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This is basically how meditation works
Speak for yourself - just makes things worse for me
I’m an experienced meditator. Are you able to articulate why meditation doesn’t work for you?
I’m on meds now, and that helped a lot, but I had several issues:
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I felt unable to control my thoughts; I realize you’re supposed to just observe them, but they felt too close and overwhelming
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I felt trapped with my thoughts
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It didn’t deal with the underlying problem; even if I was able to observe the issues just came back when I stopped
These are all pretty common points of contention for beginners.
Barring extreme cases, like people with psychotic disorders like schizophrenia, I believe meditation is beneficial, and not harmful, for virtually everyone.
I’m certain you’ve experienced a state of flow before and found equanimity in the process.
Meditation at its core is being able to drop back into that experience at your own convenience.
I’m glad that meditation works for you, and that you’re a proponent of it, trying to get others onboard.
I have experienced flow states, but even those were anxious (loss of control feeling is yuck, not freeing)
I had success with guided meditation, but primarily around sleep, which helped mood.
Because of you mentioned sleep-focused meditation, I’m think you aren’t referring to mindfulness meditation.
Maybe you’ve been practising some kind of Zen-Bhuddist meditation, I’m not sure, I’ve only ever spent time practising Mindfulness and Loving Kindness.
Also, maybe we’ve got different definitions of flow state.
What I’m referring to is the feeling of having completely immersed yourself in an activity, to the point where you aren’t verbalising thoughts.
Being anxious during a flow state is a bit of a paradox, as anxiety is a symptom of complex thinking, which is what mindfulness aims to alleviate.
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It can be demoralizing to try to sit quietly while your brain assaults you with all its shit. Makes practice no fun
This is a very common perspective for beginners.
There are a few things worth unpacking here.
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You’ve set yourself a goal, which is antithetical to the nature of meditation.
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The goal (which is besides the point) you’ve set is totally unrealistic. For a beginner to sit and let their mind become empty is the equivalent of an average person waking up tomorrow and deciding to run a double marathon.
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One reason meditation is helpful is that we become more efficient at letting go of unhelpful thoughts. Your reason for not wanting to do meditation, is the reason you should do meditation. It’s a catch 22.
If you ever decide to try again, it might be helpful to set some realistic goals, temporarily.
See if you can let your mind become as empty as you can, for a whole second. If that’s easy, try two seconds (this is harder than it sounds, but definitely within the capacity of beginners).
Other goals might be to not hold on to any thought for longer than ten seconds before returning your attention to the breath for the duration of the practice.
If you practice enough, you’ll intuitively understand the goals aren’t important and are just more unhelpful thoughts.
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It’s called a “Care Bear Stare” because they just silently judge you with a good stern look. All the rainbow laser beams is just the affected person losing their shit.
You have to come up with new characters though. I have a few ideas:
Still Lives With Parents at 35 Bear
Will Never Be Able To Retire Bear
Paying Back Student Loans Until You Die Bear
We’re All Going To Be Dead in 30 Years From Climate Change Anyway BearPaying Back Student Loans Until You Die Bear We’re All Going To Be Dead in 30 Years From Climate Change Anyway Bear
Those two are twins, right?
Response to top section:
Rather than erase the memory and teachings of negativity, wouldn’t it be more beneficial for them to show how and why that thinking isn’t necessarily productive? Help us realize that while there are forces and consequences out of our control, we can accept that it’s part of our lives and take it in stride. Establish a dialogue and guidelines that can be passed along by others. Allow us to seek out a path for ourselves… [CARE BEAR STARE]
ALL HAIL HYPNO- I MEAN CARE BEARS!
Bottom section:
I’m for it.
So now the show is going to be about the civil war among the care bears about the best way to fight negativity.
A…accept? Might as well ask WW2 Japan to surrender. I am personally responsible for every little thing that has ever happened to me, no matter how tangentially related it is to my life!
I mean, WW2 Japan did eventually surrender.
Only after cataclysm.
But then Mists of Pandaria happened…
Monday morning, my alarm goes off. As I reach to turn it off I see a bright pink teddy bear standing at my bedside. Before I can react it blasts me in the face with a ray of pure happiness as I forget that wages have not been keeping pace with productivity or inflation.
I’m Ludovico Technique Bear and this is Conversion Therapy Bear
Sorry no… Just use that ray gun to blast people like Mitch McConnell and my depression will sort itself out.
What happened to his crusty ass since the bout of freezing anyway? GOP shove him in a corner out of view?
There’s nothing left to blast in ol’ Mitch, he’s already been running on fumes for way too long.
Yet there is something still running.
Something that can be blasted
It’s good that OP mentioned that it’s “furred”. Otherwise, I might’ve mistaken it for a man.
Furred creatures also tend to be featherless.
where they help young adults and millennials deal with feelings of depression, disillusionment, and cynicism?
You mean by eradicating the Parasite Class, dismantling vampire/vulture Capitalism, crashing the housing market by 75+%, and closing the wealth gap, thereby giving them a future that is not only affordable but also worth living and striving for?
That sounds absolutely wonderful.
“Care Bears as eco-terrorists” is a pitch that would get my butt in a theatre.
I’m all for it
How about not Care Bears.
Don’t care bears
Intensive care bears
Healthcare beats
Daycare bears
Nightmare bears
Healthcare Beats
Surgeon playing the patient’s rib cage like a xylophone during an operation
“You’ve just got to learn to love, Asafum!”
What did you say to me you fuzzy fuck? You can’t love anything when you loathe existing, when the only thing you want is the sweet release into oblivion. How about you do the world a favor and take me out? Oh is that too harsh for you love bear?
Are you crying? Oh goddamn it I did it again…
Go next door, the Thompsons are good people they’ll give you cookies or something.
I watched Bee and Puppycat and it cured my millenial inherent nihilistic psycopathy and now I run a nonprofit animal rescue center plus bakery for dogs (I am allergic to dogs but they don’t mind).
Just stop doomscrolling. Stop using lemmy, instagram, facebook, YouTube, tiktok… that shit fucks with your mental health more than my abusive ex. You’re always looking for the next dopamine hit, and when it comes, you need another one, you just can’t stop.
Get through a week of withdrawal. I’ve limit myself to 15 minutes of lemmy a day.
I feel like a brightly colored teddy bear that hides in your kitchen to shoot you with a memory erasure ray to change who you are as a person is the most MKULTRA thing ever.
and trust me, when someone who can’t stop thinking about that shit starts getting optimistic and looking at silver linings, people get, WAY more upset than they do when we just point out how fucked everything is. like seeing the silvery edges of the mushroom cloud is way more disturbing than the death toll.
I want the Who? Cares Bears
