Maintaining mindfulness through various activities: working, studying, reading, watching videos/film

I will admit that I've been avoiding reading, recently: I tend to get completely absorbed when reading, and I don't want to lose my progress on staying present. This of course is not a good situation, as reading, especially on-topic material, is beneficial for so many reasons. Brain maintenance for one thing, which is also critical in our LDing discipline.

What are your approaches to maintaining mindfulness in very active, absorbing mental activities? Or activities that tend to completely zone you out (at least me), like watching videos (which I've also been avoiding for the same reason)?

Do you take lots of little "bring it [awareness] on back" breaks? Like every page or two of reading? Any other hints?

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Originally Posted by FryingMan

What are your approaches to maintaining mindfulness in very active, absorbing mental activities?

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Reminding myself, as often as possible, about lucid dreaming, to keep it in mind, as well as be aware of my location. That, and I use "Big Stretch Reminder" to pop up once in a while with a custom message and remind me.

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Or activities that tend to completely zone you out

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That's interesting.. now that I think about it, I've been avoiding working with Zbrush for quite a while. Which is odd, I don't normally avoid it, I actually want to do it, but lately I'm avoiding it for some reason, and so it happens that this activity makes it damn-near impossible for me to remain mindful. Perhaps I've internalized that so I'm subconsciously avoiding it? Not sure, but thanks for bringing that up, made me realize it.

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Do you take lots of little "bring it [awareness] on back" breaks? Like every page or two of reading? Any other hints?

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For your reading, if you say you lose awareness extremely quickly, why not use a beeper or something that brings it back every minute or so? Better than getting completely absorbed and forgetting everything in and around you.

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Originally Posted by FryingMan

I will admit that I've been avoiding reading, recently: I tend to get completely absorbed when reading, and I don't want to lose my progress on staying present. This of course is not a good situation, as reading, especially on-topic material, is beneficial for so many reasons. Brain maintenance for one thing, which is also critical in our LDing discipline.

What are your approaches to maintaining mindfulness in very active, absorbing mental activities? Or activities that tend to completely zone you out (at least me), like watching videos (which I've also been avoiding for the same reason)?

Do you take lots of little "bring it [awareness] on back" breaks? Like every page or two of reading? Any other hints?

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It's simple: When reading, just read. Think, when you are reading, how often are you thinking about other things at the same time? You're reading, and then realise you need to go back to the top of the page because you were thinking about dinner, or something a colleague said, or some obligation that needs to be met.

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Reminding myself, as often as possible, about lucid dreaming, to keep it in mind, as well as be aware of my location. That, and I use "Big Stretch Reminder" to pop up once in a while with a custom message and remind me.

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I'm going to differ with you there mimihigurashi. If you're trying to keep your mind somewhere other than where you are when reading, that's not presence.

As you say, Fryingman, reading is important, and it is its own kind of meditative absorption, you used to access this absorption very easily when you were a kid, but now there are so many other things to do!

When you read, just read. You should also breathe, and sit. But most of all keep your mind on what you're doing rather than wandering to other things. That's mindfulness.

I'm worried this post seems smug and preachy :/ That's what comes of trying to copy the writing style of zen teachers, I guess: the zen of doing : zen habits

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Originally Posted by Ctharlhie

I'm going to differ with you there mimihigurashi. If you're trying to keep your mind somewhere other than where you are when reading, that's not presence.

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And I'm going to differ with you because many times in dreams I was present but lucid dreaming was nowhere in my mind so I didn't become lucid. For me, it's a matter of being aware of the fact that I could be dreaming at any moment, that is what keeps me alert and aware of what I'm doing and where I am. (this meditation subforum was, after all, created from a lucid dreaming perspective, which is why it's in Attaining Lucidity and I'm talking about LDing)

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Originally Posted by mimihigurashi

And I'm going to differ with you because many times in dreams I was present but lucid dreaming was nowhere in my mind so I didn't become lucid. For me, it's a matter of being aware of the fact that I could be dreaming at any moment, that is what keeps me alert and aware of what I'm doing and where I am. (this meditation subforum was, after all, created from a lucid dreaming perspective, which is why it's in Attaining Lucidity and I'm talking about LDing)

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But you don't only dream of reading, or spend your whole day reading. When sitting, sit, when reading, read, when reality checking, reality check.

Sports, and martial arts in particular are great. I do kickboxing, and you need to be aware and present, or else you will get hit in training. You need to be fully in the moment, being aware of your own body (stance), and also being aware of your opponent, you don't have time to think about other things while you're sparring.
Here we go, another good reason to start with doing sports :).

I haven't practiced mindfulness for some time now, but when I was doing it I noticed it became easier the more I did it. It got to a point where I could be mindful the entire day. It was almost like I reserved a space in the back of my mind that was constantly aware and constantly observing all my thoughts from a non-judgemental point of view. Perhaps it might be easier for you to imagine you have this reserved space in your mind that does that.

Yes it does seem like I am able to keep mindfulness for longer and longer periods, if I'm not just sitting vegging out on the computer, I can keep it for most of the day.

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Originally Posted by Eonnn

I haven't practiced mindfulness for some time now, but when I was doing it I noticed it became easier the more I did it. It got to a point where I could be mindful the entire day. It was almost like I reserved a space in the back of my mind that was constantly aware and constantly observing all my thoughts from a non-judgemental point of view. Perhaps it might be easier for you to imagine you have this reserved space in your mind that does that.

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It's so inspiring to hear such things are possible :)

FryingMan, have you tried just reading slower than you normally would?

I don't think we necessarily need to always be "on." I think it's enough to bounce back and forth between moments of lucidity (much like in sitting meditation). When we resurface, that's lucidity.

Ctharlhie, I think it's important to recognize that presence does not always equal awareness of the dream state. I definitely agree with your suggestion concerning reading and activities (and I also think mindfulness is only a hair's breadth away from recognition of the dream state), but as mimi mentions, we can often feel very present but not break through into full blown lucidity. It is, of course, a question as to how present we actually were when we fumbled.

I agree with ThreeCat and I don't even think it is realistic to be always mindful. Things are impermanent so there's always going to be some gaps.

When it comes to lucid dreaming you all are the pros and I'm still a definite newbie. I will say though, when I was spending a lot of time working on mindfulness though out the day, I would naturally get a lucid dream about every other week. That was also when I wasn't keeping a dream journal, I wasn't doing RCs and I wasn't doing any intentions. I was just sleeping normally and I would just notice I was in a dream. From my experience, I will say working on mindfulness helps but I wouldn't say 2 lucid dreams a month is that great achievement.

Then again if your mindfulness was focused at whether you were dreaming or not might have a lot more benefits in terms of increasing lucid dreams.

Here's a trick I've used to help me not get too absorbed into the computer. Just notice the boarder around the monitor. I don't really watch much TV but I'm sure you could do the same with that.