Meditation

Meditation and Accepting Reality

I was asking fans what subjects they want me to address and Ramesh Gupta MD asked me to expand on the subject of accepting reality AND, to talk about humanist meditation practices.

It might seem odd to combine the topics of meditation and acceptance of reality, but to me, as a Humanist, they are connected.

My focus as a Humanist is to live life fully and to do that, I need to do a good job of solving my problems. To do that, I need to have a good grasp of reality.  To have a good grasp of reality, I use critical thinking skills to help me figure out what is true and what is false.

It turns out that figuring out what is true and what is false is difficult. Our brains are big gooshy masses of chemical reactions that somehow create consciousness. Our brains take short cuts and have biases that make thinking rationally really difficult. We have to make an effort to think critically and rationally.

Which is why I find meditation such a useful too. Meditation is brain practice. It’s about practicing focusing your attention.  This practice can be rather calming for the brain.  I find my brain really enjoys it.

Being able to focus my attention when problem solving is helpful to problem solving. Being able to have a calm mind when I am trying to problem solve, is priceless. Calm focused thinking is clear thinking and clear thinking allows for better critical thinking.

If you want to learn more about Humanist meditation – take this course.
Want to learn more about critical thinking – take my reality based decision making course.
Want an all in one course that combines philosophy and critical thinking – take living made simpler.

Secular Mindfulness

Is mindfulness meditation? Or something else?

Mindfulness is the art of paying attention. To be mindful is to be consciously aware of something. Mindfulness is the state being consciously aware. Recently, mindful meditation has been promoted, which is a practice designed to help you to be more mindful in your everyday life.

The problem with meditation is that it is often packaged with woo. Woo, for those of you who don’t know, is a derogatory term used to describe non-science teachings and practices. Most of what passes for self help these days is woo.

But is mindfulness and/or meditation woo?  Well, not necessarily. There are secular non-woo versions of both. Secular meaning non-supernatural and non-woo meaning some has actual science to back it up.

But to get back to the central question, is mindfulness meditation? Or something else?  Yes and no. Mindfulness is a state of being consciously aware. Meditation is a practice which depending on the method can help you become more consciously aware, at least in the moment.

So why do meditation? Well, it turns out that it is surprisingly hard to be mindful. Focusing your attention and awareness for any length of time is something most brains fight. Our minds seem to have a mind of their own. They think what they want to think and it might not be want you want to be thinking about.

Just try and sit still and be aware of nothing but your breath. I dare you!

Most people can’t just be aware of their breath and nothing else without practice.  This is why meditation is called a practice. Meditation, in its most secular non-woo form, is the practice of concentrating.

Assuming you have no medical reasons why concentration would be hard, most people can train their brains, through practice, to concentrate more effectively and presumably on your command. That’s all secular mindfulness or meditation is.

To learn more about how this works and the science behind it, consider taking Rick Heller’s excellent program, Humanist Meditation: Answers for Skeptics at Humanist Learning Systems.

Stress Awareness and Humanist Meditation

Stress happens. But you can minimize its impact on you by choosing how you respond.

April is Stress Awareness month. And yes, this is apparently a government recognized thing: http://www.foh.hhs.gov/calendar/april.html According to Federal Occupational Health – “Stress happens. Sometimes it's unavoidable, at times it's unbearable. That's why taking time for yourself is a necessity.”

They go on to say, “While you can't avoid stress, you can minimize it by changing how you choose to respond to it. The ultimate reward for your efforts is a healthy, balanced life, with time for work, relationships, relaxation, and fun.”

I agree, which is why I practice meditation, as a Humanist. It’s why I encourage others to meditate as well. And yes, meditation is one of the ways the government says you can relax and recharge. And if they endorse it, well, it has to be good.

What meditation does for me is it helps me learn how to calm my mind. That’s what meditation is about, learning how to consciously choose your response, even when that response is hard wired into our nervous system like stress is.

What Humanist meditation isn't is a spiritual practice. I don’t become one with the universe. Nothing supernatural happens. I just relax, consciously and become more present and that feels good and that’s reason enough to practice it.

If you want to learn more about Humanist meditation, Humanist Learning Systems offers,  free guided meditations by Rick Heller of the Humanist Mindfulness Group at:  https://humanistlearning.com/humanist-meditations/ 

And if you want to learn more about the science of meditation and what exactly happens in your brain when you meditation, consider taking Humanist Meditation: Answers for Skeptics also taught by Rick:
https://humanistlearning.com/meditation101/