@lead_dispencer: I'll try my best to describe how I started. Like you, I was interested in books to try to find the right framework to approach the subject from. I started out on Reddit's meditation subreddit wiki, reading the wiki and looking over the booklist to try to grasp why people meditated. Both books I read, Henepola Gunaratana's Mindfulness in Plain English and Alan Watts' The Way of Zen, had useful insights for meditation practice and may help you, but I found them both lacking in explaining the initial question of "why meditate over spending my time reading philosophy, or learning about human psychology, or reading self-help books?". I got a little fed up not getting sufficient answers and just decided to try it.
Meditating is deceptively simple, here is a simple form of meditation from the subreddit wiki:
- Set a timer for your desired length of meditation.
- Sit upright on a chair, cushion or rolled up towel, with your back straight.
- Close your eyes. Breathe through your nose.
- As your breath rises and falls, bring your mind gently to the feeling of the air moving in and out around the tips of your nostrils. Keep your mind there.
Once I started practicing, that is where some of the book material came in handy. It helped explain if my mind was in the right place. It helped describe what I should do when my mind wanders. I didn't feel different from reading those books, I started noticing things differently when I finally started practicing meditation.
Again I'm hesitating to suggest anything because what I found that worked for me, might not work for you. I'd recommend you do enough research to get some idea what to expect when you practice meditation and then actually try it. If any problems arise during meditation and you don't know how to deal with it, go back to your resources and do some googling. That's about as far along the journey as I am now. I'm not an expert by any means, but I can say actually doing it with the right mindset (by reading other people's wisdom and experience) was where I began noticing differences. It's not a "get well quick" scheme, it's a process that takes actual effort, but so far I've found that setting aside 20 minutes a day to be wholly worthwhile.
@inresurrection: I agree with everything you've said. It's a process, not an end product. I just remember trying to get myself to start, a lot of it sounded like nonsense. "What do you mean I'm just supposed to sit down and do nothing and not think!?" It's an active activity of being mindful of what distractions are rising up in your head, being aware of how you react to them, and then remembering not to judge, block, embrace, or avoid these feelings. You simply watch them, let them fade away, and return to the breath. And this "being aware of your feelings" carries on to other aspects of your life. It's been great so far.
@brunothethird: I'm right there with you on the vegan thing. I was experiencing some cognitive dissonance realizing that I was not OK with factory farming and the horrible conditions our livestock is kept under and then when dinnertime rolled around, dismissing the thought so I could take a big bite out of a delicious, bacon cheeseburger. Like you too, my mouth waters when I smell cooked sausage haha. It is a philosophy for me, I can do something to reduce suffering so I decided to do it, even though it does cause me to sacrifice something (i.e. delicious, tasty burgers). I do feel healthier and a bit more at peace with myself and that idea to reduce suffering has spread into my other thoughts on politics and society. I past a year this July, but I have failed a couple of times by getting a milkshake.
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