Not a lot to say about a week's worth of meditating, engaged in hoping to improve concentration. I suspect this is a "watched pot never boils" type of situation. It's probably not a good idea to start asking yourself, "Am I concentrating better now? What about now? Now?"
I can say I've had a couple of maintain-the-mind-of-a-beginner experiences this week:
First off, because I've tried meditating before, I didn't bother watching the how-to-sit videos that are part of the Yoga Journal meditation program I'm using. Hey, I knew how to sit, right? Even after changing my mind and watching the videos a couple of days in, I'm still struggling with finding the best seated arrangement of props and me for sitting.
Secondly, again, because I have tried meditating before, I at first found Week One's guided meditation annoying. Am I not supposed to be working on thinking nothing? I thought. This woman's constant chatter is distracting me from my nothingness. However, I can recall in my earlier efforts struggling to even try to meditate for 4 or 5 minutes. The guidance did keep me on the cushion for nearly 8 minutes, which at the very least was getting my body used to the position.
Perhaps the ego must be broken down before discipline can be improved.
Last week someone at the May Days Facebook page noted that while she was working on being more disciplined in her writing because of her involvement with the group, she noticed that her house was cleaner. She was becoming more disciplined about that, too. In The Willpower Instinct, Kelly McGonigal says it's not at all unusual to see that kind of thing happen. While someone is working on one willpower goal, they'll report an improvement in other aspects of their lives that require willpower.
I may not care that much about a clean house, but improved discipline spilling over into other aspects of life is certainly motivating.
No comments:
Post a Comment