I am sure that most of you heard of mindfulness wherever it was, on radio, tv, or social media or in a book, but do you know what it stands for? The term “mindfulness” originates from “sati” (Pali term) and is often translated as “bare attention”, in Buddhist tradition it has a broader meaning but I do not want to bore you with origin of this word so let me explain what it is about. Bare attention is a really accurate translation because mindfulness is about paying more attention to the current moment that we are in and our life as a whole. Meaning that, we can say that mindfulness answers questions like: What do I feel? (psychically and mentally); Why do I feel such emotions?; What is my current ‘state’ in life? The important thing about answering those question is that we should not judge the answers that we get, we should accept that even if sometimes we are feeling down it is normal and it happens to everyone. We should not be embarrassed of any negative feelings and not be afraid of admitting that we feel this way, it is all about being honest with yourself.
Now you know what mindfulness is about but how can we achieve that state of
awareness about your life? There is no simple answer to that, there are various
exercises that you can do but most of them consist of meditation. Many of you
probably think that meditation is about stopping your thoughts (and depending
on exercise it can be), getting rid of emotions or even controlling your mind
but usually it is about seeing things clearly, personally I would describe is
as looking at yourself from the thirds person point of view, so witnessing
everything that is going on without
judgment. Most basic meditation exercise is focusing on your breath for whole
10 minutes, seems easy right? Trust me, it is not, after 30 seconds your mind
is starting to wander and you lose focus. Most probably you will get frustrated
when you lose your focus for 5th time in only 3 minutes and this is
your first test. In such situation you should accept that it is normal at first
and instead of being angry or disappointed you should bring your attention to
breathing every time it happens. Meditations session can vary in time but most
common duration is 10-20 minutes, 10 minutes being the shortest time for it to
make any impact.
I really recommend trying meditating 10
minutes per day for at least a week to see for yourself what it is all about
and if it is for you. It can be helpful in a world of constant distractions
that we live in. For those that are interested there are many tutorials on
youtube on how to meditate, I recommend an app called “Calm” which offers
one-week free introduction and 6 months trial for Samsung Health users.
Sources:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mindfulness
https://www.ted.com/talks/andy_puddicombe_all_it_takes_is_10_mindful_minutes
IMG sources:
https://psychologycompass.com/blog/entrepreneurs-definitive-guide-to-mindfulness/
https://www.mindful.org/10-ways-to-define-mindfulness/
https://www.theguardian.com/lifeandstyle/2020/jul/12/are-breathing-techniques-good-for-your-health
Questions:
1. Do you agree with a statement that current world is full of distractions?
2. Do you feel ‘aware’ or distracted in your life?
3. Have you ever tried meditating? Would you dare to try it?
Comments
Yes, internet gave us many wonderful things but also gave us a curse. We are overwhelmed with information from all around the world. In previous times information wasn't so fast hell some villages were so cut that they didn't even know who rules them as a king or president. Now because of all this news surrounding us we fell tired more often then not. Mentally tired.
2. Do you feel ‘aware’ or distracted in your life?
Distracted with almost every minute I can. Multitasking, many news to read and share. Only close to the nature man can be at peace.
3. Have you ever tried meditating? Would you dare to try it?
I tried once but failed because I was lacking concetration. Maybe one day I will go to some beatiful and quiet place to try again.
I like your that you compared internet to curse and I totally agree, it gives and it takes. But I think the distractions in our world are not only caused by internet, but we are also overwhelmed by a lot of things like commercials (which I honestly hate) whether we see them on TV or billboards when driving to work. It is very common to lack concentration in your first sessions but you should not give up, if you ever feel overwhelmed you can try being closer to nature as you suggested but I also encourage you to try meditating again.
