On Meditation

[voyager]

Anyone here meditate? Do you find that it helps you out at all?

I've more or less just started, and have been at it somewhat inconsistently. I'm worried that it will lead me down a path to being at peace with inaction instead of spurring me to do what I need to.

[relax]

I started a couple of months ago. I used to think it was a waste of time or bullshit. Fortunately, I was wrong. I'll tell you what I got out of it so far.. Better concentration through the ability to recognize when your mind starts wandering and also a realization that it's a great stress reliever.


There are many types of meditation but the one I do is to help with my concentration. I just concentrate on my breathing and as soon as my mind wanders, I catch myself and go back to spending all my energy concentrating on my breath. Believe me, it's hard as fuck. The first time I tried to meditate for five minutes, I literally could not control my thoughts. Every couple of seconds, I had a different thought. Nowadays, I can concentrate for longer periods of time. I still end up having random thoughts but I'm getting better.


To answer your question about being at peace with inaction, let me give you my personal opinion. I don't think meditation (or at least the way I do it) will lead you down to a path of being at peace with inaction. I think that may be for monks that dedicate their entire lives to it. IMO, meditation is just a tool; it's what you do with it that matters. The tool doesn't decide for you.