I went to a meditation class two weeks ago. My weeks are kind of crazy. Jumping from one topic to another, lots of meetings, phone calls, emails. This is jammed into my typical 11 hour day. When I get home I often still think about work -- I can't turn it off.
I needed to calm my mind. Turn it off. I thought meditation might be a means to do that. So I went to a three hour meditation class at a center that teaches Buddhism and these kind of topics. There were ten people in the class. Five of them had a body mass index greater than 50. This really annoyed me -- but I don't know why. It should not have, but it did. Everyone in the class, except for me, was a stereotypical granola type.
Anyway, sitting perfectly still, focusing on breathing, and thinking of nothing, is much more difficult than I thought it would be. Just keeping my mind from wandering for even a few minutes was difficult. I need to carve out ten minutes a day to actually practice he meditation. What's pathetic is that I haven't even done that yet.
I am also reading a book called Search Inside Yourself. It is written by an engineer who was one of the earliest employees at Google, and later became the company's "Jolly Good Fellow." I guess if I was one of the first employees at Google I'd be pretty happy too. One of the things I've learned from the meditation class and this book is to be "present." To be aware of my emotions before I actually react. Just learning this has really helped me.
My boss drives me crazy sometimes. I've found that sometimes a conversation with him escalates to the point where I am close to yelling at him. Needless to say, that's not the best for one's career. As he says things that make my blood boil, I am now thinking about the emotions I am feeling. Instead of just reacting, I am thinking about "how I should" react.
Very interesting. I think this could be a very productive hobby for you. I hope you give it the time and attention it deserves!
ReplyDeleteInteresting. I've though and discussed meditation a couple times already this week. I really know nothing much about it. I stumbled upon it by reading an off topic book, and it gave a really cursory introduction to it, with the warning....don't get too comfortable or you could drift off to sleep.
ReplyDeleteWell, that's exactly what I desired, as I was trying to sleep, but work thoughts were keeping me awake.
With a little practice, I became pretty adept at calming my mind..... but I ALWAYS fall asleep. Now I just use meditation as a sleep aid. I hope that it brings you the results you want!
I took a yoga class for the same reason, and I found it very to be anything but peaceful. I was too busy looking around at other people and concentrating on if I was getting the moves down correctly and were my tids and bits hanging out in someone's face, that I went home more nervous and frustrating than when I got there.
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