News for hackers. Stuff that matters.
Re:Much of the research around meditation and mindfulness ha... by mikekchar on Thursday October 12, 2017 @08:42AM (#15457528)
Not the OP and not in any way an expert, but the way I read it: the original post is completely correct -- insofar as it has been written. One could think, "I have examined it and determined it to be completely without merit". Having done so, there is no further need to examine -- because it is without merit. This is obvious.

On the other hand, you can think of it like the proverbial box, of which we are often encouraged to think outside. You can examine the entire box and discover that it holds nothing. But if you never look at the outside of the box, perhaps you will never see what others find valuable.

To bring it back to more concrete terms, to the extent that the original poster is looking to find a pavlovian response, they will find it. And from there, the rest follows by simple logic. But if you are looking for something else (or, in fact, nothing), then perhaps you will find something else.

I often find this when I talk about more technical topics; TDD, for instance. TDD is often a waste of time when applied the way many people apply it. Having studied a lot about TDD, many people are wedded to the definition they have created. Eventually they get disillusioned when it doesn't work. When they examine it, they realise that it can't work. That is the expert's mind. But the secret is that they are not doing TDD. If they throw away the expert's mind (in other words, don't do it the way that doesn't work), they have a chance of discovering TDD that works.

Disclaimer: I meditate and enjoy it. TDD helps me be more productive. YMMV.

Re:Much of the research around meditation and mindfulness ha... by Sandorie on Thursday October 12, 2017 @09:15AM (#15457702)
I see where you are coming from and I thank you for taking your time to answer in such detailed oriented form.

Is true that “if you look for it, you will find it”, Yet experiences are a often influenced by various psychological and environmental componets. The fact that we have different experiences is absolutely natural, thus I’m capable of comprehending your argument.

I was simply stating my thought analogy based on my past experiences.

Since is rather hard to measure such statements (in a quantitative way) I shall be skeptical of other people’s “experiences”. Thus staying true to my thought process, until I manage to find a common ground by truly “experiencing” what some call “mindfulness “.