cover image for Meditation For Fidgety Skeptics

Meditation For Fidgety Skeptics

Dan Harris

8/10
Great and approachable book details how meditation can help everyone and how to do it well. For me personally I want to add more of a friendly attitude to my meditations, welcoming distractions with friendlyness instead of annoyance, before contradulating myself on noticing that I became distracted and returning to the breath and sensations there. Benefits of mediation include, practicing focus, noticing your own emotional and bodily state more clearly, not letting your emotions get the better of you and control you.
  • steps
    • sit comfortably
    • feel your breath, coming in and out
    • notice when you are distracted and come back to breath
  • idea is to practice, being presents and getting distracted
  • benefits
    • general underlying more calm
    • focus practice, easier time to focus
    • more space between intrusive thoughts and actual actions
      • respond not react (not autopilot reactions)
  • meditation guide
    • distraction is normal
    • try to gently focus on the breath (or other sensation), not controll but try to observe and be curious
    • let it hear other thoughts but be focused on the breath
    • if you get super distracted try and observe what happened (let it go without judge and return to the breath, try to be satisfied with Having noticed the awareness)
    • try guided audio meditation
  • thinking vs awareness
    • actor vs stage
    • notice when you're thinking is trying to steal the show,
  • Working example
    • curious mindset
    • in and out break (focus on a sensation)
    • say thinking when you start thinking, then go back to in and out
    • Notice what it's like to be caught by thinking
    • Not annoyed but curious, how soon can you notice
  • you should be friendly about your criticisms and misjudgements. Gently re direct
  • hurt more suffer less.
    • more aware of your hurt and emotions
    • Less impacted by them and less likely to act with them in mine
  • feel satisfaction that when you've noticed, that you wandered
  • meditation habit formation tips
    • need to be related to reward: motivation -> anxiety reduction. A present. Visual representation of stuff
    • work it into your schedule (same time every day). Cue, routine, reward loop.
    • permission to fail: experiment, fails and try again
    • 1 minute counts
  • stage 2 meditation
    • notice and get curious about where your mind wanders. Pattern? Triggers?
    • pattern noticing not to get sucked in unconsciously
    • Lean into your feelings
  • compassion training
    • try to see and allow things that are happening to you. Are you uncomfortable
    • a wish (explicitly not a plan) for things to get better for you and others.
  • find you body signals for certain emotions
    • notice, the emotion, it's physical manifestation
    • accept the emotion, open to it with self compassion
    • investigate,
  • emotions followed by, is this useful
  • welcome your distractions (is an attitude thing)
  • equinimity - a kind of lack of resistance and leaning into the feeling and experience
    • don't try and controll the experience, no judgement, etc, let it all wash over you
  • attirude
    • friendlyness
    • enjoyment
  • it's about feeling however you feel, goal is to see what you're feeling not change it.
  • try a do nothing, nothing at all meditation
    • drift and let your thoughts flow
  • try to get high on the specific sensations of having your own body
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