Enjoying the quiet more

pyramidsong

I find I am enjoying more and more just being at home by myself and with my cat. I still enjoy seeing my friends, meeting people and engaging with the world, but solitude is just lovely. I don't really get lonely and get excited when I have several days in a row where I don't have to see anyone. I also find that I don't need background noise, and like quietly pottering. I used to be a person who had to have the tv or music on in the background, now I prefer not to. I still like tv and music, but only when I'm actively engaging with them.

Anyone else experience this with increased practice?

Vastmind

I'm still working on it.... learning to enjoy the quiet.
Well, learning to be quiet, first, hahaha

I'm an extrovert and a talker.

Sitting and walking mediation, I'm fine...but just
chillin'....doing nothing...listening to nothing and not
talking when people are around, and not feeling compelled
to interact and connect is something that is hard for me, I'll
admit.

BhikkhuJayasara

pyramidsong said:

I find I am by enjoying more and more just being at home by myself and with my cat. I still enjoy seeing my friends, meeting people and engaging with the world, but solitude is just lovely. I don't really get lonely and get excited when I have several days in a row where I don't have to see anyone. I also find that I don't need background noise, and like quietly pottering. I used to be a person who had to have the tv or music on in the background, now I prefer not to. I still like tv and music, but only when I'm actively engaging with them.

Anyone else experience this with increased practice?

Normal result of practice.. Just dont get upset when you reach a time where that seems to reverse and you go back to feeling the need for background noise. Before i realized the cycle of it, the "falling back" bothered me and i had thoughts like i was a failure at my practice or not "doing" enough.

Zero

pyramidsong said:

Anyone else experience this with increased practice?

I'm not sure if it's increased practice or increased age but yes.

Hamsaka

Yes, definitely. I always needed the tv or an audiobook, would feel afraid of the silence. My therapist was encouraging me to meditate, and suggested I do five minutes at a time, because the thought of the silence with myself was awful.

That was a while ago, and I do forty to forty five minutes of meditation daily. I turned off the stereo in my car so I could focus on the breath and simply driving. I used to read with the tv on or even an audiobook in the background (talk about fear of silence!) but now I read in silence. I sense an unhealthy impulse in doing more than one thing at a time with my mind, what with my fairly new meditation practice.

I spin yarn or process wool as a hobby, so the one exception to the above is doing this while listening to audio, be it a teaching or a good fiction book. While doing both I practice keeping my mind upon the soothing repetition of the spinning while absorbing the audio. I discipline my mind to not wander from the spinning or audio into wherever else it likes to go.

Definitely, silence is something I can tolerate now, a huge difference from before I began diligent practice

Gassho

lobster

:om:

Stillness may increase the desire for stimulation. Too much internal or external overload and we crave peace.
Where is the equanimity? Personally I find the capacity to be at peace independent of situation increases. However peace and quiet internal and external is my preference. So the preference is indicative of a 'limitation'.
:wave: