I swore the other day to leave the political blogs and other negative "hot button" issues out of my life for the time being. But an innocent search got me all fired up again on a certain issue. Naturally, I had to respond (because I can't stand injustice) and that pretty much shot the whole "calmness" of the morning.
Now that it's afternoon, I'm feeling normal again and wondering, for the thousandth time, if I have adult ADD. My brain tends to flit around on a dozen things at any given moment. Actually focusing for more than 15-20 minutes on something is nearly impossible for me. This is especially bothersome at night when I'm trying to go to sleep and have ten thousand thoughts running through my brain.
I am thinking I need to learn how to meditate and how to focus. I'd like an entire week of focusing on my writing. Yet something always drags me away from it and I have little resistance to the siren call.
Finding actual quiet time, meditating on something, whether it be on something I read in my Bible or on something that I wrote, is hard for me. I wish it wasn't.
Am I merely a product of this current social climate of "so many things to look at, so little time to look at them"? With Twitter (which I have staved off joining so far), Facebook, blogging, and a gazillion websites calling my name, the Internet is a big time waster for me. But it's not just the 'Net that distracts me. I'll get caught up in various activities offline that take away my focus. Though I have managed to eliminate t.v. (except for the past few weeks!), I still have a hard time just sitting and "being."
Have any of you tried meditation? Does it work for you? I just want my darn brain to be still for awhile!
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I sometimes find meditation in walking. It's so much more than exercise, getting outdoors, being close to nature, talking with a walking partner. It's a nice way to get away and contemplate things.
ReplyDeleteI haven't tried meditation yet but I think I need to. I need that quiet calm, a gentle place to think and absorb.
ReplyDeleteI tried meditation for a while in college. I found it very helpful, but didn't stick with it. Trying to shut the mind off--to not think anything--is incredibly hard, and I never quite got there. But the sessions made me feel grounded, centered and calm. Definitely worth looking into.
ReplyDeleteI have a hard time meditating. Like you, my brain goes in 10 different directions at once. But if I do about 30 minutes of yoga, I find at the end of that I can meditate, so that's what I do.
ReplyDeleteA quiet prayer in the morning starts my day in the right direction.
ReplyDeleteI walk on the treadmill for thirty minutes a day but like you, find my brain wandering and I want to hop off to do something!
ReplyDeleteWrite down one goal--each day--something small and reward yourself for accomplishing it:) I live by my lists!
I took meditation classes for a few years and loved it. I was never able, however, to reproduce at home the kind of calmness I found in a group setting--about 8 or 9 people in a room meditating together with a guide, in my case a Buddhist monk. The most helpful thing he taught me was that you can't shut off all those voices and thoughts roiling around in your head, at least not for very long. But you CAN shut them off for a minute or two. And if you put together a few of these minute-long interludes, separated by the "what do I need to get at the grocery store?" interludes, at the end of a 20-minute meditation session you feel great. He taught me that when the intrusive thoughts appear I was to focus on my breathing: the feel of air coming in the nose, then the feel of air leaving the nose. And he also told me to imagine a wave in the ocean moving through my brain, pushing away everything in its path. Please don't diagnose yourself with ADD. Our society is all to ready to label perfectly normal behavior as a disorder. Start worrying when your head ISN'T full of cascading thoughts! You've got a busy life, you've got an active and inquisitive mind, and you're obviously a thoughtful person. Of course there's a lot going on up there...
ReplyDeleteMelissa, first of all, congrats on writing 2000 words last night! Second, I'm really sorry to hear about your surgery and I hope you're feeling better now. I was on Vicodin myself last week because I injured my back, and all I can say is that pain is NO fun. As for meditation, I have done a very little a long time ago. But another way to avoid the distractions of the Net is MacFreedom if you have a Mac. I use it all the time and love it. It blocks you out of the Internet for a time period you choose. And it's FREE!
ReplyDeleteTrying to shut the mind off--to not think anything--is incredibly hard, and I never quite got there. But the sessions made me feel grounded, centered and calm. Definitely worth looking into.
ReplyDeletedata entry work from home