TRAVELS with  the SOUTHWEST DUDE
  • Welcome to the West
  • Blog and Trip Reviews
  • Travel Archives
  • Contact Me
  • Music & Literature
  • Defense of the West

Blog and Trip Reviews

Notes From My Mind: Meditation

10/23/2014

8 Comments

 
I've been pondering writing a treatise on meditation and, to some extent, spirituality, so here goes.  This will be a simple and quick synopsis of my experience.  Some may wonder why I'm bothering to write about this - aren't you the Southwest travel guy?

There is a nexus between my peace in nature and meditation.  Let me try and explain...

I used to think that meditation was phony new age hocus pocus.  Smart and sophisticated guys like me weren't into such things.  I put meditation in the same camp as mediums and psychics and believers in "spiritualism", all of  whom science has roundly discredited in the 20th century.  Moreover, I tried to meditate a few times and thought, "What the Hell is this?"- I felt more miserable after trying it then I did before I started.  Mostly it wasn't comfortable because I always had to constantly be doing something. Have you met people like that?  

Like many things in this lifetime, I was wrong about meditation. 

My basic nature is somewhat skeptical and this sitting around and thinking wasn't what I thought would be beneficial.  To that extent, I was right. However, meditation is hardly "sitting around and contemplating".  In fact, it's just the opposite. In my case, the term "contemplating" often meant perseverating to me.  

perseverate:  verb (used without object), To repeat something insistently or redundantly.

My life had become one big perseveration.   Sometimes I'd change my thinking but it usually went from one perseveration to another. In other words, I was substituting one anxious thought for another anxious thought.

Most of my life I rarely felt at peace.  Sometimes, in nature, or listening  to music, or riding my motorcycle, I felt peaceful but I didn't make the connection that those were the times when I actually stopped thinking for a few moments.

When I retired I picked up a book by a fellow named Michael A. Singer called, "The Untethered Soul".  The book stunned me.  He immediately started talking about the "voice in our head". I hadn't given much thought to the voice in my head.  After all, that was ME, wasn't it?  Turns out the answer is, remarkably, and importantly, NO. That voice, always playing in my head, wasn't, in fact, always my friend!  That "me" was frequently brutal - always criticizing and trying to figure things out, worrying and planning and being obsessed with every bad thing that had ever happened to me.  The problem was I wasn't aware that I was habitually identifying with those thoughts.  Singer wrote:
"You're ready to grow when you finally realize that the "I" who is always talking will never be content". 
I think I'd noticed my thinking was regularly negative but I WAS going to be happy someday, right? Y'know, when the bills were all paid, I was happily married, living in the perfect spot and when all my problems disappeared?   Right? Yeah! Then! Of course, Singer pointedly expressed that, "nobody has really become okay by changing things on the outside".   

Due to my identifying with that voice in my head, thinking it was really ME, I couldn't figure out how to change the "inside".  In fact, my mind was consumed by injustices, some imagined and some definitely real, that I'd experienced in my life.  I used to say that I had an "obsessive mind" and that's a burden but it becomes nearly unbearable if you obsess about bad things and can't stop. So, hmm...maybe this Singer guy was on to something here.  

With the encouragement of a personal phone call by Trudy Goodman I decided to enroll in a "Mindful Based Stress Reduction" or MBSR class at Insight LA in Santa Monica, CA.  I read Jon Kabat-Zinn's book, "Full Catastrophe Living".  It's a fine book but the instruction and meditation was what I needed.  At first, I hated the practice.  I was supposed to focus on my breath but my mind would wander and I'd be lost in thought for the entire "meditation period" or, worse, I'd fall asleep.  So, here I was failing at meditation.  Talk about a loser.  

