"These aren’t failures of method. They’re misreadings of origin."
I've had — as with many things you've described here — nearly the same experience when I tried meditation. Nothing happened. I assumed I was doing something wrong, though I was following all the steps, creating the right environment. I did get some insight into how my mind worked.
I've been meaning to try the rice & lentils counting exercise, but until a couple days ago was kind of out of things for being overwhelmed and followed by needing some time to recharge. But I'm good now and have the weekend free to count as many legumes and grains as I wish. And catch up on some substacking.
Ah, I’m glad to hear it! It’s actually rather validating, to be honest. I know we’re out there, of course. But it’s good to have some proof of it, that we’re really not just lone crazies yelling nonsense into the wind.
I’m curious to hear whatever comes of your counting experience. I’ve never done this explicitly, but I imagine for me the effect would be quite similar to building a lego set.
Thank you for referencing my piece Michael, this is such a nice companion to it and I love the idea of separating achievement from presence. I am sure many of us (monotropic or not) who don't have the expected experience in practices like meditation can be very discouraged, but you have reframed it so well, and clearly, here. We are not all starting from the same place. I wonder how your realisation could be a practice in itself, as in - how to recognise if you are someone who needs to retreat into presence rather than battle towards it?
I think this gets at a serious problem we have with identifying people's starting points. It's pervasive, but the further down the socioeconomic ladder you get the worse it is. How many piano and cooking prodigies have we missed because they're never given a chance to find out for themselves let alone for the rest of us to notice? (This is something I've been thinking about for a long time and keep meaning to write about, but I have this perpetual logjam of thoughts and post ideas and whatnot and I don't seem to have much control over what log slips free and back into the flow of things.)
"These aren’t failures of method. They’re misreadings of origin."
I've had — as with many things you've described here — nearly the same experience when I tried meditation. Nothing happened. I assumed I was doing something wrong, though I was following all the steps, creating the right environment. I did get some insight into how my mind worked.
I've been meaning to try the rice & lentils counting exercise, but until a couple days ago was kind of out of things for being overwhelmed and followed by needing some time to recharge. But I'm good now and have the weekend free to count as many legumes and grains as I wish. And catch up on some substacking.
Ah, I’m glad to hear it! It’s actually rather validating, to be honest. I know we’re out there, of course. But it’s good to have some proof of it, that we’re really not just lone crazies yelling nonsense into the wind.
I’m curious to hear whatever comes of your counting experience. I’ve never done this explicitly, but I imagine for me the effect would be quite similar to building a lego set.
Thank you for referencing my piece Michael, this is such a nice companion to it and I love the idea of separating achievement from presence. I am sure many of us (monotropic or not) who don't have the expected experience in practices like meditation can be very discouraged, but you have reframed it so well, and clearly, here. We are not all starting from the same place. I wonder how your realisation could be a practice in itself, as in - how to recognise if you are someone who needs to retreat into presence rather than battle towards it?
I’m so glad you like it! And thank you for mentioning me in the first place—and inspiring me to write on this topic along with you.
I think this gets at a serious problem we have with identifying people's starting points. It's pervasive, but the further down the socioeconomic ladder you get the worse it is. How many piano and cooking prodigies have we missed because they're never given a chance to find out for themselves let alone for the rest of us to notice? (This is something I've been thinking about for a long time and keep meaning to write about, but I have this perpetual logjam of thoughts and post ideas and whatnot and I don't seem to have much control over what log slips free and back into the flow of things.)