Live Consciously without Meditation
If meditation is not your thing, learn how you can develop higher awareness and gain more energy without having to sit on your butt
Some people told me that it sounds all good and dandy to live mindfully, to live fully in the present, and be able to express who you are in each moment. But how does one even begin to develop such a higher awareness?
When I suggested daily meditation, some eyes will immediately roll up as if they are saying ‘anything but this’! Ha-ha! I fully understand that! To many people, meditation is still seen as some form of religious activity even though it’s not, or something that only highly spiritual people would engage in. There are also some who simply cannot meditate for one reason or another.
In this article, I will suggest another way to help you gain greater awareness of your own thought process without having to meditate.
It’s called mind watching. We are all too familiar with people watching, TV watching and basically watching anything outside of ourselves that catches our attention. What’s mind watching then? It’s simply to pay attention to the content of our mind and be mindful of its effects on us.
At most times, our mental process runs on automatic mode, producing corresponding reactions that in turn yield results which may not always serve us well. By using mind watching to develop a higher awareness of our thoughts, we become less of a victim of such automatic behavior and become more in control of our responses to the way we think and feel.
The good news is mind watching is not something new or difficult. You have probably caught yourself deep in some thoughts, or preoccupied with unforgettable movie scenes that seem to get stuck in your mind. In mind watching, we simply sharpen this type of self-awareness so that we become more aware of the contents in our mind.
There’s one important criteria though. When you are practicing mind watching, you are not allowed to interfere with your thoughts and emotions. You need to leave them alone as much as you can without judging, changing, resisting or running away from them.
Deal? Okay, here are some ways to practice mind watching:
Watch Your Mind…
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The moment you wake up in the morning. What is the first thing in your mind? Is it the dream you just had? Or are you still thinking about yesterday’s problem you had at work? Take mental note of your observation before getting out of bed.
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When you travel to work. If you drive, pay attention to your thoughts as you keep your eyes on the road. Notice how you feel when someone cuts in on you, or when you met with too many red lights. If you take the public transport, observe how the morning crowd affects your thinking and mood. No matter how you feel, it’s completely okay. Just be aware of your reactions.
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As you eat your lunch. Are you thinking about the last conversation you had with your co-worker? Or is it about the assignment that you need to finish by end of the day? Again, be aware of what’s going on in your mind.
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When someone talks to you, face-to-face or over the phone. Are you thinking about something else totally unrelated to the conversation? Or are you mentally preparing what to say next? Never mind, just take note of that too.
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In the midst of an argument or a heated discussion, even when you are not directly involved. Observe how the event stirs up your emotion, how your emotion in turn affects your thoughts and how those thoughts manifests into words, actions or more thoughts. This will likely require lots of practice as high emotions usually take place swiftly and automatically. If you are too slow to catch the interactions between your feelings and thoughts, it’s okay. Just stay vigilant the next time around.
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When a problem crops up. What is the first thought in your mind when it happens? Are you assigning blame? Or are you bashing yourself for doing something stupid? Watch how your emotion, like regret, guilt or anger, gets recruited to join in the ‘bash’. Simply observe and let the thoughts and feelings pass without attempting to deny or twist them. Once you’ve cooled down, you may formulate a plan to tackle the issue if you wish.
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While you are having sex. Are you busy keeping score? Or are you saying to yourself, “Is it over yet?” No matter what it is, be aware of your deepest thoughts, with no guilt or whatsoever.
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When you are all by yourself, doing something or nothing. What thoughts pass through your mind? Are they images belonging to the past? Or goals and dreams to attain in the future? Take note of all of them.
Benefits of Mind Watching
From these simple daily practices, you may realize that each day, you are expending massive amount of energy complaining, criticizing, denying, wishing and worrying about the events and people around you, even though they may be all in your mind.
That’s how vital energy leaks out without you realizing. An anxious person can drain and exhaust his or her energies completely just by doing nothing but worrying.
But when you are more conscious of your thoughts and emotions, and stop fueling or encouraging them, such energy leaks will be great reduced. You’ll find yourself having more energies to live even though your lifestyle has remained largely unchanged.
By being a curious observer instead of an active participant, you are able to watch your thoughts and feel your emotions without letting them take over your life. You no longer entangle yourself in imaginary dramas, and instead learn to accept them with a smile. You also stop responding automatically and mindlessly, and instead develop the ability to act consciously and skillfully.
That is the foundation of consciously living, living in the now.
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Senang membaca uraian Anda tentang meditasi. Ini dapat menguatkan pemahaman dan praktik yang saya lakukan hampir setiap hari di antara dan dalam kesibukan.. Paling tidak dapat menemukan teman seperlajanan dalam meditasi.Meditasi adalah mengalami hidup yang sebenarnya. Selanjutnya semuanya yang kita jalani menjadi lebih baik dan damai.
Closing or not closing the mind to the “vast possibilities out (!) there” has no effect to our relationship with the inner Self. Because this is true both styles of life are able to reach the goal: the life of the recluse, the life of the householder. Therefore it is not necessary to test everything. No need to run with the hare and hunt with the hounds.