But, through pure stubbornness and the encouragement of a fine teacher (thanks Christiane Wolf) , I kept at it and, after about a month, something happened that was profound.  I stopped thinking.  It came in bits and pieces but, I was amazed to find out, I actually had a "quiet mind" behind all the noise of my inner voice.  One Saturday, after meditating for about 90 minutes I just stopped thinking- for awhile.  Then, when a thought came up I saw it, felt the emotion attached to it in my body, didn't judge it, and let it pass. WHOA!  I had stepped away from my crazy mind for a few minutes!  Talk about a revelation.  I felt relaxed and completely okay in the present moment.  It was a feeling I'd had a few times in my life but couldn't replicate no matter how hard I tried.  On occasion, through meditation, the trees had finally disappeared and I saw the forest.  This certainly does not happen all the time.  I still get lost in thought but it is the moment we recognize that we're lost in thought and gently return to focusing on our breathing that is the real "work" of meditation.

I am trying to describe an experience which is impossible to describe because what happens isn't contained in a thought.  Efforts to create this non-thought will only produce more thoughts about how not to think!  Look, you may be losing the plot here, I wouldn't blame you, but that's why I recommend reading books, taking classes, and just practicing.

A few months back one of the great thinkers of our time and neuroscientist, Sam Harris, wrote a book about meditation for us skeptics called, "Waking Up: A Guide to Spirituality Without Religion".  I can't recommend it highly enough.  Last time I looked it was nearing number 1 on the New York Times Best Seller List in non-fiction which is remarkable.  It's even more impressive because Harris is one of the leading "new atheists" and recently a poll found that rapists and atheists are loathed about equally in American society.   Somehow, scads of people are looking past that and buying this book.  The reason it's so valuable to me personally is Sam Harris is a scientist- his life's works are devoted to evidence based ideas.  He is the last person I would expect to lead us into "enlightenment" and yet- there he is - making a pitch for inner peace, a spiritual life, and importantly to me, sans any religious dogma.  In truth, many scientists are now studying the brain changes created by meditation and starting to acknowledge its' positive effects.  

Ok - enough.  So, how does this work on a daily basis?  How does it make me a "better man"?  First, that question presupposes I am, indeed, a better man and I am no objective expert about that- ask my kids and wife.  I can tell you that I had always been miserable at being alone for any extended period of time and "relaxing"- taking up full time residence with my mind was like living with a crappy roommate.  I longed for solitude but when I got it I didn't find it soothing. Obsessing over work, or worrying, or drinking helped me to be distracted from my mind and negative thinking.  Meditation has soothed my fractious mind.  I now, most of the time, see my thoughts as thoughts- that's all they are and they rarely are lofty or important.  Indeed, they are mostly devoted to trying to control things that I can't control, worrying about things that won't happen or have have already happened, and wanting things that, in the end, are not significant or important.  My mind believes my feelings are permanent,  while all the evidence demonstrates that everything, especially feelings, is temporary.

Harris says,
Being mindful is not a matter of thinking more clearly about experience, it is the act of experiencing more clearly, including the arising of thoughts themselves"
A great complement to meditation, and here we finally come full circle, is travel and being in natural settings.  In a previous blog post I cited recent research on "awe".  Awe is similar to meditation- we just stop thinking and experience.  Meditation doesn't just enhance and enrich my travel experiences it substantively changes them.  It's a life affirming, present moment knowing, fulfilling experience, that my words will never adequately capture.  I can only say this- it's one thing to appreciate nature it's entirely another to BE in nature. 

I write this in the hope that one or some of you reading this might be stimulated to give meditation a try.  If nothing else, finding a quiet place,  carving out time just for you, and being with only you is a healthy activity.

Peace.
8 Comments

    Subscribe to our mailing list

    * indicates required

    The Point?

    This will mostly be a journal of my travels. I may include other items that interest me. Feel free to join in.

