What's your favorite technique for mastering the mind?

[Forkbender]

What's your favorite technique for mastering the mind? How do you go about it? How often do you do it? Does it work?

 

[DaZeD]

Meditation!

I started to follow a Mindfulness course 7 weeks ago, and i have still one week to go.
First, when i began i thought, what the hell, this won't help me one bit, but now, 7 weeks later i start to feel better, but it takes a LOT of discipline and practice, following the course is not enough ofcourse, you have to practice at least 30 minutes a day, and that's an absolute minimum, an hour is sugested.

It contains a lot of meditation, but the point is to live in the present, not thinking too much about the past or future but being aware of the now is very important.
And lot's of breath excercising, just taking a moment to calm down and focus on your breeding, and your surroundings, in full calmt.

It helps, but klike i said, it's all in your own hands, and it takes lot's of discipline and practice.

 

[ophiuchus]

skateboarding is a favorite of mine. it involves constantly breaking and reforging mental barriers and fears to overcome physical obstacles. working out is the same, im currently training for mixed martial arts competition, which needless to say is very intense. meditation would be the yang to that, or something like some quiet time reading. video games are great for hand-eye coordination, but can create apathy, so, sparingly.. psychedelics as well, obviously. but very very seldom, quantity with things like that isn't needed, at least for me..

 

[Forkbender]

That post was even broader than I could think about, thanks. Ultimately life is, of course, full of things to practice on. My own favorites are Qi Gong, psychedelics and philosophy/discussions. I should do all of them more often.

 

[Oknayd]

what mind? :lol: :roll:

 

[Forkbender]

the one that made that joke. :lol:

 

[Oknayd]

i practice ashtanga yoga once a week, i would like to do it more often but it takes a lot of discipline to just do it at home. My mind is scattered all over the place here, just like my stuff is
That reminds me, i like to take a couple of thrashbags once in a while and just throw all of the useless clutter away.. **looks around him...** ... yeah i should probably do that soon
It's funny, just last week my mom asked me if i could learn her some meditation techniques... but i haven't done that for a long time now (except if you count the end-relaxation after yoga).
Drawing and drumming (especially if it's with another percussionist) can get me in the zone sometimes... real nice when that happens, some magical moments

 

[Forkbender]

sounds great!

 

[Forkbender]

I also like reading very much. It helps me get out of my habitual patterns and conform temporarily to those of someone else, which broadens the mind. If you get a good book, it will get you to think thoughts you haven't before, learning a great deal along the way. Maybe some people find it a bit intellectual, but this seems to me to be prejudiced.

 

[IJesusChrist]

great post fork,

I could write a book about this subject though, this has been the internal study for the past 4ish years of my life...

The thing with me is I get bouts of anxiety - they come when I hit upon a subject that has deep roots in that anxiety. Smoking DMT once in a while seems to quite nullify them - however I don't see it as an answer, its interesting how that works - Spice made a hypothesis that it's like draining the penal gland when it's too full.

I have come to overcome these by plenty of techniques, and it needs the combination of the following to make me feel base-line again:
I first accept the feeling, accept the anxiety as it is, and don't label it as bad and unwanted. I try to analyze why I'm feeling it.
Then it's the usual breathing, controlling the breath.
Then I talk to someone if they are around me, excercising my confidence in myself.
Or I will speak to myself, having a dialogue with myself is actually interesting... As long as I'm not talking to the elf's I don't think its crazy

For becoming what I want to be, and doing what I want to do, I place myself in motivation, I try to get it clear to myself that I have a purpose, I have made it, and I need to accomplish that.

My current study on the mind is learning. I'm trying to figure out at what times do I learn the best and fastest, and what makes me learn better. I have alot of subject material to study and it has only recently crossed my mind that I may be able to enhance my learning abilities not only by studying endlessly, but by learning HOW to learn...

And yes, psychadelics allow me to learn faster, and more powerfully - one of the essentials to master the mind.

 

[Nomada]

I enjoy hatha yoga veeeeery much. Chanting mantras and then relaxing for a few minutes :mrgreen: :shock: :mrgreen:

The other thing I enjoy very much that feels like growing is studying and writing. Specially writing... I've been keeping a diary, nothing "special", just trying to get out whatever is inside, every day if possible. The results are astonishing, there's nothing like writing some thoughts and then trying to run from myself...

 

[IJesusChrist]

there's nothing like writing some thoughts and then trying to run from myself...

confusing statement, calrify?

 

[Nomada]

for example: [I feel] some things are said and done mecanically, mechanically as in hidden from attention, but as I was raised in a nest of cheap pleasure and complacency and was always such a unsuccesful merchant I became a complacency whore: saying and doing things for the sake of not rousing the incomfortable, the criterion for what was right was never leaving and always searching for what was comfortable. For example: I was always nice to everybody because I needed them to be nice to me. So, as much as my alineated consciousness could float in worlds of anything in the ground I always looked for the petty pantomime of "it's all right, everything is going to be fine" as an explicit form of comunication completely dislocated from my actions and my will: I learned to stand still in the face of every material urgency because I was afraid to let anyone down. Of course, this is completely contradictory.

