My overconsumption of food goes hand in hand with my overconsumption of information. I eat while I read about the world. And this overload makes me lethargic and dull.
So this week I'm going to pay attention to this. What are the effects of too much screen time on my mind? Now that I have my food choices more under control.
My meditation time gives me a barometer of how sharp and vital my mind is. If I've overeaten, or over indulged in screen time, I know it in how distracted my mind feels when I wake up.
Meditation also gives me an alternative to screen time. It feeds the hunger that I think I'm going to solve with overconsumption.
Showing posts with label information. Show all posts
Showing posts with label information. Show all posts
Monday, July 27, 2015
Sunday, September 1, 2013
Wholeness
I had terrible, weird, vivid dreams last night. Dreams about the most disturbed people I've ever known. Violent dreams about sexual torture. Strange dreams about art shows with wooden pterodactyls flying across a room.
My fear is working its way out of my body and mind. But first I need to become more aware of it. That's hard to do with all the clutter I'm putting into it with the internet, and t.v. etc. I need to break the loop. This week I started a habit of fasting two days a week to get rid of some excess weight I've been carrying. I wonder if I spend two days off the internet and TV what would happen. Two information fasts a week. Sunday, lets say and Wednesday.
Sundays are hard because its all my favourite shows. But I can catch up at another point. I don't need to see these shows at the same time as everyone else. And it's important to me to wake up feeling clear and calm on Mondays. Not tripped out by whatever hyper dramatic show had captured my mind. Also having a clear calm mind will help me better weather the discomforts of the food fast.
I need to do this because I know my writing is suffering and this book has to be good and near completion by the end of the year. I'm way behind what I wanted to be. But I can't get impatient with myself, because impatience is the root of writer's block. I need to keep that fine balance.
So what will I do on this day of digital fast? I'll meditate often. I'll centre my mind at that spot where I know that I am whole, that I am connected to a power far greater than this feeble sense of "self." I'll give my mind space to store up on confidence and calm. I'll think about my book, so that on my food fast day I'll be primed for a busy work day. I'll read a lot. And I'll continue to weaken this cycle of fear. I will tap into my stores of insight.
My fear is working its way out of my body and mind. But first I need to become more aware of it. That's hard to do with all the clutter I'm putting into it with the internet, and t.v. etc. I need to break the loop. This week I started a habit of fasting two days a week to get rid of some excess weight I've been carrying. I wonder if I spend two days off the internet and TV what would happen. Two information fasts a week. Sunday, lets say and Wednesday.
Sundays are hard because its all my favourite shows. But I can catch up at another point. I don't need to see these shows at the same time as everyone else. And it's important to me to wake up feeling clear and calm on Mondays. Not tripped out by whatever hyper dramatic show had captured my mind. Also having a clear calm mind will help me better weather the discomforts of the food fast.
I need to do this because I know my writing is suffering and this book has to be good and near completion by the end of the year. I'm way behind what I wanted to be. But I can't get impatient with myself, because impatience is the root of writer's block. I need to keep that fine balance.
So what will I do on this day of digital fast? I'll meditate often. I'll centre my mind at that spot where I know that I am whole, that I am connected to a power far greater than this feeble sense of "self." I'll give my mind space to store up on confidence and calm. I'll think about my book, so that on my food fast day I'll be primed for a busy work day. I'll read a lot. And I'll continue to weaken this cycle of fear. I will tap into my stores of insight.
Sunday, April 21, 2013
No news is good news
This month, in the Joy of Living program, the focus is on the body. We move from open meditation to object meditation, with the specific object being the bodily sensations. Mostly my meditation this week has been a body scan starting with the forehead and moving down to the feet. In Tergar, before we move on to more potentially distracting objects like thoughts and emotions, we spend a month with the body.
It's good for me to stay with a structured program for a while. Especially as I work on something as challenging as a book. I know I've felt stuck in this intermediate stage for a while, and sometimes the way out of that is to go back to beginner's mind.
One thing I became very conscious of this week is the effect of charged information on my mind. Last Sunday was the Boston Marathon, and this week has been a manhunt. I found myself, like many people, drawn into the spectacle of seeing this young younger brother, captured. Despite everything he'd done, I felt a tremendous empathy for him. It seemed from his story that he was a dependent younger brother caught in the web of a dominant brother, and a terrible ideology. I couldn't stop clicking the New York Times site. I got into stupid Facebook arguments about whether he should be read his rights in the interest of public safety.
