60 Days of 60 Minutes of Meditation - Let's Not Do Anything Together

[MTF]

have you guys noticed how your mind tends to go around the same topics/themes?

Definitely. In my case it's often worrying about something I'll do later only to later realize worrying about it made no sense because it was solved without any issues.

 

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[RealDreams]

I meditated for 3 months before stopping completely.
I noticed that, while I was way more calm and less anxious, I also had lost my desire to improve myself and my life.
Isn't this what most people experience, too?

I'll start meditating again though...cause I've been very lost in the last months and it costs nothing (well, besides the 1 hour).

 

[S.Y.]

Day 20 completed.

One third is done!

Will you stop after the 60 days?

I meditated for 3 months before stopping completely.
I noticed that, while I was way more calm and less anxious, I also had lost my desire to improve myself and my life.
Isn't this what most people experience, too?

I'll start meditating again though...cause I've been very lost in the last months and it costs nothing (well, besides the 1 hour).

Not at all. If anything it makes me more willing to go after the things I want. But at the same thing be at peace with where I'm. In a way, being at peace with the present, yet, thriving to be better.


I have been working on extending the mindfulness during the day. It has been quite a challenging thing to do. I invite you all to try it. Say take 3 hours, and attempt to be mindful. Whatever you do, just focus on that.

Headspace released a guide on Netflix for people interested.

 

[MTF]

I noticed that, while I was way more calm and less anxious, I also had lost my desire to improve myself and my life.

Was it because you feel driven by fear/anger/anxiety? Michael A. Singer talks about it and he says that eventually love/bliss replaces these emotions as motivators. It's way more sustainable and doesn't hurt you as these negative emotions do.

Will you stop after the 60 days?

I probably won't stop but it's just cool to realize that it's already 33% of what feels like a very long challenge.

I have been working on extending the mindfulness during the day. It has been quite a challenging thing to do. I invite you all to try it. Say take 3 hours, and attempt to be mindful. Whatever you do, just focus on that.

Doing the same thing in various situations. Now most of my days feel in some way like constant meditation.

 

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[RealDreams]

Was it because you feel driven by fear/anger/anxiety?

Oh, definitely. I'm mostly driven by anger and sexual desire (aka sexual transmutation). I indeed noticed that those 2 emotions disappeared when I was meditating daily for a few months and I was honestly feeling completely dull and indifferent to everything. It honestly scares me to lose those emotions again cause they are what pushes me forward lol

 

[MTF]

Oh, definitely. I'm mostly driven by anger and sexual desire (aka sexual transmutation). I indeed noticed that those 2 emotions disappeared when I was meditating daily for a few months and I was honestly feeling completely dull and indifferent to everything. It honestly scares me to lose those emotions again cause they are what pushes me forward lol

Listen to this moment in this video (54:04 - "I don't want to give up the fear, I don't want to give up the anger, it's what drives me (...) If I give that up why would I get out of bed in the morning?"):

View: https://youtu.be/Sl7UwUOlTLQ?t=3245

 

[Barracuda]

Day 15 not completed
I'm losing the motivation to continue. It happens anytime i do something for a period of time. Recently my sessons have just been dead. My mind starts to question the point of it, i start to sweat, my brain literally begins to heat, my fingers twitch, i feel so depressed i want to kill myself. I don't want to quit, but it's overwhelming. I don't know the metric for progress. This is the one good habit i've been able to do past 5 days for years. I don't want to live like this anymore. Here's some context from a question i asked last week:

MINDSET - How do i overcome inertia in life, and make my first $1

I've always been an ambitious person, but i never had the focus, nor the grit and perseverance to follow something through because i believe either the competition is too much, or it's too hard and what they pay is too low or i fall for the "shiny object syndrome", that is: i chase anything and...

www.thefastlaneforum.com

 

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[MTF]

@Barracuda, I think you could greatly benefit from reading The Untethered Soul.

Also, if you literally feel like wanting to kill yourself, then I'm not sure if forcing yourself to meditate in your state is helpful.

My mind starts to question the point of it, i start to sweat, my brain literally begins to heat, my fingers twitch, i feel so depressed i want to kill myself.

During the past few days I've been getting so hot and dizzy during meditation I literally feel like I'm about to throw up. Then it stops after a minute or two.

I have no idea why that happens. It's weird because it quickly passes. But the moment I feel it, it's very intense and uncomfortable. I thought it was simply because of what I ate the day before but for so many days in a row? When you shared your experience I realized it might be inner discomfort manifesting with physical symptoms.

