a side benefit of meditation

AMH

I had my extra day off (in the US) today and spent a chunk of my weekend on a crochet project, spending some time with my kids, etc. Then I sat down to meditate and it was going pretty well. Out of nowhere I remembered the parking ticket I got and that it was probably very close to being doubled if I did not pay it. I pulled the ticket out of my bag and was able to pay it online in 5 minutes, and it was the last day to pay it at the regular cost! I seriously had totally forgotten,

Whew

Victorious

It is good to sometimes have a pen and piece of paper when meditating so that you can write stuff up and do stuff later. So that you can finish your sesion properly.



/Victor

DairyLama

Victorious said:

It is good to sometimes have a pen and piece of paper when meditating so that you can write stuff up and do stuff later. So that you can finish your sesion properly.



/Victor

I would quite like to have an assistant to take notes while I'm meditating.

Victorious

Writing with mindfullness is also cultivation. Besides it is not that often you have those type of "must remember to o this because it really is important" kind of impulses.

Guess that is one difference between being a layperson or a monk. I guess they have those impulses not at all.

/Victor

DairyLama

Guess that is one difference between being a layperson or a monk. I guess they have those impulses not at all.

I'm not so sure. Probably they have had more experience of dealing with them - I guess we're talking about the hindrance of restlessness?

scottc1969

I’m sure monks have impulses like everyone else but they arise and pass much more quickly, with much less fanfare.

As far as note taking or trying to remember this or that while meditating, I’m not sure that’s meditation per se. Since meditation is about focus, about touching and letting go of thoughts, engaging those thoughts seems detrimental. I know when I latch onto a thought, it opens the door for more and soon I’m off and running, no longer focused on the breath. I remember reading where Allen Ginsberg was meditating and he wanted to take notes for his next book of poetry because all these great ideas were coming up. His old meditation teacher, Trungpa Rinpoche, told him to put the pen down and watch the breath. Otherwise, he said, “you may as well be sitting at a bus stop.”

still_learning

@AMH

That's happened to me before too. Well, something similar. It's great.

I'm guessing it's the great clarity of mind that helps us remember certain things.

Victorious

PedanticPorpoise said:

Guess that is one difference between being a layperson or a monk. I guess they have those impulses not at all.

I'm not so sure. Probably they have had more experience of dealing with them - I guess we're talking about the hindrance of restlessness?

Well kind of. It is just that when you are in the middle of life with house/spouse/job and kids there are a lot of things that can pop up during cultivation that you cannot just drop because you are afraid you will forget them again.

Leading a life as a someone who has gone forth. Those things must be at a minimum! "Not at all" was probably to strong an phrase.

/Victor

AMH

I find when I am running through the to-do list I never really get to meditation. However I have found that when I am meditating and it is going well, then I come out of meditation with huge ideas. That is kinda what happened last night. I have had entire stories in my head, one was a full formed novel (okay just need a year to write it, haha). Over the weekend I also spent some time meditating and then I came out of it with detailed plans to crochet a dragon.

Lookie