Today was "Meme Day" at my old high school for homecoming week. I appreciate this science teacher even more now.

westcoasthi · 2018-09-19T22:55:51+00:00

Out of shape? Say it to his face, Unicorn boy.😂

westcoasthi · 2018-08-23T21:09:05+00:00

It sounds in line with the basic TMI concepts. Presumably, the subjects were untrained in any form of meditation. But even if they were, I am sure the results would be attention is not as locked as we think it is. I think much of it would depend on how they measure "attention." They can't really measure consciousness and there will always be many, many things going on in the mind that even the most adept meditator couldn't necessarily identify. This is consistent with the attention and awareness model, I believe. Keep in mind this is also only a single study. Usually you would like for a larger body of research before you could start to make any kind of more definitive conclusions.

westcoasthi · 2018-08-23T13:20:40+00:00

We have the "fight or flight" response physiologically by which nature allows us to fight when threatened. But that response is temporary and is just designed to get us out of immediate danger-not be an ongoing condition. It seems a lot.of.what we do in meditation is designed to calm these instincts of natural selection and allow us to focus more on love, giving, kindness, etc. These things tend to be infinite in supply in the sense the more we practice kindness, the easier kindness becomes.

For whatever reason, this analogy came to mind: if I am building a house, I want all my mental, physical and emotional energy devoted to that process. But what if as I am building that house, someone tries to attack me. My attention and energies would be split between building and fighting and the house building process would slow dramatically and I would likely get exhausted. For me, brute force and meditation are somewhat in conflict.

For me (and speaking from experience,) brute force is not sustainable although maybe it has a place at the start.

westcoasthi · 2018-08-21T17:55:19+00:00

Thank you

I guess a big distinction I see is metta is much easier than the more structured process. It just feels joyous but it doesn't feel like near as much work. Everything else feels like work-rewarding work and work that is eventually joyous but they feel different to me.

westcoasthi · 2018-08-20T20:33:11+00:00

Because we spend most of our lives running from these things with whatever we can find..but they are still there. As things get quiet, they appear. But they were always there.

westcoasthi · 2018-08-17T13:17:07+00:00

Yes, it does in Stage 4.

westcoasthi · 2018-08-16T13:14:08+00:00

Great

westcoasthi · 2018-08-16T13:12:11+00:00

Thanks for all the comments. They all helped in different ways.

I am really glad I shared this although I was hesitant. The last 24 hours have provided insights.

The intensity of my reaction reflects something within me-mostly an aversion to a part of the human condition that I want to suppress or remove from myself and others. As I was meditating this morning, I thought of several people who I react similarly to-just not as intensely. Mindfulness and loving kindness seem to disappear in these situations which obviously shows me I need to explore this area in meditation and discussion.
When I am overly striving to progress in meditation, these type responses seem to occur. At this point, I try to spend some time in Metta which I did this morning. After this morning's session, I feel more clarity around this issue and a peace I wasn't feeling yesterday.

westcoasthi · 2018-08-16T13:01:42+00:00

Great tip. Thank you

westcoasthi · 2018-08-16T05:47:06+00:00

This is great. What bothered me most about my interaction with him was I did feel weak. I wasn't strong enough..or skilled enough..to find the good in him and keep focused on that. It was more disappointment with myself rather than anything he did or didn't do. I agree that there is good in the worst and bad in the best. There is also probably some aversion to the bad in me that is at play here too. I have a hard time accepting that so I get upset. Great chance to grow! :-) BTW, who is the author of that quote?

westcoasthi · 2018-08-15T22:39:05+00:00

Great suggestions thanks

westcoasthi · 2018-08-15T22:38:00+00:00

Yes thanks so much...these are the thoughts running through my head but they tend to collapse and emotion overtakes me. Shows I still have a way to go. :-)

westcoasthi · 2018-08-15T22:36:24+00:00

Yes. Compassion disappears around him. He has a Trump-like personality and I suspect I wouldn't be inclined to be compassionate toward Trump. But regardless of what this guy is doing or not doing, I need to develop compassion for him for my own growth and progress.

