Routine – March 2023

Comments

2 responses to “Routine – March 2023”

1. 

   Gladys

   April 2, 2023

   Hey there 超勉强，

   I was searching for your name but couldn’t find. I was reading your other articles and find your description about the Vipasanna meditation so vivid and authentic. I enjoyed reading why would anyone go thru that torture and wondered what you really got of it!

   After ending that retreat, I supposed you still continue meditating and wondering if there is any difference in what you have gained? More clarity? More focus? Or more calm?

   Would love to hear about it, if you have time to share. I’m wondering if I have courage to sign up for it.

   Ms Gladys

2. 

   TryingTooHard 超勉強

   August 13, 2023

   Hello Ms Gladys,

   Sorry for the delay. Comments are rare and I am delighted that you took the time to write!

   Yes, I still meditate, about 20 minutes a day, and sometimes longer, when I have the time. To me, the biggest reason I still meditate is because the process of meditation has become the most reliable way of remembering a few things:

   1. “There is a place inside our heads that we can all go to to witness calmness.”
      It is difficult to explain. Fundamentally, I think we all already know what it feels like to be at peace. It’s this feeling from the understanding of the thought “what we have is good enough.” And meditation helps surface that feeling or understanding. At the core, meditation is about removing distractions. It is a practice to focus. And one of the things that focus reveals, when we are not distracted or occupied by our worries, our thoughts of our events in our lives, etc., is the feeling of “it’s okay, it’s enough.” It’s kind of silly but it’s also true- everything IS okay when we aren’t thinking or feeling … and meditation is one way to help us remember all thoughts and feelings are just phenomenons that show up in our mind, so then we can feel okay. (Trust me, I know this sounds strange …)

   2. “There is always a gap between our thoughts, feelings, and actions.”
      Similar to the first point, meditation is a reminder that I don’t have to be associated to my thoughts or feelings, because the gaps actually exist. Regular meditation is like a process to increase my exposure to the evidence that the gaps exist, so when shit hits the fan in real life, I have a better chance to remember that I can pause.

   3. “What thoughts and emotions feel like physically.”
      One thing I have found useful is meditation helps me notice my thoughts and emotions more reliably and vividly. During meditation, because I am less distracted, I tend to notice more things, including the small bodily activities that are associated with thoughts and emotions. I have found this useful in real life because it is useful to have more physical cues to help me notice my emotions. It is hard to notice how we feel when the emotions hit, so it helps when I have more “signals” to notice. For example, shame is both a thought and a bulge deep inside my lungs. Think of it as having multiple red lights blinking vividly. Meditation is almost like a training that helps me see more red lights inside me.

   Lastly, about the retreat, I don’t know if I would go back too! It’s demanding! But I must say it was very helpful. The retreat forced me to get to a mental state that is impossible to access in day to day life. I mean, we were meditation 14 hours a day with zero distractions! What that did was it revealed a completely different state of focus. Through the retreat, I now know what my mind could be like. The analogy I used was … imagine you have never tasted ice cream, this cold and sweet and velvety thing that melts in your mouth. No matter how much you read about it, you will never really know what it is like eating it, until you eat it. And once you have eaten it, you will forever know what’s possible. The retreat was like that. It allowed me to know what it was like to be that super clear minded.

   I hope you find this useful.