The relationship with our true self is a very interesting subject that deserves more contemplation and exploration. A friendly, constructive debate definitely forces us to look at it more closely. Thanks for sharing your views. I appreciate them very much. Have a great day.
Interesting point of view, but I do not agree in two points:
(1) Mind watching weakens the mind. Because it devides the mind: into the awareness of what we are doing and into the task to observe the doing.
(2) Meditation must not be necessarily a »spiritual«/»religious« practice in the sense that we have to believe something. Take the Transcendental Meditation Technique of Maharishi Mahesh Yogi: Although this great man teached a lot of things which we can believe in or not – his meditation technique (thousands year old, he revieved it »only«) does NOT need any belief. And more: »Believing« during meditation is a hindering for success.
Instead this technique allows the mind to settle down by its own tendency to be attracted by subtler levels of the mind– until the mind »transcends« all acticvity and stays wide awake in »pure« (non active) consciousness.
Regular practice results automatically in a (so called »higher«) state of consciousness where this non active, pure consciousness stays untouched by any impression – in the midst of all activity/dream/deep sleep.
In contrast to any forced »mind watching« this dual state of consciousness is a natural thing on the basis of deep change of brain physiology.
So your goal is right – but better to let nature lead you.
Dear Jochen,
Thank you so much for sharing your thoughts with us. Let me address point 2 first because it’s the easiest
I totally agree with you that meditation is not a religious practice and that one does not need to believe in something in order to meditate. In fact, if you click on the link “meditation is a form of religious activity” in the second para, you’ll see a previous article I’ve written where I debunk some common myths about meditation. In myth #8, I mentioned that meditation is religion neutral in its essence.
But, perhaps due to my poor language expression, you have misunderstood my point. As a matter of fact, I advocate meditation as a way to raise one’s consciousness (check out Raise Your Consciousness by Doing Nothing), and I’ve also written a number of articles on meditation as I believe that it’s the best way to be mindful and to ‘wake up’ to one’s true nature.
But I also realized that not everyone takes to meditation. That’s why in this article, Live Consciously without Meditation, I tried to offer an alternative solution — mind watching — that can be used in our daily lives to help one to become more mindful of his (or her) own thoughts.
Now about point 1. My take on this is yes and no.
There are different levels of human consciousness. At one end, we think and act mindlessly and are constantly being driven by our thoughts and the emotions they evoked. If you belong to this group, far from dividing the mind, mind watching can help you to become more aware of how your actions and feelings come about, raise your consciousness and your sense of self-empowerment. With increasing awareness, you will suddenly realize (instead of just know) that you are the creator of your own happiness, sorrows, despair and etc., and you have the ability to alter them and stop clinging to them.
Like everything else in life, there are always alternatives to the same aim. Another way which I think you prefer is to give total concentration to whatever one might be doing. That is, stay in the now as much as possible. I’ve written about using this technique to free one of his own mind prison. This technique is useful when one has developed sufficient concentration and focus power, preferably through meditation.
But for people who do not meditate for some reason, it may not be easy. Having said this, life is not so clear cut of course. Our level of consciousness is not fixed or carved in stone. It changes according to our external as well as internal events. Even experienced meditators do not constantly stay at a high state of consciousness. In reality, some days you find yourself highly alert, fully aware and can concentrate easily. Other days, the opposite is also true.
So we are really looking at applying the relevant method at the appropriate time to calm down our monkey mind. At some point, you find that mind watching is useful, while at others, you may find that staying in the present moment is more appropriate.
I don’t mean to say that the methods on this website are the only or the best ways. They are but one of the many ways available. Likewise, transcendental meditation is also but one of the forms of meditation. There are many other forms of meditation. But all of them lead to the same aim, that is to reveal your true nature. Use the way that is most appropriate for you.
»But all of them lead to the same aim, that is to reveal your true nature.«
Yes – this is an old saying of the as old New Age movement. I doubt. And I doubt if it is usefull to repeat this saying over and over again. It sounds a bit like »This medicine worked. So every medicine works.«
It is indispensable to give all those meanings a strong background – proven by scientific means.
Dear Jochen,
It’s good that you question sayings and practices and challenge their validity. Frankly, I do not know of one meditation that works for everyone–one that helps practitioner to discover his or her true nature. Perhaps transcendental meditation (TM) is the one. But I know that the moment my mind is closed to the vast possibilities out there, I will be even further away from my true self.
If TM has worked for you, I am happy for you.
I agree! Being the observer during these time will help people develop a higher awareness. I still think meditation is very important for helping us live at a higher level of consciousness. If people can experience how it feels like to be in a deep meditation, there would be a holiday made just for meditation. Being in that state of timeless, spaceless and peace is one of the best feelings in the world. I don’t see it as a religious thing, more like a hobby!
Hi Chang,
Good to see you again. Indeed, meditation plays an important role in deepening the understanding of our mind that escape our field of awareness during mind watching. I see mind watching as complementary to meditation as it extends our meditative awareness to our lives away from the futon. But for people who don’t take to meditation for some reason, mind watching is a good alternative I think.
Thanks for your thoughts.