 

[Matua]

Day 20

Didn't do my usual meditation in the morning, because I stayed with a family member. However, I completed my meditation at noon whenever I got that chance.

I continued my slow and deep breathing from yesterday and I visualized the motions.
By inhaling, I visualized the air as a faint glow of light that entered my body and I felt its sensations.
By exhaling, I felt and saw the air leave my body as its light faded into obscurity.

It was a surreal experience, but whenever I had thoughts coming up, I focused on this breathing method.
I could even sense the ability to fully take deep breaths and control how much my body allows it.
We breathe every day without realizing it until we know it is there.

While the chatter comes up sometimes, it became muffled in the background as I focused intently on grounding myself in meditation and the silence was wonderful.

So far I've also been reading The Surrender Experiment since many of you guys here on this thread kept talking about it, and it's got me hooked to read more!

 

[Olimac21]

Day 26 done.

Very good, just focused on different stuff. I feel time is passing by faster with the meditation everyday, have you guys noticed any changes on your perception of time overall?

 

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[MTF]

Day 21 completed.

I tried sitting the entire session with my back straight and my legs crossed. The physical discomfort made my session worse but I'd like to be able to "properly" sit still for an hour (until now, I mostly sat slightly slouched with my back against the wall or leaning onto it, not with my back straight).

I'm also incorporating Michael A. Singer's surrender attitude in my meditation. For a few minutes there were loud sirens outside. I felt rising frustration but instead decided to meditate on the sound - if it was there, it meant I just had to sit and listen to it. What a freeing way of looking at things that would otherwise drive us crazy.

I feel time is passing by faster with the meditation everyday, have you guys noticed any changes on your perception of time overall?

Depends on the day but overall it's definitely faster now than during the first days.

 

[MTF]

On meditation, from an interview with Michael A. Singer:

YJ: How did meditation quiet the voice for you?
Singer: When I first started to meditate, I didn’t really know what I was doing. I just wanted to shut up that incessant chatter in my head. So I took the time each day to sit by myself in a meditation posture and use my will to either push away the thoughts or struggle to turn my attention onto something else — like a mantra or visualization. That created some quiet, but it didn’t last, and it was a struggle to get into a really quiet state.

As I matured in my spiritual practices, I began to surrender inside, just like I was doing in my outer life. I just allowed whatever thoughts needed to arise, to arise, and simply tried to relax instead of engaging with them. No struggle, just deep relaxation — regardless of what the voice was saying. Over time, like magic, my awareness lost interest in the thoughts and ceased to become distracted by them. If I walk into a room with a television on, I can notice it is there, but I don’t have to actually watch it. Likewise, I can notice that the voice is saying something, but I don’t have to actually listen to it. That became my meditation: deeply relaxing and not engaging in anything the voice of the mind was saying. Over time, as I let go of the chattering mind, I began to fall into beautiful states within, like deep peace or waves of joy and love. This began happening both during meditation and during daily activities. Interestingly, when the inner state becomes beautiful, the voice of the mind has much less to say. It’s as though the vast majority of its talking was about how to be OK. If you are already OK, both the heart and the mind become still and melt into the beauty of the moment. That is the gift of yoga.

--

These last few days I haven't had any "deep" experiences but I know I've barely started. It's good to hear this reassurance that it simply takes time for meditation to "work" (as in, learn how to let go of distractions and later on, experience the deeper states).

 

[ZCP]

30 min of haphazard 'movie clips' of craziness ......... constant re-centering to bring me back to center

maybe i couple this with the morning drive into the office and just go 'trance state' for a bit..... got to find the mental state....

i liken to what @MTF said about how hard it is to find an hour to 'do nothing'. i really like to quiet my mind. i'm really good at sharpening my focus when absolutely needed. this exercise would benefit me.

am trying to find 1 hour for this and 1 hour for business growth. .....

sleep 8, eat 2, bs 2, work 8, exercise 2 = 22 hours .... should have 1 hour of the 8 for growth and be able to find the other hour for mind exercise ....

 

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[Matua]

Day 21

Finished. I don't mind the chatter as much, nor did I pay attention to it.

It's funny to look back that doing a session of meditation seemed very long at first, but once you do it for 3 weeks straight, 1 hour didn't seem that long at all. I probably may do an hour and a half of meditation to feel like it's been 1 hour long.

