Ticking Meditation

I recently bought a watch. It ticks. A couple nights after I got it, I did what I call a ticking meditation. I brought it close enough to my head that I could hear it, and then I counted the seconds away. The first time I did it, I counted to 240 (4 minutes). I've discovered that it's really easy for me to count in time with the ticks.
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The second time, I counted to FF (that's 255 in hexadecimal). It took extra concentration to keep up with with the extra numbers (A, B, C, D, E, and F). Also to figure out how to pronounce them in my head.

The third time, I did 77 in octal (63 in decimal). This also took extra concentration to make sure that I didn't move from 7 to 8 each time.

After that, I decided it was easiest to count from 0-9 ( or 1-10) in normal decimal in an infinite loop.

I wonder if it would be good for doing a WILD. Counting yourself into the dream.

One of the main points of meditating is to observe all the random thoughts and images that pop into your head. If you are too busy trying to figure out what comes after AF then aren't you going to prevent those thoughts and images from appearing? What's the point?

And yes, counting breaths has long been established as a viable way to WILD. The main thing is letting the counting become automated so you are simply aware of it, but not focused on it. If you were counting in Hex or Octal you would have a very difficult time falling asleep.

"The second time, I counted to FF (that's 255 in hexadecimal). It took extra concentration to keep up with with the extra numbers (A, B, C, D, E, and F). Also to figure out how to pronounce them in my head.

The third time, I did 77 in octal (63 in decimal). This also took extra concentration to make sure that I didn't move from 7 to 8 each time."

You must be an engineer :)

I'm not an engineer. I'm a computer programming enthusiast. I am in college for engineering, though.

Anyways, I've found that counting in decimal (just normal counting) from 1 to 10 is actually more automatic for me with the ticking watch than just counting in my head. Depending on the person, this might be better or worse. I think for me it will be better because I have a hard time getting to sleep.

Sounds like a very good way to meditate. :) I've used something similar to WILD. Usually, when I count to 200, I'm in SP, and soon after in a dream.

I'm thinking one catch is that the ticking will remain there as you dream. This could be bad because it might pull you out of the dream. It could also be good as a constant reminder. If fact, even if you don't WILD, you may hear inexplicable ticking in the middle of one of your dreams.

I used to count myself to sleep as an aid to concentration. The aim being not to lose focus, if I lost count I'd have to start again - you might be surprised how hard it is at first. After a while of doing this the counting became like a visual tunnel in my head (if that makes any sense). It did help focus on the goal and helped with visualisation. I've used it after sleep aswell and I'd say it helps you to not lose track of what you're supposed to be doing. Usually this would accompany bringing attention to the third eye, that is with eyes closed focusing on that spot with your eyes until you feel a slight tug. I'm sure I got the counting thing from a book somewhere but I can't remember which one I'm affraid.