in reply to Maintaining one's focus while working (alpha/beta/delta brain waves)
Happiness. If I am happy, I can focus on anything I want.
Maintaining focus really depends on external sources, you
can practice all you want, but most of us will still be
slaves to our emotions - of course, I choose to continue
to practice, because the benefits are there.
As for work,
if I can't get anything done - and I know that I won't
be missed, I'll take off with a good book to a coffee shop
and read up on the craft, without a computer in front of
me. But at the same time, if I feel extra creative or just
happen to solve a problem at midnight, I'll log on and
work from home.
I don't think creativity can be harnessed to a 9 to 5
schedule. You have to take the moments when you can.
jeffa's guide to meditation: YMMV and will!
- lie down on your back, make sure your neck is comfortable
- don't think - take all of your thoughts and direct them
to /dev/null, continue when your mind is sufficiently stable
- breathe deep - breathe fresh air in from 'the top of your
head', and the stale old air out 'the bottom of your feet'
- if nobody is around - chant! as you breathe out, low
and strong - sounds silly, but the VIBRATIONS in your throat
will help you to concentrate and keep the chit chat away
- your head should be light and buzzing, keep breathing
- start with your feet - put them to sleep, feel them
disappear
- move up your legs, torso, and arms - neck and face
muscles - all completely relaxed and NUMB, but there
- your mind should now be awake, but your body is asleep -
hold on as long as you can, and don't be afraid: fear is the
mind killer, it will snap you back awake
This really works, and it only takes 30 minutes to feel
like you have rested for 8 hours. It is hard and takes a
lot of practice, however. I have successfully achieved
meditation before, but only 3 times. Most of the time I
can only practice at keeping my mind quiet.
Hope this helps . . .Oh yeah, almost forgot - control.
Don't try to take control of everything, just let it go.
I am still working on this one. :)
The opinions and views expressed by jeffa are by no means
shared by PM or E2,
readers are encourage to seek a professional guru
Re: Maintaining one's focus while working (alpha/beta/delta brain waves)
by tadman (Prior) on Apr 17, 2001 at 19:32 UTC
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The funny thing is that you concentrate best when you're
not trying to. It's one of those classic contraditions.
The worst thing is realizing how much work you've just been
doing, and how smoothly it was going, only to have trouble
getting 'back into the groove'.
An interesting read is "How To Meditate"
which is a very broad overview of the subject. Instead of
focusing on any one religion and its methods, there is a
discussion of the historical initiatives and techniques
of most popular beliefs.
There is no "How to Be a Zen Master in 21 Days", or
"Enlightenment for Dummies". Like learning programming,
these things take a long time to master.
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Re: (jeffa) Re: Maintaining one's focus while working (alpha/beta/delta brain waves)
by Falkkin (Chaplain) on Apr 17, 2001 at 19:44 UTC
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Oh yeah, almost forgot - control. Don't try to take control of everything, just let it go.
How do you manage this without falling asleep? Whenever I've tried meditating before, I've just ended up falling asleep. :)
This is my main problem with relaxation in general -- relaxing tends to make me feel sleepy, and sleep (in mid-day) tends to make me more tired, and less focused than I'd be otherwise. | [reply] |
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Actually, I was referring to control in a general sense
of your daily experiences. A good example, anytime I have
a conversation with a group of people and try to interject
something, if I am repeatedly interrupted, I will drop
what I am going to say. Nobody is really paying attention
anyway, and in generaly I find that I end up looking a bit
foolish for trying to repeatedly say the same thing.
When someone cuts you off while driving, let your anger
follow them - forget about them.
Now, as for keeping from falling asleep - practice practice
practice.
Once I was able to shift back and forth between consciousness
and unconsciousness. My mind was fully awake, yet I could
not feel my body at all. I could drift off into a dream and
watch as a complete 3-dimensional world was being creating before
me in one master artist's brush stroke - a world with individuals,
scenerios, plots - more than a book could ever represent.
Before I 'fell into' this world - I pulled myself back without
'waking up'. Then, I allowed myself to drift once more, and
a whole NEW world was created. I pulled myself out the second
time, and woke up.
It is tough stuff - you should never meditate with aspirations
of achieving some kind of enlightenment or vision. Instead,
your goal should be to merely relax, and to practice siliencing
the voices in your head.
If I mediatate 50 times, maybe 3 or 4 will be enlightening.
A good clue that you are doing something 'right' is if you
can feel your body vibrate. I have heard of masters that
can change their vibration frequency and even shift the
phase 180 degrees. If you feel the vibrations, try to
maintain them, amplify them if you can.
Jeff
I'm not crazy, it's the voices in my head, they're the ones
who is crazy!
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All depends on what level of meditation you're going for, and how deep you allow yourself to go.
A deep meditative state is very similar to the hypnoidal state, where the conscious mind is in recession (although, without the suggestability of the hypnoidal, as meditation is autosuggestion, rather than external suggestion).
Muscles are relaxed, heart rate is down, and generally, you're awfully close to sleep.
However, it's something that's tunable. When you get used to being able to relax your muscles, clear the mind to a good degree, focus the thoughts on nothing (and that's harder than focussing on something), you can choose what aspects of it you wish..
While sitting at a desk, you can put yourself in a self-sustaining posture (you won't collapse like a rag doll when you relax down).
You don't need legs and torso to code, so you relax the muscles there, relax the arms a lot, and clear the mind of all extraneous stuff. If you manage to achieve the 'clear' state of mind, you'll have no trouble refocussing it.
If you're not quite there, still, it helps, as you've just cleared a load of chaff that, even if you didn't realise it, was chattering away at the back of your mind. :)
I guess it's like driving a car. :) you don't go everywhere with the accelerator pedal pressed to the floor.
Malk
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Make sure you are not closing your eyes.
For most meditation styles, that should be no problem
or even recommended.
Christian Lemburg
Brainbench MVP for Perl
http://www.brainbench.com
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