When I was a kid my parents would take me to the symphony. I would try to listen. I liked to focus on the big double-bass. Soon, inevitably, I would catch myself thinking about my friends, or how uncomfortable the seat was, or the high, blue bouffant hairdo rising on top of the old lady in front of me.<\/p>\n
And then I would refocus on the double-bass fiddle, thump-thump-thumping down in tempo.<\/p>\n
This is what meditation is like, but I’ve never very good at meditation: before I can bring my thoughts back to base I fall asleep.<\/p>\n
Now, since so many people have trouble sleeping, I have another meditative solution, different from the sort we find on YouTube.<\/p>\n
First, drop the guided part. Instead of someone telling you what to think, visualize something to which you have no emotional attachment. For instance, close your eyes and imagine a black field. Then imagine the three sides of a triangle, in any color you like. If you can do that, then rotate the triangle, so that it changes its shape. If you can do this, then make it three dimensional \u2013 that is, turn it into a pyramid. Rotate the pyramid so that its sides each change shape in perspective.<\/p>\n
This is a hard exercise, but it won\u2019t get your emotions evolved and lead your thoughts down some personal rabbit hole. For it is important to focus on a subject that has no baggage for you. Heck, you can count sheep if you want: your thoughts will still wander when they are ready.<\/p>\n
You can practice this with all sorts of abstract concepts \u2013 it doesn\u2019t have to be geometric shapes. You might think about an idea like virtue: for instance, ask yourself, can an object be virtuous? Is there such thing as a virtuous rock \u2013 a rock that is good at being a rock? A virtuous tree? A virtuous dog? What is a virtuous person? Is there some sort of universal virtue, that elevates one beyond what they are? Must a virtuous person be more than human?<\/p>\n
These sort of exercises are all going to ignite minds to wander. The truth is that you can\u2019t force a dayglo orange triangle to remain clearly printed on a black background in the mind. Nor can you force truths about virtue out of your brain\u2019s storehouse.<\/p>\n
However, as soon as you discover that the triangle has changed its shape, or your thoughts about virtue have taken you to reflect on some other subject, double back to the base, just as I, a little kid, brought mine back to the double-bass.<\/p>\n
You may fall asleep.<\/p>\n
Or, you may get interested in your train of thought. Here is what important. If it gets personal, then drop it. Go back to home base. If is not personal, but interesting for its own sake, then feel free to follow it.<\/p>\n
You may experience an uptick in energy, some some slight tickle of enthusiasm. You are seeing beyond your own landscape and into ecosystems, where the Little Dopamine gifts of qualia are bestowed upon you. You are mirroring the contentment that, more so than the common tasks of surviving, pervades all the beings harmonized by ecosystems.<\/p>\n
Be still, mind. This is a conscious ritual. You may become more awake but this is worth it because it is inspiring, and you know that when you fall asleep you will wake up twice refreshed, in both body and mind.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
When I was a kid my parents would take me to the symphony. I would try to listen. I liked to focus on the big double-bass. Soon, inevitably, I would catch myself thinking about my friends, or how uncomfortable the seat was, or the high, blue bouffant hairdo rising onContinue Reading<\/a><\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":6,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"give_campaign_id":0,"om_disable_all_campaigns":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_feature_clip_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false},"categories":[6],"tags":[],"class_list":["entry","author-tony-brussat","post-366","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","category-qualia-coach"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p9QShd-5U","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/planetqualia.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/366","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/planetqualia.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/planetqualia.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/planetqualia.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/6"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/planetqualia.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=366"}],"version-history":[{"count":4,"href":"https:\/\/planetqualia.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/366\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":4674,"href":"https:\/\/planetqualia.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/366\/revisions\/4674"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/planetqualia.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=366"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/planetqualia.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=366"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/planetqualia.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=366"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}