I felt my whole body tense and manic.
Last week I read a very interesting opinion piece about the toxic effects of following the news. It seemed a little extreme at the time, but I'm starting to open my mind to the possibility that he's right. There's not much I can do for this young man, other than hope he escapes the death sentence, and that his story in some way gives us insight into how fanatics are formed. But following this constant flow of factoids make us feel powerless, jumpy, helpless and distracted. News is the information equivalent of sugar. I wonder how much of the depression I struggle with is related to it.
I would probably be just as well informed if I read good magazines and recently published books, and my mind would be clearer.
If I want to write high quality information, I need to consume high quality information. And I need to believe that there is purpose, meaning and wisdom in doing this. I'm not going to feel this way, or believe that this pursuit is meaningful if I spend the rest of my life hooked up to the news machine.
This week I lean into this and keep to a resolution to not to follow this case anymore. And while I'm at it, I'm going to give news a break. I'll read about it eventually in the New Yorker, once the facts and the details emerge. I don't need to be kept abreast of every detail.
And truth is I don't need to be kept abreast of every detail on anything. I can stay informed without being up to the minute. And in that way, I hope, I can stay more in touch with the present moment.
It's good for me to stay with a structured program for a while. Especially as I work on something as challenging as a book. I know I've felt stuck in this intermediate stage for a while, and sometimes the way out of that is to go back to beginner's mind.
One thing I became very conscious of this week is the effect of charged information on my mind. Last Sunday was the Boston Marathon, and this week has been a manhunt. I found myself, like many people, drawn into the spectacle of seeing this young younger brother, captured. Despite everything he'd done, I felt a tremendous empathy for him. It seemed from his story that he was a dependent younger brother caught in the web of a dominant brother, and a terrible ideology. I couldn't stop clicking the New York Times site. I got into stupid Facebook arguments about whether he should be read his rights in the interest of public safety.
I felt my whole body tense and manic.
Last week I read a very interesting opinion piece about the toxic effects of following the news. It seemed a little extreme at the time, but I'm starting to open my mind to the possibility that he's right. There's not much I can do for this young man, other than hope he escapes the death sentence, and that his story in some way gives us insight into how fanatics are formed. But following this constant flow of factoids make us feel powerless, jumpy, helpless and distracted. News is the information equivalent of sugar. I wonder how much of the depression I struggle with is related to it.
I would probably be just as well informed if I read good magazines and recently published books, and my mind would be clearer.
If I want to write high quality information, I need to consume high quality information. And I need to believe that there is purpose, meaning and wisdom in doing this. I'm not going to feel this way, or believe that this pursuit is meaningful if I spend the rest of my life hooked up to the news machine.
This week I lean into this and keep to a resolution to not to follow this case anymore. And while I'm at it, I'm going to give news a break. I'll read about it eventually in the New Yorker, once the facts and the details emerge. I don't need to be kept abreast of every detail.
And truth is I don't need to be kept abreast of every detail on anything. I can stay informed without being up to the minute. And in that way, I hope, I can stay more in touch with the present moment.
Thursday, March 14, 2013
Information consumption
Feeling bleary this morning and wondering why. I've been eating well, I'm over my cold. Shouldn't I be feeling more vitality and concentration?
It hit me towards the end of my mediation that I was tired because I'd been up late, net surfing, watching DVDs. Harmless stuff. But enough to keep me up too late.
Once I've let go of my food addictions, I'm not going to have much choice but to confront my digital addictions. And once I've done that I'm probably not going to have much choice but to face the things that my addictions protect me from, anxiety, resentment, regret. All those things that hit you at middle age.
Patience. That's all there is sometimes. Just patience.
It hit me towards the end of my mediation that I was tired because I'd been up late, net surfing, watching DVDs. Harmless stuff. But enough to keep me up too late.
Once I've let go of my food addictions, I'm not going to have much choice but to confront my digital addictions. And once I've done that I'm probably not going to have much choice but to face the things that my addictions protect me from, anxiety, resentment, regret. All those things that hit you at middle age.
Patience. That's all there is sometimes. Just patience.
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