In an earlier post I made, I said that I could feel minutes go by.
However, when I focus on something for extended periods of time, time perception didn't seem to matter.
Even though we all get "into the zone" whenever we focus intently on a task, it's like you're sitting there and you let everything just exist.

I feel time is passing by faster with the meditation everyday, have you guys noticed any changes on your perception of time overall?

I honestly couldn't really believe it myself either. But once you get into focus, time itself almost doesn't matter anymore. My thoughts sometimes sneak a comment like "Hmm, I wonder how long I will do this for."
However, I didn't choose to wonder and overthink how long I'm meditating (becoming my thoughts), I just let them sit there as I grounded myself in meditation through breathing (for me this is letting go.)

I took the time each day to sit by myself in a meditation posture and use my will to either push away the thoughts or struggle to turn my attention onto something else — like a mantra or visualization. That created some quiet, but it didn’t last, and it was a struggle to get into a really quiet state.

As I matured in my spiritual practices, I began to surrender inside, just like I was doing in my outer life. I just allowed whatever thoughts needed to arise, to arise, and simply tried to relax instead of engaging with them. No struggle, just deep relaxation — regardless of what the voice was saying.

These last few days I haven't had any "deep" experiences but I know I've barely started. It's good to hear this reassurance that it simply takes time for meditation to "work" (as in, learn how to let go of distractions and later on, experience the deeper states).

Thank you for the posting a quote from Michael A. Singer here in this thread.
It really does take time to mature in meditation and spiritual practices and we've only just scratched the surface of what possibilities lie in front of us.

 

[Barracuda]

Day 16 completed
Today was great. After meditating in the morning yesterday, I had a nervous breakdown in the evening. I tried slow breathing for about 5 minutes to calm my anxiety, it helped. I would have quitted for sure if i tried doing it alone. I'm still going, it's day 16, i plan to get to 60.
Since meditation is a gateway habit, i can form new good habits too on the way.

Untethered soul is in my reading list, I'll read it. Thank you. The name of the book reminds me of the "Alchemist" by Paul Coehlo.

 

[S.Y.]

am trying to find 1 hour for this and 1 hour for business growth. .....

There are many ways to go about meditating.

Naval's "way" is ultimately about being a pure witness. If you think, you think. If you don't, you don't. A sort of resting awareness meditation.

It definitely is one of the most challenging one. He goes "straight to the end game".

But you have others ways to go about it. You have mindfulness opportunities throughout of the day.

... when eating, you can completely focus on eating. If you mind wander, you bring it back and refocus on eating.

... when you take your shower. Focus on taking the shower. The sensation of water on your body, the sounds, the smell...

... when you workout. You can drop the music and completely focus on how your body move.

... when you are with someone. You can tune in into what they are saying. Not guessing what they will say next or what you will say next. Being focus on them and what they are saying.

I think anytime we can safely tune in into an activity, we can use that as an opportunity to be mindful. Those moments can add up and be extremely rewarding.

Am kinda writing this for myself too lol.

 

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[Olimac21]

Day 27 done.

Some inner turmoil at the beginning but with a great second half of it.

 

[MTF]

Day 22 completed.

Swimming through mental chatter one breath at a time...

 

[Barracuda]

This is based on the premise that when we do something, we get good at it. When we are distracted throughout the day, 365 days. We get really good at distraction. Like if i focus playing on the guitar 8 hours a day everyday. I'd be really good at it. When we practice concentrating on one thing in everything we do. We become mindful. Hence, when it's time to meditate, we can concentrate.
-Dandapani

I've been trying it for about a week now. I've stopped watching tv shows while eating, and taking my phone to the toilet to do my business. Everything else is still rather challenging, like paying my fullest attention to when people are talking to me.
I'm always constantly battling my thoughts, but recently i've just been letting them slide and not pay attention to them.

“No fear. No distractions. The ability to let that which does not matter truly slide.”
-Tyler Durden,
Fight Club

 

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[MTF]

This is based on the premise that when we do something, we get good at it. When we are distracted throughout the day, 365 days. We get really good at distraction. Like if i focus playing on the guitar 8 hours a day everyday. I'd be really good at it. When we practice concentrating on one thing in everything we do. We become mindful. Hence, when it's time to meditate, we can concentrate.

Great quote! It's a powerful reminder that as frustrating as dealing with mind chatter at the beginning may be, over time it'll get easier - as any other skill.