    Categories

    All
    Abilene
    Adobe
    Aguirre Spring CG
    Ajo
    Ajo Mountain Drive
    Akaka Falls
    Alabama
    Alamogordo
    Aldo Leopold
    Alejandro Escovedo
    Alturas
    Amarillo
    Amboy Crater
    Amtrak
    Ancestral Puebloans
    Anne Frank
    Ansel Adams
    Anza Borrego State Park
    Arches NP
    Arizona
    Arkansas River
    Atascadero
    Aunt Lisa
    Autumn
    Awe
    AZ
    Backyard
    Badwater Basin
    Baltimore
    Bandelier National Monument
    Barry Goldwater Range
    Baseball
    Baseball Hall Of Fame
    Bassam Guard Station
    Bates Ranch
    Beartooth Highway
    Beck
    Bent's Old Fort
    Bernie Sanders
    Big Bend NP
    Big Sur
    Bill Dickson
    Birthday Party
    Bisbee
    Black Canyon Of The Gunnison NP
    BLM
    Blues Foundation
    Blues Hall Of Fame
    Bob Dylan
    Bob Dylan Center
    Bog Springs CG
    Bonita Well
    Borax
    Boulder Basin
    Broadway
    Bruce Springsteen
    Buffalo
    Burro Creek CG
    CA
    Cabeza Prieta
    Cacti
    Calexico
    California
    California League
    California Zephyr
    Canyon De Chelly
    Canyonlands NP
    Capitol Reef NP
    Carl Sagan
    Carrizo Plain
    Cascades-mountains
    Casita
    Caspers-wilderness-park
    Cathead
    Cayucos
    Cedar-breaks
    Central-coast
    Central-coast
    Cerro-alto-campground
    Cesar-chavez
    Charles-bowden
    Chicago
    Chicago River
    Chicago Union Station
    Chihuahua-desert
    Chihuly Garden
    China Alley
    Chiriaco Summit
    Chiricahua National Monument
    Chisos Basin CG
    Chisos Mountains
    Chris LaTray
    Christiane Wolf
    Citifield
    City Of New Orleans
    Clark Dry Lake
    Clarksdale
    Clayton Kershaw
    Cleveland
    CO
    Coast Starlight
    Cochise Stronghold
    Colonel Allensworth State Park
    Colorado
    Colorado Desert
    Colorado Plateau
    Columbia Gorge
    Cooperstown
    Coral Pink Sand Dunes State Park
    Coronavirus
    Corpus Christi
    COVID-19
    Crescent
    Cubs
    Dad
    Dave Alvin
    Death Valley
    Dell
    Delta Blues Museum
    Denver
    Desert Training Center
    Devil's Golf Course
    Devil's Tower
    Dodgers
    Dome Rock
    Dorothea Lange
    Dragoon Mountains
    Drive-By Truckers
    Durango
    Eastern Sierra
    Education
    Edward Abbey
    Eisenhower Library
    Election 2016
    Elfin Forest
    Elton John
    Elvis Costello
    Empire Builder
    Environmentalism
    Eric Flaherty
    Eric Temple
    Everett Ruess
    Fargo
    Fauna
    Favorite Photos
    Finley
    Fishing
    Flathead-lake
    Flora
    Fog
    Four-corners
    Four-corners
    Fremont-peak
    Fullerton
    Furnace-creek
    Gasworks-park
    Gates Bar.B.Q.
    Gaviota
    Gaviota State Beach
    George-patton
    Georgia
    Giant-sequoia-national-monument
    Glacier-np
    Glaucoma
    Goblin-valley-state-park
    Goffs-schoolhouse
    Grammy Museum
    Grand-canyon
    Grandchildren
    Grandkids
    Grand-teton-national-park
    Grants
    Great-basin-national-park
    Guadalupe-mountains-np
    Guitar
    Gunnison-river
    Gunnison-river
    Gurf Morlix
    Half-dome
    Half Moon Bay
    Happy-isles
    Harris-beach
    Hawaii
    Hawai'i Volcanoes National Park
    High-sierra
    Highway-1
    Highway-101
    Highway-190
    Highway-395
    Highway-41
    Highway-99
    Highways
    Hilo
    Holbrook
