how to be aware in an unaware world

Tag: nothing

Presence
Last June I went to one of the most incredible music festivals known by many in the electronic music scene, surrounded by the shade and beauty of Michagen’s pine and spruce trees: Electric Forest.
A month before the festival, over fifty thousand other attendees and I received a welcome package: wristband, stickers, a sunglasses pouch, and a message printed on a card so eloquent, so needed, that it stopped me dead in my tracks.
This message was from a voice that some artists at Electric Forest, like INZO and LSDream, use in their music to add an extra layer of meaning to the whole shebang. Alan Watts reminds us here, at a poignant time in history, to ditch distractions and remember the presence:
“We are living in a culture entirely hypnotized by the illusion of time, in which the so-called present moment is felt as nothing but an infinitesimal hairline between an all-powerfully causative past and an absorbingly important future. We have no present. Our consciousness is almost completely preoccupied with memory and expectation. We do not realize that there never was, is, nor will be any other experience than the present experience. We are therefore out of touch with reality.”
What I love most about this quote is the direct reminder that any time we overthink about the past or the future, we waste that time not living in the present.
The present moment, as Alan describes, is the opposite of thinking in the past or the future, it is simply the direct, undiluted seconds passing by right now.
Undiluted in a real-world context means not watching TV while eating dinner, not looking at your phone while holding a conversation, and yes, not dwelling on the past or planning for the future while preparing for bed.
The undiluted presence will seem boring at first, but only because we are accustomed to filling every moment with something. In time, the presence of nothing will be a place of comfort and gratitude in itself. In a previous post, I wrote about the surprising benefits of doing nothing: Mindfulness & Nothing
Do not confuse overthinking with constructive thinking either, because some thinking is good. Constructive thinking helps us learn from our mistakes, taste the sweetness of a good memory or bitterness of a bad one, plan for the future, prepare for rainy days, and feel the excitement of an experience yet to come.
But Alan Watts is not saying that we shouldn’t plan for our future, he is saying not to live in our future. If “living” is defined as a present state of mind and in the present filled with overthinking about the future, then we are “living” as Alan describes, in a space hypnotized by the illusion of time.
We are all naturally inclined to overthink the past or the future, I find myself planning a lot in the future, spending a considerable amount of time on Plan A, B, and sometimes C. This is constructive thinking in the beginning but then overflows into overplanning, a place much similar to reminiscing of “better” times in the past.
The illusion of time includes these spaces: a future better than the present moment (when it sucks), and a past better than the present (when it sucks). There is no difference between the two spaces, only that they are not real.
Only the present moment (especially when it sucks) is reality, and this space is constantly challenged by our overthinking minds.
How do we live with presence and mindfulness? It takes a great deal of discipline at first, which then turns into a daily practice, which then turns into a state of flow.
If you have the availability, take your shoes off and find a patch of Mother Earth to stand on before going through these simple grounding steps:
Step 1: Close your eyes, cutting off your most distracting sense of vision.
Step 2: Feel the subtle weight of gravity, grounding you not only to your feet on the ground but also to this moment.
Step 3: Stay in this place of grounding for as long as you can. Feel the senses activate, hearing, feeling, smelling, tasting even.
Step 4: When it feels right, lower the hands to the ground, bend the knees, and touch your forehead to the ground, thankful for the perfect amount of gravity, stable ground, and the ever presence of this moment in time.
Thank you so much for joining me and my accompanying thoughts in this post on presence. If you find any value in my work and would like to support me, please share this post with your friends and family. You can also support me by buying me a coffee. Thanks so much in advance!
October 18, 2024
Nothing
“Doing nothing is better than being busy doing nothing”.
– Lao Tzu
Doing nothing is surprisingly difficult. It requires a shift in thinking that our time must always be occupied, our to-do list must always be filled, and the busier we are the better.
In this non-stop culture, we herald those that ‘get sh*t done’ and seem to do a million things daily, but we forget how stressful and unbalanced that person can be.
