Present-Moment Thinking

[Sergeant Hustle]

I've been doing yoga as of late, as well as been studying Buddhism for the past few years. If there is one thing I'm learning, it is how supremely difficult it is to just live in the moment and focus only on what is going on in the now. We are so consumed with yesterday and tomorrow, that today is just a formality to focus on what happened yesterday and obsess on what might happen tomorrow.

When I was trying to do the present-moment thinking just studying Buddhism alone, I literally could not quiet my mind at all. I tried but it was impossible. Once I added in the yoga practice, I now find myself able to do it all the time. It's taken about two months of yoga to get my brain to where it relaxes enough to do so, but just living presently is like being high for as long as it lasts. No worries or cares or desires exist in that space. It really is amazing, even if it only lasts for thirty second increments. I'm hoping that I'm working my mind toward being able to live that way more and more often for longer periods of time before the racket interrupts again.

Anyone experience this here?

 

[Danger Manye]

I know what your talking about, your conscience being cleared. My will has intended me to do so, but things of this world have put a halter on it. I've been threw many trying trials to do so, because people for reason don't want you to do this. Couldn't ask why though?

 

[Sergeant Hustle]

Well I think that's the challenge, is fighting the world off so you can find peace in your mind, even if for only a few moments. It's even worse in this day and age where everything moves so fast and the distractions and multi-tasking are simply out of hand. I can be eating, IMing, text messaging, and working at once. Your mind gets used to these ADD stimulis, thus making it that much harder to calm it down.

 

[kayvee]

i can multitask with the best of them, but I think it's up to you to want to turn off the pc/phone and/or take a break.

~k.

 

[Sergeant Hustle]

i can multitask with the best of them, but I think it's up to you to want to turn off the pc/phone and/or take a break.

~k.

i think it goes a level beyond that. can you sit and simply thing of nothing in a quiet room without your mind wandering? i don't know about most people, but for me, it's near impossible.

 

[WHITE DEVIL]

I've never been able to do this.

 

[Sergeant Hustle]

I've never been able to do this.

my point exactly. it's amazing when you achieve it even for a moment, but it's mad hard.

 

[Fucky McFuckerson]

worry = motivation

cleared concious = bliss = ignorance?

 

[Danger Manye]

i figured it out, you got to be less than room. Less than an empty room and the less of a full room. That is knowning that good does not come from you. If you think that good comes from you, you are aware of it and you won't forget it and or the place you are at because you feel you are worthy of your surroundings.

 

[Sergeant Hustle]

worry = motivation

cleared concious = bliss = ignorance?

worry doesn't equal motivation. if i worry, i'm scared. if i'm scared, i'm paralyzed. if i'm paralyzed, i get nothing done.

obviously you can't walk around 24/7 with no consciousness of what's going on around you. the challenge is to train your mind to find those moments of peace. peace isn't ignorance.

 

[Fucky McFuckerson]

worry doesn't equal motivation. if i worry, i'm scared. if i'm scared, i'm paralyzed. if i'm paralyzed, i get nothing done.

obviously you can't walk around 24/7 with no consciousness of what's going on around you. the challenge is to train your mind to find those moments of peace. peace isn't ignorance.

Maybe stress is better than worry. When i get backed into a wall, i seem to perform better. For example, waiting til the last week of my classes to do my finals--i havent gotten lower than an 85% on any of them, with a high of 98%.

 

[TONY206]

I need to get my mind cleared as well. Upon waking my brain goes full speed almost instantly, it's unbelievable. The best way to escape it for me is to work/study nonstop. God I miss working tax seasons...

 

[TONY206]

Maybe stress is better than worry. When i get backed into a wall, i seem to perform better. For example, waiting til the last week of my classes to do my finals--i havent gotten lower than an 85% on any of them, with a high of 98%.

Yeah I perform better under pressure as well. I actually prefer the pressure because there seeems to be more satisfaction in the end.

 

[kayvee]

For example, waiting til the last week of my classes to do my finals--i havent gotten lower than an 85% on any of them, with a high of 98%.

cosign

~k.

 

[Sergeant Hustle]

agreed, stress can be productive in some cases. it goes back to the fight or flight discussion that was brought up in another thread recently as well. but you can't always operate like that or eventually you will burn out, become ill, or go insane. my point is that there is something to be said for being able to take yourself out of all of that for a few moments at a time and just exist without any of it clouding your mind. it's theraputic, i tell ya.

 

[NovaFire]

^^^
you know ive been trying to do this for the past few months. And like you said, its nearly impossible. I think one of the reasons why its so hard, is because we are constantly bombarded by ads and things of that nature. Also because how we live. The world is hella fast paced now a days so it takes a quicker mind to process all this information, so just attempting to stop it from thinking is futile because that just creates more thoughts. I found that doing things that are more physical and simple really help me to stop thinking and makes me focus on whats at hand.

btw, living in worry mode is not very healthy at all. we should be working on preventing crisis, not living in a state of one.

 

[Sergeant Hustle]

the yoga has really helped me with present-moment thinking. it's so challenging that all i can possibly think about is how to do it. anytime i have a bad day in yoga, it's directly related to my mind being all over the place and having a total lack of focus. some of this is due to what i've eaten or not eaten, how much i've slept, or what kind of negativity has been around me. all of those things make it harder to focus on the now.

 

[Talus]

Stress in mild amounts can be very benificial.
There are lots of ways that i meditate i recently tried this ear acupuncture shit...was straight up crazy... at the hospital i work at they have relaxation wednesdays and they offer various things like that it was one of the sweetest things i have EVER experienced... other people tried it though and they didnt feel anything...
I meditate by imagining im pushing all the random thoughts that float into my mind into a small ball in my hands and turning them into warm energy and then letting my energy warm my body... I let whatever thoughts flow right thru my mind and dont allow them to catch on... and eventually it is tottally clear... i try not to have any watches/clocks/cell phone around that will distract my focus. But i have gotten good enough over the years to be able to meditate in the most crowded of areas.

 

[GeneralSnake]

I've been doing yoga as of late, as well as been studying Buddhism for the past few years. If there is one thing I'm learning, it is how supremely difficult it is to just live in the moment and focus only on what is going on in the now. We are so consumed with yesterday and tomorrow, that today is just a formality to focus on what happened yesterday and obsess on what might happen tomorrow.

When I was trying to do the present-moment thinking just studying Buddhism alone, I literally could not quiet my mind at all. I tried but it was impossible. Once I added in the yoga practice, I now find myself able to do it all the time. It's taken about two months of yoga to get my brain to where it relaxes enough to do so, but just living presently is like being high for as long as it lasts. No worries or cares or desires exist in that space. It really is amazing, even if it only lasts for thirty second increments. I'm hoping that I'm working my mind toward being able to live that way more and more often for longer periods of time before the racket interrupts again.

Anyone experience this here?

I have done yoga, still do it occasionally. I love that feeling. I actually told my teacher that I feel high at the end of class.
I have experienced it to even greater effects on drugs though. Well, it was more like, no thoughts at all. None. It was a complete emptiness, I was nothing. I wasnt a mind, a body, I was literally nothing. It lasted for a few hours.
I just dont think I should be like that all of the time. If I happen to go to combat, I think it may lead to bad things, such as my own death from something a fierce, clear mind could have avoided or prevented.