March Meditation
“You should avoid people who limit your growth as a person” My parents
From this Monday, the 14th of March we do not have to wear a mask in school. It is incredibly freeing. The first day it was weird to see people’s faces for the first time and to be able to read their facial expressions. It’s like some sort of a return to reality after a very long time. The thing is half the teachers keep the mask, so sometimes things seem to not have changed when looking towards the whiteboard. It is only when scratching our jaws or taking a look around the room that it hits once again. No more masks. It had become a subconscious norm that masks are supposed to be here. It is funny how the habit of seeing something so often can make it feel like it is normal.
Last week I spoke about the fact that I lack time and energy to go after some goals of mine, that I have to make choices. This stemmed from my feeling that I have lost muscle and become weak yet not seeing enough time to do extra workouts. Because of that I decided to challenge myself to improve my pushup max. It has always been around 15 to 20 but on the last reps the technique gets iffy. Anyway, the challenge is very simple: do 15 pushups every day for at least 35 days (do not ask why that amount, I do not know myself). 15 pushups is so little that it is very achievable (takes less than a minute to complete) and on days I am feeling more energetic I tend to do more. I would just like to build back the strength and aesthetic of my upper body.
When starting in my university I had no idea whatsoever what or how I would proceed in the near of future. This Saturday I thought up a rough plan: I will complete three years here in Lille and then see. After those three years I can take out a degree that corresponds to a baccalaureate’s ECTS (European Credit Transfer and Accumulation System). There are some external factors to consider: there’s a mandatory military service in Estonia which will take 8 to 11 months. I have a prolongement until 2025 to obtain higher education. I will probably do the service after those three years of school, and then continue my education, either in France or elsewhere. I must say that reflections like these do not come around that often. I had to attack the problem head on, address it directly, which is easier said than done.
I spoke about the importance of a calendar in our productivity systems in "Insightful Intakes". This being said there is a negative side to it: I can see how many plans I have each day. It sounds absurd because that is clearly the point of a calendar. The problem for me is that I can easily be overwhelmed by the amount of things I am supposed to accomplish each day. Especially when you see yourself booked from 8 A.M. to 10 P.M. with only one and a half hours of break time in between. Nonetheless I am happy that I manage to take time for myself sometimes. Recently I have been biking a lot more. This Saturday I biked up the Deûle (the main river that crosses Lille) until I was outside of the city. I then sat down next to the river and just admired the weather, the slowly lapping water and the rather average-looking vegetation. I sat there for a good fifteen to twenty minutes. Those kinds of moments are the ones to be present for, they are what makes it all worth it. Just being one with nature, even for a short while. This being present is a skill to train. It can be done with for example meditation.
How To Meditate
I already brought up the idea of meditation a little more than a month ago in “Part-Time Presence” where I expressed how important I believe meditation to be for self-awareness. I got started with meditation about two years ago. At the start of generalised quarantine in 2020 I watched a course on productivity. I learned a lot of new tips and techniques most of which have become part of my every day life at this point. Mostly that course sparked interest in me to learn more. Then came along “Atomic Habits”, “The Power of Habit” and productivity YouTube with creators like Ali Abdaal, Thomas Frank and Matt D’Avella.
Anyway, that first course said that meditating daily can truly boost mood and energy. At first I did not know where to start. I got a few targeted ads for Headspace and decided to give it a try. At that point there was a free 10 part beginner course on the app. I finished that course with ten days. Afterwards I meditated every once in a while but always with those exact same 10 courses because I was not convinced of getting a subscription. After a while I knew all the courses by heart.
My habit faded away because it did not give me any sort of results anymore, there was no intrigue. I just sat down and knew exactly what was coming at any point. At the start of 2021 I saw an exclusive Chris Bailey Audible book by the name “How To Train Your Mind: Exploring the Productivity Benefits of Meditation”. A few months earlier I had just finished “Hyperfocus” by the same author (I speak shortly about that book in “Attention Passengers”) so I was pretty confident about liking the writing style. This book resparked my interest in meditation and helped me discover Insight Timer.
The only obstacle to meditating is getting started by choosing an application. I highly suggest starting with Insight Timer, it is free and has a lot of choice. There are alternatives like Calm and Headspace but they are very much based on the idea of you subscribing to the service. That is why I would go as far as to call Insight Timer the YouTube of meditation. There's a lot there and some of it is real good stuff. When starting off inside the app You open “Discover” and check for “Beginners”. In those meditations there are a lot of instructions and thought processes to follow (which is great when starting out).
The tips I would give:
- It is weird, embrace it!
There is no doing it wrong or right, it is funny and weird but try to go with the flow. The only thing is that you have to get involved fully, without engagement meditation loses its purpose.
- Do not overreach
Like any other thing meditation is a skill. I suggest you start off with shorter meditations and then build up to longer ones. Starting off with a 20 minute session might be too rough for a first time. Five to ten minutes is a great amount to keep it interesting.
- Keep the spark alive
Try to mix it up, avoid doing the same guided meditation over and over. If feeling comfortable You can even try unguided meditation by just using the timer itself.
- Make it a habit
If you feel like You want to make it a habit try to apply Matt d’Avella’s two day rule. The point of it being: do not ever skip two days in a row.
This week’s Suggestions:
Enjoyed this movie a lot. It is a very well made, easy to watch action-packed conman movie. It had great humour and was well paced in my opinion (I am no film critic, but I was not bored watching this).
The most recent exurb1a YouTube video. I have already once before mentioned his greatness. He is an incredible storyteller who likes to create elaborate stories that are structured around physics and philosophy.
That's it! Have a wonderful rest of the day!