Thank you for sending this Somik. I have been meditating for a little over 20 years and I still have trouble cultivating self restraint. Paying attention to limiting my desires and noticing my present experience has been helpful for me. It is helpful for me to notice myself noticing myself while I am noticing. It would be helpful if I would be my own experimental subject more often. Sharon Begley and Jeffrey Schwartz have written about this as mentioned below. Warm and kind regards to everyone.
In The mind and the brain by Jeffrey M. Schwartz and Sharon Begley say: “Through mindfulness you can stand outside your own mind as if you were watching what is happening to another person rather than experience being at herself….Mindfulness requires direct willful effort, and the ability to forge those practicing it to observe their sensations and thoughts with a calm clarity of an external witness….One views his thoughts, feelings, and expectations much As A Scientist Views Experimental Data—that is, as a natural phenomenon to be noted, investigated, reflected on and learned from.Viewing one’s own inner experience as data allows (one) to become, in essence, his own experimental subject.”
On Jan 12, 2012 Conrad P. Pritscher wrote :
Thank you for sending this Somik. I have been meditating for a little over 20 years and I still have trouble cultivating self restraint. Paying attention to limiting my desires and noticing my present experience has been helpful for me. It is helpful for me to notice myself noticing myself while I am noticing. It would be helpful if I would be my own experimental subject more often. Sharon Begley and Jeffrey Schwartz have written about this as mentioned below. Warm and kind regards to everyone.
In The mind and the brain by Jeffrey M. Schwartz and Sharon Begley say: “Through mindfulness you can stand outside your own mind as if you were watching what is happening to another person rather than experience being at herself…. Mindfulness requires direct willful effort, and the ability to forge those practicing it to observe their sensations and thoughts with a calm clarity of an external witness…. One views his thoughts, feelings, and expectations much As A Scientist Views Experimental Data—that is, as a natural phenomenon to be noted, investigated, reflected on and learned from. Viewing one’s own inner experience as data allows (one) to become, in essence, his own experimental subject.”