Why I am doing it?
These are effects I observed. For most people I guess they become clearly visible after 20 days of 10 min a day. 20 minutes a day may be the sweet spot for significant effects.
- Low-anxiety – lowering both mild and deep-seated anxieties
(anything from social anxiety, health anxiety, mild phobias, panic attacks)
- Wisdom – enhancing clarity and improving complex problem-solving
(e.g. it's making me a better designer, it’s helping me with difficult decisions)
- Focus – Increasing patience and reducing the lure of immediate gratification
(For example, I find myself less drawn to minor addictions like social media or casual snacking)
- Harmony – experiencing feelings of harmony, peace and acceptance
(I feel more at peace; it instills a sense of correctness, grounds me in the present, and quiets the default part of homo-sapiens brain fixated on the next thing or seeking more)
meditation helps me reconnect with what is happening within me—checking in with my parts and revealing their tensions, wants, screams, comforts, aspirations, needs, and fears
How to meditate?
- Close your eyes and focus on experiencing the here and now. How do you experience the present moment? What are your current sensations like—sounds, sights, feelings? How do different parts of your body feel? How does a cloud of sensations like an emotion feel? Your task is to continually focus on any present sensation. There is no way of doing it wrong.
- Naturally, thoughts will arise and pull you away from the present.
- Your task is to notice when you are consumed by thoughts and come back to the here and now. Be kind to yourself. Everybody fails at this. Accept that you will fail too, and just keep coming back.
(To feel any effects, commit to 10 minutes a day for 20 days. The common name for this style of meditation is mindfulness meditation.)
Framework to try meditation
Evaluating meditation: 20 days x 15 min
How to think about meditation?
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“The advantage of meditation is not that you’re suddenly going to gain the superpower to control your internal state, it’s that you will recognize just how out of control your mind is.”
– Naval Ravikant
I think most of the people who never meditated have this impression that they are in control of their thoughts. During meditation, you witness how hard it is to stay here and now and that thoughts come up on their own.
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“Staying for a minute without getting distracted is a heroic feat. The longer you meditate the easier it is to recognize this "torrent of discursivity" which is preventing you from staying focused.” – Sam Harris
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“You can uncover that consciousness itself has intrinsic quality of wellbeing. Simply paying attention to the experience is the antidote to the feeling of dissatisfaction. That what is aware of sadness isn’t truly sad.” – Sam Harris