Anytime we do too much of anything, one after the other, we forget to pause.
Reflection
Multi-tasking, as I see it, is a myth. The mind can only truly focus on one thing at a time. The more we do, the less attention we have to devote to a single task.
Dopamine is released in rapid succession in the brain, increasing the heart rate and stimulating the nervous system.
That feeling of constant productivity can feel good for a short while, but in the long run, it has adverse effects by actually encouraging a less productive cycle over time.
Our ancestors held roles that consisted of one task at a time, which reduced stress and increased overall contentment with completion, they were more mindful of their productivity.
Now please don’t misread this, doing nothing doesn’t imply watching Netflix all day or doom-scrolling TikTok until the mind blows up.
It means pausing, reassessing what and why we are doing something (work or personal), and then moving forward in a clear, concise direction.
Mindfulness is the deliberate act of noticing the present moment in an open and kind way, or in other words, the simple yet profound act of doing nothing.
The Good Ole Dictionary defines mindfulness as the practice of purposely bringing one’s attention to the present moment without evaluation, a skill one develops through meditation or other training.
As a therapeutic technique, mindfulness has the potential to change our lives in positive ways. When mindful, we are naturally kinder, more compassionate, and clear-headed.
The present is a gift for all to discover. Our only job is to notice when the mind has been lost in thought, judgment, or sensation and softly return to the breath or another object bound to the present.
Judgment and criticism are thoughts, no different than thinking about what to eat for breakfast or what project to work on.
When seeing it this way, the object is the same: see the judgment, recognize it, and then let it pass.
Encouragement
I encourage us to reflect on what mindfulness means in our lives. Take 3 to 5 minutes to write down or think of what activities and experiences bring you a sense of contentment.
And yes, I encourage us to meditate for at least 10 minutes each day, building the foundation of a lifelong practice of doing what we truly enjoy by doing nothing for just a fraction of the day!
Thank You
Thank you deeply for your time and attention in reading this post or newsletter, it is a rare gift these days.
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Three Links
October 21, 2023
Wisdom
“The wise expect nothing, hope for nothing, thus avoiding all disappointment and anxiety.”
– Alexandra David-Néel
However, hope can be the greatest of things, says Andy Dufresne.
(Just because I share these quotes doesn’t mean I always agree with them. My reasoning behind sharing them is to help me write engaging blog posts as well as push me to think through them.)
I also may agree with them during one point in my life and then disagree with them during another, that’s called the human condition. However, the point is to understand the mind of the author, not to find disagreement with them.
Disagreement should be a productive jumping-off point, a seeking to understand the core of the argument and see the other person’s side of view with more clarity.
Disappointment sucks, yes, but it’s also a catalyst to change. It’s in learning why we are disappointed with a certain outcome or person that we learn to have meaningful conversations and let go of the ego.
Expectations lead to unnecessary “what if” storylines in the mind.
Which can grow and grow, creating anxiety and angst in even the calmest of minds. Let’s take a simple high-school crush as an example: What if they don’t like me? What if I can’t talk to them? What if I don’t know what to say? What if they like someone else?
These “what ifs” can go on in perpetuity or until we see them from enough of a distance and watch them pass away.
The mind is a truly tricky place to navigate. Without the awareness to see thoughts, we will inevitably be consumed by them.
And without the practice of awareness (meditation, noting, visualizing), we will not be aware long enough to let thoughts pass.
Personally, I would change this quote to read: “The wise expect little, hope when all seems lost, and thus see disappointment and anxiety as passing clouds far above them.”
I encourage you to seek what troubles your mind today: write it down, speak it out loud, and tell someone who will actively listen (not necessarily in that order).
It’s in understanding our disappointments, anxieties, frustrations, and emotions that we better our relationship with our minds.
Three Links
1. Why You Need Wisdom (read)
2. How to Disagree Better (audio)
3. What is Wisdom? (video)
Thank you so much for reading! If you enjoyed this post or more reading, you can consider Buying Me A Coffee.
July 28, 2023