Talking, or words, became infected with this bot not just on the outside, as in a mask, for purpose or whatever, but also on the inside, the voice of the inner dialog, because I had taken this charade way too far. But now that gig of mine has been exposed and I know whenever I just say things to stay put. Writing things down dissects them in the explicitness of words on a screen (I use wordpad for the diary, used to do it on my notebook but I stiff at the slowness of my hand) so when I read them sooner or later along a couple of pages I just know it's the big old me with the sad excuses again and my previous mind that simulated (as in not actually living) all the worlds of ideal can descend on my programed mind, turning myself against "myself" and offering the possibility of not running away from myself again and tearing its hideous limbs one by one, in the comfort of a .txt file. If I turn against those circuits in the comfort of words I feel I take some of the will that was stolen when I am actually living. I feel close to myself, like an ecstatic sense of identity with a very angry beast.

Maybe this was a more ambiguous statement. lol.

 

[IJesusChrist]

MM, seems like you've found the seed, anyways.

And yes quite ambigous, I feel like I can relate but I'm not exactly sure.

If you disect everything too much, you will get caught in a world of simplicity - however true it is, and it is true, so is the world of wholes. But you sound like you are on the downslope of self-improvement (i.e. its coming easier now).

I'm glad for that, and if that is so, keep writing... and do be afraid to post one. I consistently post written nothings in the art or lounge section that have nothing to do with anything relevant to anyone else, but I don't give a damn - maybe someone can see the parallels.

 

[Nomada]

It can be misleading to dissect, or categorize, but only if you confuse the doer with the doing: the amalgamation of walla walla of oneself with the apparent rigidity of concepts given by the objectified nature of words and letters.

I do it in spanish and had thought of putting them in the spanish section but haven't given it too much thought. Maybe. I had thought of directing some spontaneous in english, which would have to be done specifically for this social incendiary, as you do with the written nothings, but I have been occupied.

 

[Crimzen]

for example: [I feel] some things are said and done mecanically, mechanically as in hidden from attention, but as I was raised in a nest of cheap pleasure and complacency and was always such a unsuccesful merchant I became a complacency whore: saying and doing things for the sake of not rousing the incomfortable, the criterion for what was right was never leaving and always searching for what was comfortable. For example: I was always nice to everybody because I needed them to be nice to me. So, as much as my alineated consciousness could float in worlds of anything in the ground I always looked for the petty pantomime of "it's all right, everything is going to be fine" as an explicit form of comunication completely dislocated from my actions and my will: I learned to stand still in the face of every material urgency because I was afraid to let anyone down. Of course, this is completely contradictory.

Talking, or words, became infected with this bot not just on the outside, as in a mask, for purpose or whatever, but also on the inside, the voice of the inner dialog, because I had taken this charade way too far. But now that gig of mine has been exposed and I know whenever I just say things to stay put. Writing things down dissects them in the explicitness of words on a screen (I use wordpad for the diary, used to do it on my notebook but I stiff at the slowness of my hand) so when I read them sooner or later along a couple of pages I just know it's the big old me with the sad excuses again and my previous mind that simulated (as in not actually living) all the worlds of ideal can descend on my programed mind, turning myself against "myself" and offering the possibility of not running away from myself again and tearing its hideous limbs one by one, in the comfort of a .txt file. If I turn against those circuits in the comfort of words I feel I take some of the will that was stolen when I am actually living. I feel close to myself, like an ecstatic sense of identity with a very angry beast.

Maybe this was a more ambiguous statement. lol.

I'm with you here.
I need to say what im thinking more
i feel that even my closest friends dont know me very well because of this
which deeply saddens me

 

[darkwolfunseen]

Meditation in the middle of a weed high. Honestly if you can hone in on a mind trying to go a mile a minute, you know you have control over yourself. Also breathing exercises and simulated stressing help. Then again, half the time I think I'm crazy so can anyone really master a mind?

 

[BrainEater]

maybe you could if you stopped thinking you were crazy! or when you stopped thinking you were crazy in a bad way.... be your own master and don't seek for masters that will blind you or bind you! if you need a master, you will find him or he will find you and if not you will not have needed a master!

+1 to crimzen and nomada i feel like nomada has touched deeply his inner roots, which want to bind him, because of fears like lack of control and the different colours or not-colours a consciousness chooses to define itself. i have known that kind of confusion too and hope i will find the strength to overcome the self-imposed field of ignorance.

my favorite technique is relaxation, focus of awareness and stillness. i believe in the internal dialogue and when you become sufficiently aware of both (or more sides) of the inner dialogue you can enter the realm of pure awareness and become a master of your mind.

 

[Brugmansia]

Upon remembering the different forces of elemental energies in the rabbit hole and inviting or declining spirits during meditation while on the peak of an experience...

I have this sober dexterity to examine the diagram of one's perspective in order to learn from it for the better, if I feel I can that is. I must admit many specific parts of many individuals (of course this goes for their knowledge too) have entered my inner perspective and memory, and some of the shared information I wouldn't be in able to come up with myself had gotten a domestic residence within. Being susceptible for foreign philosophy rather than holding the ego erected and remaining impervious is something that keeps our mind concepts real.

I believe having an intellectual character has much to do with the eagerness to learn.

 

[????????]

crimzen, i was in exactly the same state as you are, about 3 years ago.

brugmansia that last sentence in the main paragraph of your post is RAW's philosophy in a nutshell (reality tunnels, etc)