How to do mindfulness and meditation

In fact, there are not so many fancy requirements at all. The core is to actively anchor your attention on the true feelings of the moment, without making any good or bad judgments about states such as mind wandering and irritability. Whether it is static practice or integrating into daily life, you can't go wrong by grasping this core.

When I first started, I encountered a lot of pitfalls. I thought I had to sit cross-legged for half an hour with nothing in my mind to be called a beginner. The first time I sat there for 8 minutes, my mind went through unread work messages three times, as well as the dramas I hadn’t finished watching last week. The more I forced myself to "empty my mind," the more anxious I became, and I almost gave up. Then I started practicing with someone. After chatting with seniors for almost ten years, I learned that mind wandering is so normal. Every time you realize "Oh, my mind wandered" and bring your attention back, mindfulness is exercising your concentration muscles, just like lifting irons to train biceps. The more times you pull back, the less likely you will be carried away by messy thoughts.

There are indeed two different practice ideas in the mindfulness circle. Some people think that it is necessary to do static meditation for a fixed length of time, at least 15 minutes a day, sit down in a quiet place, close your eyes and count your breaths or do a body scan, in order to form a stable awareness habit. Some people think that it is not necessary to be so formal and just do it casually every day. You can practice by just pumping for a few dozen seconds. You can feel the wind blowing across your face while waiting for the subway. You can chew 20 times to appreciate the sweetness of the rice while eating. It can be effective without having to squeeze in time. Both sides have their own arguments and have beneficiaries who have practiced for many years. In fact, you don’t have to choose one side, it just suits your own rhythm.

I have tried both. When the Internet was 996 in the past two years, I was afraid of being seen by the leader even if I fished for 10 minutes, not to mention 15 minutes, so I started practicing in fragments. Last time I worked on a project for 3 days in a row, and I had a big fight with my colleagues. I was so angry that my hands were shaking. Hiding in the stairwell, I touched the metal handrail of the stairs, feeling the coolness spread in my palms. I counted 10 breaths and calmed down in less than a minute. I went back to sort out the problem and solved it. If I had been angry before, I would have been angry for a long time, and I couldn't calm down even if I watched short videos for half an hour. Later, when I had a little more time, I started sitting for 10 minutes every morning. On the contrary, I lasted longer than when I forced myself to sit for half an hour at the beginning.

In fact, attention is really like my orange cat. The harder you pull it to your side, the more it will burrow under the sofa. You sit there peacefully and wave occasionally, and it will wander over and rub your hand. When you are distracted, you don't have to scold yourself "Why is it so useless", and you don't need to pursue some mysterious state of "complete emptying". If you can pull it back, you have already made money.

Don't follow the trend and buy a bunch of equipment that you don't have. I used to follow the trend and buy aromatherapy, linen meditation mats, and white noise annual cards. Now I put the aromatherapy in the bathroom to remove odors, and the meditation mat is used as an insole at the door. If you really practice, even if you sit on the toilet in the company bathroom, spending 30 seconds to feel your own breathing is more useful than sitting in full gear with your mind flying thousands of miles away.