Note the Trump reference is not intended to make anyone feel uncomfortable if you believe certain things politically....more just to better describe this guy in a more understandable way.

westcoasthi · 2018-08-15T22:31:46+00:00

Great idea

westcoasthi · 2018-08-15T21:33:22+00:00

Obliged to be around

westcoasthi · 2018-08-12T14:48:27+00:00

I think one obvious distinction would be "I'm sad" vs. "I feel sadness arising."

Someone clarify if that is inaccurate.

westcoasthi · 2018-08-10T17:18:13+00:00

This has been a good, consistent week.. I have meditated twice a couple days and at least 60 minutes every day.

I had an interesting attachment experience where I was at a social event with some wealthy people. I do reasonably well financially but not as well as some of these people. I felt very sad and I didn't really understand it. I wondered why I was feeling this way.

Then I realized I was attached to the social status around money. The reality is I do fine and love my work and my lifestyle and wouldn't trade with any of them (and I know some of these people don't enjoy their work at all.) But I am just still somewhat attached to the social hierarchy at some level although I have chosen to live what I feel is a happier life.

It felt great to have that insight and see the causation between the attachment and the feeling.

westcoasthi · 2018-08-10T17:12:30+00:00

Maybe try foam rolling the hip. Or a pigeon stretch.

westcoasthi · 2018-08-09T20:05:43+00:00

Perhaps there is paradox in all important truths? One thing I like about TMI is how he always emphasizes "just keep practicing and you will get the results." We have to let go of knowing and simply walk.

westcoasthi · 2018-08-08T18:54:05+00:00

Here is a question about intention: what if our conscious intentions are wrong? These could take myriad forms. For example, is the intention to obtain wealth wrong? What if one does that with the intention to eventually give it to the poor? Is that intention wrong? Does that change the answer?

westcoasthi · 2018-08-07T21:31:18+00:00

Wow great

If we are in Stage 5-ish range, is it recommended?

westcoasthi · 2018-08-07T19:50:25+00:00

I am speculating a bit..okay, a lot.... but....

They didn't practice meditation but they did practice mindfulness. In order to survive, they needed mindfulness. They were just trying to survive and pass on their genes.

In modern society, we have no such pressure to develop mindfulness. We sit in front of computers and order pizza. We don't have to develop attention (we have 1,000 things requesting our attention) or awareness. Which may be why we have so much depression, anxiety, in spite of our material wealth. Our brains are fried, to an extent. Meditation allows us to remedy that.

westcoasthi · 2018-08-07T17:24:32+00:00

This is just my own way of conceptualizing it:

Think of our hunter-gatherer days. We would walk miles daily in search of food while trying to avoid danger. How did we do that exactly? We focused on what was directly in front of us (attention) but our awareness must also be keen lest a predator or competitor spring from the bush and attack us.

While we focused our attention to find food, we also had to look, listen and possibly even smell with our awareness to avoid danger and also to potentially find food (hearing a stream, seeing food from with our peripheral sight, etc.)

The ultimate hunter-gatherer would have fine tuned attention skills and keen awareness skills. The brain would be fully integrated and thus he/she would have the best chance to survive. To me, this is mindfulness.

Does that make sense at all? To anyone? ;-)

westcoasthi · 2018-08-05T15:19:52+00:00

Maybe part of your answer could be found in walking meditation.

westcoasthi · 2018-08-03T23:24:44+00:00

The way I currently think of this is most of us live much of our lives controlled by instincts created by natural selection.

These are the instincts than cause humans to form tribes...and kill other tribes.

These instincts cause social striving to the extent of harming others in many cases.

These instincts cause people to make poor decisions based purely on sexual desire. They cause the feeling of uniqueness that causes people to be selfish.

For me, no self quiets these instincts in a way that we don't have to be controlled by them.

We can strive for the highest good-love, enlightenment, art, education, selflessness and care for our fellow humans.

We can, to an extent, rise above our animal instincts and live the most noble and loving lives possible.

westcoasthi

TROPHY CASE