    Hole-in-the-wall-campground
    Holidays
    Home
    Homolovi
    Hovenweep-national-monument
    Hubbard Family
    Idaho
    Illinois
    Immigration
    Inland-empire-66ers
    Insight LA
    Interstate 15
    Interstate 5
    Island Of Hawai'i
    Jack
    Jack Kerouac
    Jack Loeffler
    Jackson Hole
    Jacob Lake
    Jalama Beach
    Jedediah Smith Redwoods
    Joaquin
    Johnny Cash
    John Prine
    John Steinbeck
    Jon Dee Graham
    Jon Kabat-Zinn
    Jordan
    Joseph Wood Krutch
    Joshua Tree NP
    Journal
    Jr.
    Kansas City
    Kansas City Royals
    Kara
    Kartchner Caverns
    Kauffman Stadium
    Kennedy
    Kern National Wildlife Refuge
    Kevin
    Kingman
    Kirk Creek
    Klamath Falls
    Kodachrome State Park
    KS
    Laguna Beach
    La Junta
    Lake Arrowhead
    Lake Elsinore Storm
    Lake Pleasant
    Lake Shore Limited
    Lancaster JetHawks
    La Posada
    La Purisima Mission
    Las Cruces
    Lassen Volcanic National Park
    Las Vegas
    LA Union Station
    La Veta Pass
    Lee Anne
    Lilly
    Limekiln State Park
    Lisa Law
    Little Blair Valley
    Little House Customs
    Little Painted Desert
    Lizard
    Lizard Head Pass
    Liz Kylin
    Lori Carey
    Lorraine Motel
    Los Angeles Dodgers
    Los Osos
    Luis Urrea
    Lupe
    Madera
    Madera Canyon
    Malheur Wildlife Refuge
    Manzanar
    Margo Dodd Park
    Martin Luther King
    Marty
    Mary Austin
    Massachusetts
    Maynard Dixon
    McGee Creek
    Meditation
    Memphis
    Merced River
    Meredith
    Mesa Verde
    Mesquite Springs
    Mexico
    Michael A. Singer
    Michael Gish
    Mindfulness
    Mississippi
    Mississippi Blues Trail
    Mississippi Delta
    Mississippi River
    Missouri River
    Mitchell Caverns
    MO
    Moab
    Modesto Nuts
    Mogollon Rim
    Mojave Desert
    Mojave National Preserve
    Mojave Trails National Monument
    Mom
    Monarch Butterflies
    Montana
    Monterey Bay
    Montrose
    Monument Valley
    Mormons
    Morro Bay
    Moynihan Train Hall
    MS
    Muddy Waters
    Museum Of Flight
    Music
    National Civil Rights Museum
    National Monuments
    National Parks
    National Park Service
    National WWII Museum
    Nature
    Navajo Nation
    Navajo NM
    Negro Leagues Museum
    Neil Young
    Nevada
    New Hampshire
    New Jersey
    New Mexico
    New Orleans
    New York City
    NM
    North Beach Campground
    North Rim
    NPS
    NY Mets
    Oak Creek Canyon
    Ocotillo
    October
    OK
    Old Faithful
    Oliver Lee Memorial State Park
    Olympic National Park
    Omar Bradley
    Oregon
    Oregon Coast
    Organ Mountains
    Organ Pipe NM
    Ortega Highway
    Pacific Ocean
    Padre Island
    Pagosa Springs
    Painted Desert
    Painted Rock Petroglyph
    Palo Alto Battlefield
    Palo Duro Canyon
    Pch
    Peg-leg-smith
    Petrified Forest National Park
    Petroglyphs
    Photography
    Pictograph Trail
    Pier
    Pinnacles NP
    Pismo Beach
    Pixley National Wildlife Refuge
    PJ Finn
    Placentia
    Plaskett Creek
    Point Mugu
    Politics
    Portland
    Poughkeepsie
    Pozo Nuevo
    Prescott
    Pueblo
    Puerto Blanco Road
    Quaking Aspen Campground
    Quitobaquito Springs
    Railroad-tracks
    Rancho-cucamonga-quakes
    Rancho-guadalupe-dunes-preserve
    Rattlesnake