2 and 3. I feel both aware and distracted at the same time. Unfortunately, I am one of the people who ruminate or daydream often but I try to control it. I've heard that mindfulness meditation allows you to work on it. I have tried to do it, and yes it is extremely difficult. I have seen little progress but unfortunately I have to put in more work. However, I have to say that solving math problems is something that works well for focus and concentration, and even well-being. Counting and math have a very good effect on the center in the brain responsible for these things.
Yes, I agree with you. The world is developing enormously, 50 years ago there was no such thing as netflix, spotify, youtube, the internet, computer games, or playing the stock market. I have the impression that there is so much novelty that even we young people begin to get lost in it. Contact with friends and family is replaced by technical innovations.
2.Do you feel ‘aware’ or distracted in your life?
Honestly, sometimes I feel 'aware' and sometimes I feel distracted. It depends on the day. I have days when I don't have to do anything - I don't have any problems at work, I don't have studies at university, so I can just do everything other than reliable work - I feel distracted. However, most of my days are such that I feel 'aware' and I focus on the tasks assigned to me.
3.Have you ever tried meditating? Would you dare to try it?
Yes, I do meditate and I recommend it to everyone. Every day I try to spend 30 minutes outside, in silence, without any distractions. During such a session, I feel very nice, I clean my mind, try to turn off my thinking, you could say that it's like a half hour of complete reset. In my case, it really works, after such a session I gain additional energy and motivation.
Yes, I almost agree that the nowadays world is full of distractions. The impact of the internet and social media is huge. A great amount of information, a lot of bad news make us depressed. Also, in social nets, bloggers and stars post just the happy moments of their lives and show themselves as the most successful and mega productive person. And some people start to compare and began feeling miserable.
2. Do you feel ‘aware’ or distracted in your life?
I can not say that I feel aware of 100%. Maybe I am in halfway to this state. I can not right filter news yet and often feel anxiety and worry about a lot of thing in life. But I try to do something with it. For example, reading, walking or drinking tea in silence help me.
3. Have you ever tried meditating? Would you dare to try it?
Yes, just once at the end of yoga training on YouTube. 😅
It was not serious and without effect. But I want to try it properly now. Maybe I will follow your advice and use Calm app.
Of course, I do, I don't understand how one may not agree. There a lot of things that are taking our attention but don't really deserve it.
Do you feel ‘aware’ or distracted in your life?
I try to be aware of the passing time and emotions. But I also appreciate the time when I'm not "aware", but into the work so much that I don't know how much time passed. There are benefits of two brain "modes".
Have you ever tried meditating? Would you dare to try it?
I have tried and incorporated it into my daily habits. It is important for me to focus on things that are important. Things that I place value in the long-run rather than easily accessible pleasures of the modern world.
I do agree with that statement. Even simple advertisement takes our attention as that is why it was created. To drag people into focusing on things that they don't need but could have gotten - just because.
2. Do you feel ‘aware’ or distracted in your life?
I think there is no person around that feels only aware or distracted all the time. There are situations when the sudden reflection comes and yopu might be aware in many cases. And the same thing when it comes to being distracted. But i must tell that having phone around makes the distraction being even stronger as even a little wibration makes me check it something happend. That is why i'm using dnd mode which makes phone totally silent when im focusing on something.
3. Have you ever tried meditating? Would you dare to try it?
I have never tried meditating. I thought about doing it but for now im getting really easly distraced. Maybe its high time for me to start meditating as it could have helped me focus more on important things.
When it comes to the third question, I have never tried meditating, however I have heard a lot of positive things about it. I feel like I am too energetic, loud and unable to focus for it. Nevertheless, I know that it could actually help me. I am a huge fan of a canadian singer, Shawn Mendes, and he is the first person who showed me meditating. He said that it really helps him after concerts and to find peace in this whole hype around him. So actually, if a person like him, who works 24/7 as an entertainer can find peace and relief in meditation, then I guess I could find it too.
What do you mean by saying ‘distracting in pleasant way’?