 

[Black_Dragon43]

Wow what an awesome thread you guys have been building! Just finished going through it, I had been away over the holidays, and have just caught up. I still have to watch the Tony & Michael interview @MTF recommended!

Not sure what constitutes a "spiritual dude" but I can tell you without question, I am NOT religious. I gave up on organized religion (essentially humans coveting a chosen theology, usually based on tradition or geography) many years ago. For years, I was a practicing Christian but soon left that ideology the more I studied alternate philosophies, and the more I realized that no religion could be the "truth" because humanity itself is run by the ego ... essentially corruption, or as a Christian would say, "sin". (A whole another story.)

I will preface this by saying that I don't intend to discuss religion since that is off-limits on the forum, just wanted to share my perspective on this. Over time, I have actually grown further away from the purely spiritual perspective, and have grown an appreciation for (though not wholehearted agreement with) organized religion. I was born an Orthodox Christian, and drifted away towards Eastern spirituality in my late teens. Over time though, largely through studying Church history, I have come to appreciate Christianity much more, and to see the Eastern teachings as complementary to the teachings of the Church.

I see that in many instances Christianity has become watered down, and the mystical element of direct experience of a "new birth" in Christ has been replaced with a legalistic focus on rule-following and a mere code of morality + the "God give me" type of egoic prayer. This is very different from the experience of the early Church fathers, for whom the goal of Christianity was direct communion with the living God, starting in this life, and continuing after death. The first step was dying with Christ on the Cross (the death of the ego), and resurrecting with Christ (the cleansing of the real person (true Self) behind the ego, which was created in God's image) - which was meant to be a real, lived experience. Jesus told his disciples to "watch and pray", the watching part really being the equivalent of meditation & detachment from thoughts, since real prayer cannot be done by the ego, but must be done by the Person (real self).

It's also important to note, that unlike the Eastern religions, Christianity is a religion of history - meaning that history is important for Christianity. I don't think anyone can truly understand Christianity, without understanding its historical development. For example, when the Apostles preached to the Greeks, they did not come to deny their teachings, but to purify and uplift them. That's why Christ was portrayed as the unknown God to whom they were already praying to, and it's why Church fathers such as St. Thomas Aquinas took on the philosophy of Plato & Aristotle and refined it. Or why icons exist which portray Christ as lifting up the virtuous people that came before him with him to Heaven, including figures such as Plato & Aristotle.

Christianity also made me understand the value of theology, which I don't see as well understood in some of the other teachings, especially the eastern ones, where theology is seen just as the "raft" (as per Buddhist teachings), useful only to cross the river, but ultimately discardable. However, it has been my experience that theology sets the intention one has during spiritual practice such as meditation, and this intention either blocks off certain experiences, or opens you up to them. That is why I cannot agree with the popular syncretism of our days which basically tells us that all religions lead to the same place, but just couch it in different language. The experience of a Christian monk living on Mt. Athos in contemplation is different from the experience of an enlightened Zen Master. And the difference emerges out of their different theologies (even the iconoclastic "all theology is ultimately discardable" of Zen is still a theology).

The most interesting book I have found that looks at Eastern teachings from a Christian point of view is Christ: The Eternal Tao, by Fr. Hieromonk Damascene, an Eastern Orthodox convert from Zen Buddhism. The book actually goes through a creative reading of the Tao Teh Ching with Christian eyes, and explores the parallels between Christianity and Taoism (and other Eastern faiths more generally). It goes over why the Eastern faiths experienced the Absolute as impersonal, the value of theology, and a lot of topics that may be of interest to people who are interested by what I wrote above. The book is not at all in the "Christianity is right, all other religions are wrong" vein of apologetics - rather it is a friendly reading of Eastern faiths from a Christian perspective, establishing both similarities and differences.

(@Black_Dragon43, maybe this can help with reducing your resting HR?)

Thanks

Go for it.

I just want to mention that I have "built" that world over few years and throughout I have anchored specific feelings to it. And it is completely imaginary. In fact, to get in there, I have to visualize myself getting outside of the earth, getting into space, and going through a light portal. Some very unusual stuff. It helps a lot that I have a visual mind.

A good way to start practicing that is memory palaces.

View: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PIbz_gKw0XY

This was a really AWESOME video. I first read about a similar practice in Psycho-Cybernetics, but this was the first time when I truly understood the power of this.

Oh, and by the way, wishing everyone a Happy New Year, along with peace & success for 2021!