    Ray Wylie Hubbard
    Red-rock-canyon
    Redwoods-np
    Refugio-state-beach
    Reno
    Retirement
    Rim-of-the-world
    Rio-grande
    Rio-grande-del-norte
    Rocky Ford Cemetery
    Rocky Mountains
    Roger Stolle
    Route-66
    Route 66 Museum
    R. Scott Jones
    Running-springs
    Ry-cooder
    SABR
    Sacramento
    Saguaro National Park
    Salida
    Sam-harris
    San Antonio
    San Antonio Riverwalk
    San-bernardino-mountains
    San-clemente
    Sand-county-almanac
    San-jacinto
    San-jose-giants
    San-juan-mountains
    San-onofre
    Santa-barbara
    Santa-fe
    Santa Ynez Mountains
    Santiam-creek
    Scott-hays
    Seattle
    September
    Sequoia-np
    ShackUp Inn
    Shower
    Sierra Nevada
    Silver-jack-reservoir
    Skyscrapers
    Solo-traveling
    Sonoran Desert
    Southern-california
    Southern-sierra
    Southwest Chief
    Spider-rock
    Spirituality
    Spring-training
    Stax Recording Studio
    St. Cloud
    Steinbeck Country
    Steve
    Stockton-ports
    Sunset
    Sunsets
    Superstition Mountains
    Susquehanna River
    Sycamore-canyon
    Taos
    Tarantula
    Terry-tempest-williams
    Texas
    Tex-Mex
    The-band
    The-beatles
    The Central Valley
    The Clash
    The Gourds
    Thornhill Broome Beach
    Ticks
    Tim
    Times Square
    Tit Rock
    Todd Miller
    Tom Seaver
    Tom Thrash
    Top Albums
    Topics
    Top Photos
    Tracy Schultze
    Trail Of 100 Giants
    Trains
    Travel Trailer
    Trudy Goodman
    Tule Creek
    Tulsa
    Tunica
    Twitter
    TX
    Ubehebe Crater
    UFW
    United States Border Patrol
    Upper Pines Campground
    Utah
    Utica
    Valley Of Fire
    Vernal
    Victoria Mine
    Victorville
    Vin Scully
    Virginia
    Virginia City
    Visalia Rawhide
    Wakeeny
    Walnut Canyon National Monument
    Washington
    White Sands
    Wildflowers
    Wildlife
    Willamette River
    William Eastlake
    William Hubbard
    Winslow
    Woody Guthrie
    Woody Guthrie Center
    Wrigley Field
    Wyoming
    Year End Review
    Yellowstone National Park
    Yosemite National Park
    Zabriskie Point
    Zion
    Zion National Park

    Archives

    December 2022
    November 2022
    August 2022
    July 2022
    April 2022
    March 2022
    December 2021
    November 2021
    July 2021
    April 2021
    January 2021
    December 2020
    October 2020
    August 2020
    July 2020
    March 2020
    December 2019
    October 2019
    September 2019
    July 2019
    June 2019
    May 2019
    February 2019
    December 2018
    October 2018
    August 2018
    July 2018
    June 2018
    April 2018
    March 2018
    January 2018
    December 2017
    November 2017
    September 2017
    August 2017
    July 2017
    June 2017
    May 2017
    April 2017
    March 2017
    February 2017
    January 2017
    December 2016
    August 2016
    July 2016
    April 2016
    March 2016
    February 2016
    December 2015
    October 2015
    August 2015
    June 2015
    May 2015
    April 2015
    March 2015
    February 2015
    January 2015
    October 2014
    September 2014

    RSS Feed

All content (C) Jeff Hubbard. No re-use without express written permission
  • Welcome to the West
  • Blog and Trip Reviews
  • Travel Archives
  • Contact Me
  • Music & Literature
  • Defense of the West