The Art of Closing Your Eyes and Thinking

You may know this as meditating, a state of deep thoughts, or just second nature. We all do it in different methods and stuff, but we never really think about it. This past summer with lockdown going on I found myself indulging in self-help books. The two books that stood out to me the most were Mark Manson’s “The Subtle Art of Not Giving a F*ck” and Jen Sincero’s “You are a Badass How to Stop Doubting Your Greatness and Start Living an Awesome Life”. Both books were very straight forward on what you needed to do to make your life be the best it possibly could be. In many reoccurring passages, they both talked about the strengths in just sitting or lying down and trying to clear your mind from all thoughts. As simple as that may sound, it really wasn’t so simple. There’s always stupid little songs, phrases, and thoughts about last night’s dinner wandering throughout one’s mind. It wasn’t an easy practice to start doing but with all the hype/positivity the books talked about, I wanted to keep trying. I learned that what worked best for me was exercising for an hour, changing out of sweaty clothes, drinking cool water, setting a 15-20 min timer (depending on the day), and sitting on the ground next to the AC vent. I would close my eyes and just sit in a comfortable position for 15-20 mins. Midst those 15-20 mins I’d be sitting in a thoughtless state of mind letting whatever came to mind come and go. I think you’re supposed to reflect on the thoughts that come to you and dissect them, or at least that’s what I would do. Questions like “why am I thinking this?” “why do I feel like that towards it?” “does this really matter Vivian?”. My timer would ring, and I would flinch from the sound. I am proud to say I was able to keep this habit for 2 months and then I just stopped exercising. Now I occasionally do it when I’m in bed and can’t fall asleep. The benefits I remember from those two months was that I just felt really good, like both mentally and physically. I felt like I was just mature and able to just thoroughly think and view things in different forms. I miss it and there’s nothing that’s really keeping me from it but myself and laziness. I’m going to start soon again; I’ve been wanting to and so I will. I feel like this method of taking time out of your day could benefit us all. I am in no way shape or form a master of this art, but I thought I would just share my experience with you guys about it. Maybe this will motivate someone to start or just think about it.