 

[EatMan]

Listen to this moment in this video (54:04 - "I don't want to give up the fear, I don't want to give up the anger, it's what drives me (...) If I give that up why would I get out of bed in the morning?"):

View: https://youtu.be/Sl7UwUOlTLQ?t=3245

Day 13 finished. I almost gave up today. I slept late and ate lots of chocolate, so I couldn't sleep very well. I was just planning on skipping my morning workout and 1-hour meditation because it was like 1:40pm when I woke up. BUT I came back to this thread because someone reacted to my post, and I saw this clip. It reminded that I don't need to work towards my goals with anger, fear, and pride, but rather, I could live with relaxed happiness and inspiration during the process. I forgot this lesson for a LONG time. Thank you to @MTF for sharing this.

 

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[XxThelionxX]

Day 16 completed

Sorry for the missed posts.

Day 13 finished. I almost gave up today. I slept late and ate lots of chocolate, so I couldn't sleep very well. I was just planning on skipping my morning workout and 1-hour meditation because it was like 1:40pm when I woke up. BUT I came back to this thread because someone reacted to my post, and I saw this clip. It reminded that I don't need to work towards my goals with anger, fear, and pride, but rather, I could live with relaxed happiness and inspiration during the process. I forgot this lesson for a LONG time. Thank you to @MTF for sharing this.

It's basically a project i guess you could say lol. My grandmother youst to say that all the time. Loved her so much.

Anyway, a couple tips. And maybe a strategy.

1. Have strong reasons
If the why is strong enough. You can beat any how. Successful people have strong reasons. So get started on becoming passionate about it.

2. Study the greats
- Plain and simple. I have found this invaluable. Elon Musk. Oprah. This is meditation so maybe study Naval's work. Pick a few and go deep

Focus man. You have to reach down to the depth of your soul and bring out the fight. Because if you don't and you don't focus on this. And don't give it your all. It will fizzle out and die.

All and all you choose this thing. Now you must see your way through it. Giving up isn't an option.

 

[Matua]

Day 22

Finished last minute meditation for the night. Honestly, don't do this unless you have things that come up during the day. It's best to meditate in the morning.

 

[MTF]

Day 23 completed.

Bordering on half-asleep state but I was awake the entire session, just felt like if I didn't keep a little bit more focus I could fall asleep.

 

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[Olimac21]

Day 28 done.

Good, a bit sleepy but had some great insights. I am motivating my dad to meditate a bit more so apart from 1 hour I am doing some 10-15 minute sessions throughout the day too.

 

[Matua]

Day 23

I sincerely thought I was going to skip meditation yesterday on my Day 22, and even planned on doing a 2-hour meditation today. However, something in me told me not to and I did it anyways.

When I look back at the progress you guys made and still making progress, I couldn't find it in me to skip a day.
The posts you guys made about your struggles, development, and encouragement of others made me want to still keep going. If it weren't for you guys, I probably would have broken my long habitual streak.

So once again, thank you all for continuing to post!

Keep going.

 

[ZCP]

girlfriend one upped me ...... we've been discussing this. she went for a walk with the dog and turned music, etc. off and let her thoughts 'go'. she came back and talked about the cool experience and how she just jumped from one to the other.

i'm jealous. not sure if my engineer mind works that way! and

 

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[MTF]

Day 23

I sincerely thought I was going to skip meditation yesterday on my Day 22, and even planned on doing a 2-hour meditation today. However, something in me told me not to and I did it anyways.

When I look back at the progress you guys made and still making progress, I couldn't find it in me to skip a day.
The posts you guys made about your struggles, development, and encouragement of others made me want to still keep going. If it weren't for you guys, I probably would have broken my long habitual streak.

So once again, thank you all for continuing to post!

Keep going.

Glad to hear it helped you keep going! We're almost halfway through and then it will become such a habit it should be hard to break

girlfriend one upped me ...... we've been discussing this. she went for a walk with the dog and turned music, etc. off and let her thoughts 'go'. she came back and talked about the cool experience and how she just jumped from one to the other.

i'm jealous. not sure if my engineer mind works that way! and

Perhaps try meditation with her then as certain people have a "gift" that helps other people let their own thoughts go, too. Just don't think about doing anything else with her but meditating LOL.

 

[ZCP]

Perhaps try meditation with her then as certain people have a "gift" that helps other people let their own thoughts go, too. Just don't think about doing anything else with her but meditating LOL.

90% of my random thoughts are sex related ....... you want me to 'meditate' with my girlfriend?

ok, will give it a shot!!