You mean we should work not to procrastinate? If yes than I agree but in my opinion assumption of being slaves of our own mind seems a little bit farfetched. Meditating is very difficult but it gets easier with time and some practice. I have never thought of math solving as a way to improve my wellbeing, maybe I will try it some day :)
I am glad to hear that meditation works for you, could you elaborate a little bit on how your sessions look like? You sit outside on e.g. bench in silence? Seems like a great way to calm down and look at some things from different perspective.
The ‘ideal life’ is a very popular trend on social media (especially on Instagram) and I agree that it can make you think that your life is worse than others and even cause being jealous of someone’s lifestyle. Everyone should keep in mind that they only post what they want us to see and in reality theirs life looks VERY different. There are many other apps and tutorials on meditation but I found ‘calm’ the be the most suiting for me, please give it a try :)
I totally agree with your statements and sadly I feel the same, sometimes I feel that I am addicted to being distracted. What I mean by that is like you said I am constantly looking for distractions e.g. checking my phone constantly, multitasking all the time, even watching Netflix or Twitch during my meals and not giving myself time to think about what is going on in my life. Sometimes that distraction is good (e.g. when we have hard time in life and do not want to overthink some stuff) but for most of the time it is irritating. I encourage you to try fighting it by starting with your phone as I find it the most distracting thing in our life. What I am trying to do is to keep my phone away (like in other room) when I work, learn or simply trying to focus. Since I started that practice, I feel that I am much more efficient because my phone is not in my sight, so I do not want to constantly reply to someone or check some other apps.
Yes, I think it's true. OUr attention span is getting shorter and shorter due to an overabundence of distractions and stimulus.
2.
Most of the times unfortunately not, but I try to be more conscious about living my life .
3.
I did try a few various techniques, but lack currently the willpower to continue siting still for over 15 minutes.
I would say YES. Nowadays, new technologies have changed the way we interact with our environment. Social media keeps providing us with notifications. Every ad gives us a headache and throws us off balance. The modern world is still chasing ahead but at what cost?
2. Do you feel ‘aware’ or distracted in your life?
I do feel distracted in my life. During my day, I try to focus on my work, but sometimes thoughts about something else throw me out of focus and disctract me. I keep fighting with distraction, puting away my phone or log out from socials.
3. Have you ever tried meditating? Would you dare to try it?
I have never tried meditating. I think it's my thing. Would I dare to try it? Maybe one day but it's not something I am into. I don't have patience to sit in one position all the time
I consider myself "aware". I can focus my attention on comparing myself to my friends for a long time. I have specially trained my skills in this aspect and now, while working on a computer, I can quickly change the object on which I focus.
I meditate regularly. I try to isolate meditation from all religious aspects and only focus on quieting my mind and relaxing. I'm not sitting in any special position, but just very comfortable. The sun is an indispensable element of my meditation. The sun's rays and the color of a summer day are very calming. So I have slight problems in the winter. I don't turn on music and even use earplugs. 20 minutes with absolutely no stimulation allows me to focus longer on a hard task and I feel better inside.
I feel that I'm more distracted than aware most of the time, but I try to distance myself from work and studies whenever I can to get some rest. I find the idea of celebrating the Shabbat helpful to bring the attention back into your life. If you are not familiar with the term, it's a holiday which we celebrate every week, it starts with candle-lighting on a Friday sunset and it last till the Havdala on a Sunday evening. The main rules for this holiday are to restrain from any kind of work, like cooking, cleaning or even using electricity. The last one forces us to not use smartphones, and by that not using social media. The goal of this holiday is to celebrate your family and the simple pleasures of it, like reading a book or taking a walk. If you are looking for a way to wind down after a week of distraction, I recommend you try it at least once! :)
I tried meditating in the past, and I hope to make it a habit one day. However, right now even though I could really use it, I'm so overwhelmed with work, that I don't really have time for it. I tried using apps like Calm, which provide music and instructions that help you meditate in your home.