What PL said. But you've never heard of the Jesuits? No judgement; I'm just a little surprised. I guess being brought up Catholic, we knew a bunch about the different orders. In a nutshell, it's a Catholic order that requires a bit more schooling - their priests are generally very well educated - and you might be assigned to a parish like a diocesan priest, but you're not geographically bound like they are and could be assigned by the larger Jesuit order to anywhere in the world. Many split time as teachers and missionaries rather than being in more traditional priestly roles. Its founder, Saint Francis Xavier, was actually born in Spain.
I can't sit still or block things out of my mind long enough to actually meditate I guess. The idea intrigues me, but I have an extremely hard time focusing on anything really.
Most people find it difficult at first. But there's not really any "goal" to meditation...
Thoughts are difficult to block out, that's the nature of our consciousness. But observe the thoughts as thoughts and their power is diminished and then you will feel more at ease and closer to 'pure awareness.' Focus on something like your breath or a simple mantra or say "one" very slowly for a while to help focus the mind, and when you find yourself lost in thought again just gently keep coming back to what you're focusing on: breath, mantra, etc. That's the gist of meditation.
I have tried some of those techniques. Focus on breathing and such. Then I think about breathing. Then it's how cool it would be to not have to breath or to live forever. Then it's what are the limits of Wolverine's healing factor. After about 20 minutes I'll remember I was supposed to be concentrating on breathing.
Well, the idea is to observe the thoughts as thoughts as much as possible or use some other technique to focus the mind and actually prevent the mind from wandering and taking you wherever it wants you to go. But yeah, that's meditation. Constantly returning to focusing on your breath or mantra whenever you notice you're lost in thought. It gets easier the more you do it.
Try some guided meditations. They are a great place to start. They can guide you through body scans and various other techniques. That may help you stay on track getting started.
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Last edited by Patient_Leech on Oct 11th, 2017 at 12:24 PM
Something else you could try are mini-meditations. See if you can, eg, observe your thoughts for just 15 seconds. Too hard? Try 5 seconds. Too easy? Try 30 or 60 seconds. If that feels comfortable, go for 2 minutes or 5 or ...
You get the idea: start with whatever it is you know you can do. As Patient Leech said, everyone gets lost in the mental sauce. Just remember to (as Rose from Titanic said) come back ... come back.
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Shinier than a speeding bullet.
I'll have to give it a shot. Thanks guys. I don't want to say ADHD as that's a bit cliche, but I have always had a very difficult focusing on any one thing for a long time. Especially if I'm forcing myself.
Nothing to worry about; LOTS of people have this same problem. Including me. Don't think of it as forcing, though. If your thoughts drift, they drift. Let them. This is natural. But as soon as you notice them drifting, gently guide yourself back to focusing on the breathing, or whatever particular exercise you're in. In time, you'll get better at focusing.
And the results may only be incremental. Don't expect revelatory insights at first, or even after a long time. I referenced the book "10% Happier" earlier in this thread, and I really think a lot of this type of progress is small and gradual. But it's still meaningful. 10% better focus is still a lot over the course of a day, week, year, etc. And that may be the upper limit of what meditation does for some. But there aren't many other things that can approach even 1-2%, so I consider it worthwhile.
Anything that could fix this focus issue, even slightly, is worth while. I have completed less than 10 percent of any artwork I have ever started. I find it difficult to complete work obligations (reports, evaluations, etc.) and my motivation to do anything is pretty low. I am not depressed by any means, I just haven't found that spark yet I guess.
Excellent point. The journey matters at least as much as the destination, and really, the whole point of meditation is not necessarily to get better at meditating but to get better at living.
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Shinier than a speeding bullet.
I really love how that book frames meditation, because for a lot of people, myself included, there's an expectation going in that doesn't necessarily align with reality. We forget that any worthwhile skill we know was likely learned over years and years, and we might actually still kinda suck at it. Learning to enjoy the process, as you mention, really is the only sane way to avoid disappointment in much of life. And not coincidentally, it's also usually the best way to improve at something.
^ That one seemed to have some good practical discussion on the subject.
There are some other episodes with Joseph Goldstein that focus on meditation specifically and they are good too, but they sometimes get a little bogged down in esoteric stuff. But here are those too, just for reference...
"The Waking Up Course" is now available for iPhone and Android.
I've been doing it and it's great. I can't recommend it highly enough.
It needs some minor improvements, and I even sent some suggestions to the support and they responded and said they were going to be adding them over the coming months. So it's awesome that they responded and are working on them. And Sam will of course be adding content as he goes.
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