then suddenly thoughts start to appear. My main thoughts are about what could I ask on this forum or what could I add. When those thoughts arise I still feel my stomach moving and concentrate on it. So it is like I think at the same time while I concentrate on the breathing. After a while thoughts take over and I stop concentrating on the breathing and then after some time passes I focus back on the breathing.

Does anyone else have this type of issue when meditating? Namely the question is: Is it possible to concentrate on one thing (breathing and stomach movements) and be aware of thoughts coming in at the same time? Is it like some kind of struggle for awareness between Ego and whatever I am?

Thanks

[ajasatya]

@Morten that's completely normal. we become aware of thoughts just like we become aware of sounds. accept it and go on.

accept everything that arises. thoughts, sounds, smells. let everything be the way it is, even what you call "you". let it be.

[Morten]

@ajasatya Thank you

 

[cetus]

@Morten The mind never likes to sit still for long. That is perfectly natural. Here is a vid I just found on the subject that I thought was interesting.

on the subject. I thought it was interesting.

[Morten]

@cetus56 Great video, thanks!

[Azrael]

21 hours ago, Morten said:

Does anyone else have this type of issue when meditating?

This is completely normal. As you go on with the practice you'll encounter times in which you cannot concentrate more then 5 seconds on your breath. But always remember: If you take an stimulation-addicted being and sit it in an empty room, it'll take years of decades to fully come off the addiction and be in total bliss. It's all just the process.

[WaveInTheOcean]

7 minutes ago, Azrael said:

This is completely normal. As you go on with the practice you'll encounter times in which you cannot concentrate more then 5 seconds on your breath. But always remember: If you take an stimulation-addicted being and sit it in an empty room, it'll take years of decades to fully come off the addiction and be in total bliss. It's all just the process.

Unless that stimulation-addicted being takes a healthy psychedelic dose ... after such a trip, one might be able to appreciate life by just focusing on the breath and meditating :> 

Edited January 20, 2017 by WaveInTheOcean

[Dodo]

21 hours ago, Morten said:

My prefered meditation practice is Mindfulness where I concentrate on my breathing, particularly on the stomach movements when breathing in and breathing out. I feel it nicely during meditation and then suddenly thoughts start to appear. My main thoughts are about what could I ask on this forum or what could I add. When those thoughts arise I still feel my stomach moving and concentrate on it. So it is like I think at the same time while I concentrate on the breathing. After a while thoughts take over and I stop concentrating on the breathing and then after some time passes I focus back on the breathing.

Does anyone else have this type of issue when meditating? Namely the question is: Is it possible to concentrate on one thing (breathing and stomach movements) and be aware of thoughts coming in at the same time? Is it like some kind of struggle for awareness between Ego and whatever I am?

Thanks

Hahaha the thoughts about Actualized.org are the funniest. I have a thought pattern from time to time which goes like:

If i have an enlightenment experience right now, i must share it on actualised.org. I better remember with details! Wait, this is just a thought. Hmm maybe now if I look away from this thought i will have the enlightenment experience. Ok, here goes. Breathe in, breathe out. If i now get the enlightenment experience, i will tell them its about completely letting go, like not even remaining as the one who will post on actualised.org. Wait a sec, my attention is again on thinking , i will redirect again. 

Breathe in, Breathe out, well that is peaceful ✌ Now lets check out whats happening on actualised.org

Edited January 20, 2017 by Dodoster

[cetus]

4 minutes ago, WaveInTheOcean said:

Unless that stimulation-addicted being takes a healthy psychedelic dose ... after such a trip, one might be able to appreciate life by just focusing on the breath and meditating :> 

I don't know if you watched the video or not, but it's the mind that is going crazy without it's usual "fix" if stimuli.

He's going through withdraw symptoms not much different than a drug addict would experience.

[WaveInTheOcean]

4 minutes ago, cetus56 said:

I don't know if you watched the video or not, but it's the mind that is going crazy without it's usual "fix" if stimuli.

He's going through withdraw symptoms not much different than a drug addict would experience.

I know. The untamed mind craves stimuli. Psychedelics have the ability to fuck up the mind and show it some things...maybe kill it even (momentarily)... After such an experience the mind *might* chill the fuck down and accept reality without craving stimuli all the time  

Psychedelics like shrooms, dmt, LSD shouldn't even be considered drugs in my view. They are the complete opposite of addictive drugs like cocaine, heroine, meth, etc. They have NOTHING in common AT ALL.

Edited January 20, 2017 by WaveInTheOcean

[cetus]

@WaveInTheOcean Absolutely. They are a totally different class. What I meant was his mind is addicted to stimuli in the same way as an addictive drug like cocaine, heroin, meth, ect.

[DJ]

Does anyone else have this type of issue when meditating? Namely the question is: Is it possible to concentrate on one thing (breathing and stomach movements) and be aware of thoughts coming in at the same time?

 

Yes. I have recently begun to try to shift where my awareness is. As suggested by someone, I viewed thoughts as clouds passing by and to let them go, which kind of works for me but still my reference of conciseness is "in" the body so to speak. So I've been trying to have my consciousness "outside" of my body as if I'm viewing "me" with "my" mind and its monkey mind at work. I'm going to try this out for a bit and if it doesnt work well, I'll move on to something else. I always try to mix things up and try new techniques as I dont want to be a one trick pony.

[Morten]

@Dodoster Something very much along those lines

@Azrael @WaveInTheOcean @DJ Thanks