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Distractions when Meditating
thegoldeneternity
Veteran
I have recently moved to a new house that is right on a main road. The cars whizz by all day in a relentless rush-off-to-nowhere. I am finding the car noises very distracting when meditating. In fact, I am probably subconsciously cringing at the noise all the time, even when I am not thinking about it. Any advice? How should I relate to the car sounds and my aversion to them?
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relax - just be aware of the sound of the cars - don't think about it - till the time the sound is there, try to mindfully hear it - come back to your meditation object.
One tried and true way of dealing with distraction is 'labelling' ..
Your attention goes to the sound..dog, voices, or in your case, traffic.
You then say 'hearing..hearing...' quietly to yourself, then you return to the breath/mantram whatever.
Each time you are distracted you repeat 'hearing hearing ' and return..
At first you will find yourself doing as much labelling as meditating.
But over time the mind will learn not to distract you so much over that particular stimulus.
Its important to simply register the fact that you are hearing...not to turn into a story " that sounds like a big truck; I wonder where its going etc etc.."
Just 'hearing hearing.' no story , and no value judgement.
I'd say those cars are just what your practice needs.
When you notice your attention drift to the car or you notice your annoyance rising, acknowledge it for what it is - another thought - let it go and return to your breath.
Anyone can meditate in a room that's completely quiet. Practicing in less that ideal conditions will strengthen your practice.
You will adjust to it in time. During our winter here, it is very, very quiet. Most of the animals are gone or hibernating, there is very little traffic, and what little noise there is is muffled by feet of snow. But then spring and summer, the animals are VERY noisy during migration and breeding, and then the tourists in their campers pulling boats and so on come, and parties, races, and all sorts of things. It takes some times to get used to it, but if you keep at it and employ some of the techniques others mentioned, it will get better. Oddly, I find it a bit easier if I go outside to meditate in the summer. Even though there is more noise, and it is louder, something about the fresh air and sunshine makes my practice easier.
Unfortunately I don't gave a good space outside (on this property) to meditate. I could go to a park and meditate but that is a much more involved process of driving 10 minutes to and fro and makes it more difficult to fit it into a busy schedule and then there is the weather to throw wrenches into plans. Although there is something appealing about sitting in a park meditating in the pouring rain. Probably less so when muddy and shivering.
It may help to send Metta to the drivers; "may their journeys be safe, free from harm and may they reach their destinations peacefully."
Then, just 'hear'.... as @Citta describes, making what you sense, part of your meditation.
Try adopting an attitude of letting go and just letting all the noises be. Sometimes noise, if you practice like that, can make the meditation deeper.
Note everything. Car sounds, your aversion, thoughts, feelings etc. In particular learn to observe your feelings as they come up and fade away. Then go back to your object of attention eg. breath, body sensations, mantra.
Thats weird, I actually love car sounds. Its so relaxing, I find myself being drawn to them. In a sense I become the car noise and I feel like im on a journey. Maybe you should try focusing on the car noises, its nice.
Just take note of the sounds. And your aversion.Or , perhaps, you'd consider moving to somewhere else.
I live without running water or heat. Well that's not entirely true - when it rains I have running water and when I start a fire I have heat. Extra amenities include holes in the floor large enough so that you don't have to get up in the middle of the night to let the dog out - he can get out on his own.
You could be here for years and never hear a car. So, in the interest of service, wanna trade?
People vary in what they see as distractions.
We lived for several years in a village in a rural setting, and I found the sounds of cattle , gulls, wind, shooting parties, agricultural machinery etc., Far more distracting than city sounds...
One man's peaceful idyll is another man's cacophony.
But you can get used to anything..
A wise person will turn the distraction itself into an object of meditation. While you're aware of a certain sensation, that sensation is the object. Suppose you're distracted by a sound, let that sound become the new object of awareness. With this attitude, you'll realize there is no such thing as distraction - there is only awareness of various processes that arise and subside.
Open the window for two weeks, meditate on the sound and the cringing. Think of it as emotionally arousing 'music'. In a sense that is what is happening. Then close the window. It will seem blissfully quiet.
No . . .
