After having written all of this it seems as though I may possibly have misunderstood the question, but -
This is an issue I've been working on and working out in my head for the past three years.
How do I spend the hours of my day when I am not meditating / practicing presence?
Well, Ideally I would be able to practice presence all day long. But I don't know if that's possible. Although at my best, I do practice presence during the silences, the intervals between the mindless activities taking up space in my brain.
You Asked
To me, it's of the utmost importance to recognize the cognitive activities that physically deplete us.
Having done so, we seek out alternatives, ideally something meaningful to occupy our time, right?
Well, perhaps we should ask ourselves…
What are our individual goals, short-term or long-term? And what can we do “right now” to work towards those goals?
Well, that's a start. But there's more to life than working on our daily goals. And besides, that's not my motivation for posting here.
Me
I am bedridden all the time and for the time being I am limited to stretching, changing positions, and maybe execute a short burst of typing from time to time.
Self-awareness
So for me there's a hierarchy, a personal listing of known cognitive activities that will drain me faster than others.
There are also activities that aren't very taxing, but do nothing more than waste time, providing little value, other than being a pointless distraction.
Do we need pointless distractions? Probably, yes.
My road to mindfulness requires setting timers on my phone, usually an hour or so apart. When these alarms go off they contain a message instructing me to partake in scheduled downtime.
Example:
Upon waking - No media access until 8am.
Instead, I enjoy the sunrise, the changing colors in the sky, the changing shades of light in my bedroom, the cat waiting on her morning meal, listening to the birds getting busy, and things of that nature.
After 8 o'clock I may watch a television show or some other video of interest, but nothing too intense.
Maybe I'll watch an old black and white episode of The Fugitive, or an animal rescue show.
Would I rather watch a high-minded documentary, reread an especially difficult novel, or spend hours needlessly memorizing baseball statistics?
YES!
But I can't, right now, in this moment.
My daily objective is one hour on, then taking one hour off.
So…
Research is off-limits unless absolutely necessary and specific to something I am currently experiencing, something needing a resolution immediately.
Solving problems that don't exist, hoarding information, examining and assessing the current political climate, and any kind of judging are also off limits.
As someone already mentioned, these activities are part of the Monkey Mind.
Ruminations are okay, not too draining, but not too productive either.
And I do find myself watching Slow TV, or slow videos, where not much happens. Watching does occasionally put me into autopilot mode, but if I'm doing it right, also offers opportunities for mindfulness.
Live Streaming
I go for quiet walks at night through downtown Tokyo, head to the beach for some relaxation and people observation, ride a train through Thailand, catch a bus in Hong Kong, or watch birds feeding, live from the jungles of Panama.
And if I'm hitting on all cylinders, I write things. That's how I practice letting go. On my better days I utilize voice-to-text and “let go” at a rate of several thousand words per day.
And sometimes I post these words on Phoenix Rising, but mostly, I keep them to myself.
Music to My Ears
And finally, if I'm in a really good place physically and emotionally, I create or edit my own music. There are all sorts of music apps out there that allow someone who is, for the most part, disabled, access to creating original music.
And there are some apps out there where you don't even have to be a musician to make a song. If you like music, you can create music. Just push a couple buttons and check a couple boxes. That's it.
What We Do
I don't remember who this quote is from, but I find it rings true.
“In the absence of clearly defined goals, we become strangely loyal to performing daily trivia, until ultimately we become enslaved by it.”
When I am at my best, and when I have my most energy, it's always after having been productively idol.
Philosophically Speaking
The way “we as humans” own and operate our bodies versus the way we did only one hundred years ago, or one thousand years ago, should raise red flags. Humans are adaptable, but were we meant to adapt this quickly? Is humanity currently suffering from growing pains?
Progress and Modern Society
Perhaps it's wholly unnatural to sustain ourselves in an artificial environment, with artificial light sources, and artificial activities to keep us occupied. I'm not sure what all that means, but I know there's something not quite right with all of this, the primary way we go about our daily existence these days.
And I'm not sure humans have found the best way to adapt to all this readily available technology either. We may be suffering from overexposure to artificial stimuli. There's a constant barrage from all directions. And that's probably the last thing “we” need.
Concluding
None of what I wrote may be at all sensible, but deep down I feel there's a better way, and in our cases, a very necessary way we need to exist in order to accelerate our recoveries.
Having said all that, I still have a very difficult time disengaging throughout the day. Shutting down my brain seems unnatural and counterintuitive, especially considering that my brain is what got me here… wherever here is.
Even so, it took me a lifetime to get here, to fill my brain with useless debris. And now I'm in the process of tuning out and letting go.
Howard