OK try meditating by a bubbling brook or seashore. Headphones on. Ambient, white noise type sounds.
http://www.noisli.com/
Urban dharma . . . we have the vehicle . . .
What if you were driving one day, and suddenly you notice the cars ahead was dodging something. As you pass by the obstruction in the road, it turns out to be someone meditating in the middle of the road.
The reason for that imagery is to explain that it's not the sound of cars that is bothering us, it's actually just "us" that is bothering with the sound of cars. The cars are just making the same sound its been making since the road was built. We have to accept that and deal with our own "aversion" to that sound, and not "the sound itself".
Acknowledge the sound of the cars, then compare that sound to the silence that you have in your mind.
This! Thank you for this insight.
How should I relate to the car sounds and my aversion to them?
Having meditated in temples whilst they were being built and talked to those on solitary retreat in noisy environments, perhaps some advice from that situation . . .
In itself noise or thought arising is no different. How have you been taught to deal with this? Returning to the breath perhaps? Noting as has been mentioned? How do you react to chanting, temple music? In the Tibetan Vajrayana music, if you can call it that, is designed to scare away demons and negativity - a total cacophony, that makes Captain Beefheart blush.
It is the response to the noise that becomes the way to make use of it . . .
Is aversion to silence and attraction to distraction that some have, in essence part of our mind projection tendencies . . .
ow toe bah dee
Perhaps so.
Even though formal cushion time is a good principle, it is entirely possible to be still/meditate in the midst of noise, such as whilst crossing a busy road. You have to relax and extend metta to the very 'obstacles', wether internal, external, eternal or infernal (all part of the same music arrangement)
The alternatives have their own distractions . . .
one simple mantra "just let go " hear the sound but let go the attachment feeling annoyance the mind projects . Hard at first because the mind won't like you trying to tame it but with practice you will still hear the sound but your mind will be calm.
One thing that helps is bringing an intention to focus on the passing away of sounds. You place a focus on the lack or the very cessation of sounds.
http://shinzen.org/Articles/PowerofGone.pdf
Hope this helps.
A great technique. Will it help the questioner . . . m m m . . .
Is sound, lack of time, inability to sit, too distracted, dog ate my Zafu etc. all ways to avoid what we are not quite ready for? Do we perhaps need to be more aware . . . generally . . . which paradoxically comes from sitting . . .
http://www.shinzen.org/Retreat Reading/FiveWays.pdf
Hey OP!
This is a great guide on mindfulness meditation using noting as a practice.
There's a part in chapter two that speaks about using external sounds as a way to develop mindfulness and noting practice.
When you hear a sound you mentally note hear out. And when there is silence from that sound dropping away you note hear rest. And then gone if where is no sound at all.
This may be a way you can systematically develop a map into subjective and external experiences. Noting practice is useful as it categorizes and orientates the mind to touch without judgement. In doing so you use the thinking process as a tool for meditation rather than being used by the thinking process as a distraction.
I really and truly hope this can bring benefit to your practice.
Hidden within your aversion may be the futile hope that you can actually do something about those car sounds, that you can somehow make the car sounds stop. But you can't. No matter how much you inwardly rage at the traffic or how much to seethe about it, you can't make all those drivers suddenly decide to take a detour away from your house. (You probably can't also help the fact that you experience annoyance at those sounds.) So what you have here is an opportunity to notice dukkha: union with that which you dislike. You could shake your fist at the sky and curse all the unpleasant experiences life has in store for you, but then you'd just end up a miserable old coot.
Don't become a miserable old coot. Sometimes life sends you annoying car sounds. They can come in the form of car sounds, but also an unwanted email, a few new wrinkles in the mirror, a few less dollars in the wallet this year, or ultimately, the loss of loved ones or the human frailty we all must come across someday. From Pema Chodron:
All this may sound overwrought when we're just talking about some annoying car sounds, but meditation is the training ground for how we regard the rest of our lives. If you go into it expecting everything to be perfect and peaceful and honky-dory, you will bring that same expectation (really, just a manifestation of tanha, craving) to the rest of your life. And that's just asking for suffering.
I'm the happiest miserable old coot this side of the blue :-)