a thoughtful web.
Good ideas and conversation. No ads, no tracking.   Login or Take a Tour!
orangecat's profile
orangecat

x 2

stats
following: 0
followed tags: 0
followed domains: 0
badges given: 0 of 0
hubskier for: 3741 days

recent comments, posts, and shares:
orangecat  ·  3739 days ago  ·  link  ·    ·  parent  ·  post: How you should spend the first 20 minutes after work

If you have a portable mirror, position it to see yourself from the side to check and correct your posture. Make morning yoga/meditation a daily habit; incorporate it into your morning routine. Read up on meditation. If you are looking for an immediate starting point, a commonly referenced online resource is Chapter 5 of Mindfulness in Plain English.

And as I mentioned in an earlier comment, sit on a cushion/rolled up yoga mat to help alleviate potential back/posture problems. Focus on your breathing and on observing your thoughts.

orangecat  ·  3740 days ago  ·  link  ·    ·  parent  ·  post: How you should spend the first 20 minutes after work

How long are you setting aside each morning to meditate?

If you are finding that you can't keep your mind focused, try counting your breaths and paying attention to how you are breathing. Are you taking short, staggered breaths, or are you breathing slowly and deeply?

orangecat  ·  3740 days ago  ·  link  ·    ·  parent  ·  post: How you should spend the first 20 minutes after work

While you're at a coffeehouse, do you listen to music (or use earplugs to drown out the surrounding noise)? I've found that I need relative silence to get any serious work on a project done.

orangecat  ·  3740 days ago  ·  link  ·    ·  parent  ·  post: How you should spend the first 20 minutes after work

Immediately after I wake up, I make some tea and roll up my yoga mat (and sit on it) to help alleviate my back rounding and my legs falling asleep.

Once I am in comfortable position and had a couple sips of tea, I close my eyes and focus on my environment. I do not try to silence my mind; Instead, I observe my thoughts and thinking patterns, and let them flow past me instead of obsessing over obtaining clarity.

Let me know if you want me to explain more in depth.

orangecat  ·  3741 days ago  ·  link  ·    ·  parent  ·  post: Today's Writing Prompt: The fog of love

  opaque cloudy mist  
  her smile I cannot see
  the pain of the heart.
orangecat  ·  3741 days ago  ·  link  ·    ·  parent  ·  post: Which book could you not put down?

I was thoroughly captivated when I read Ender's Game. The writing style and voice of each character clicked with my personality in such a way that few books have done since.

orangecat  ·  3741 days ago  ·  link  ·    ·  parent  ·  post: How you should spend the first 20 minutes after work

    Whenever I would come home from a long day at work or school, I was so tired the only things I could find energy to do were mindless life-negating nonsense — television, Netflix, Reddit, Facebook, whatever.

As a graduate student, the above sentence stings because it more than true. After work in the morning and class at night, I mentally "clock-out" and lack the energy to do anything productive.

Part of my daily routine is to meditate for at least 20 minutes in the morning right after I wake up, and at night before I go to sleep. The daily action of clearing my mind and reflecting on my actions of the past day has helped alleviate the lethargy I used to feel after work and class.

orangecat  ·  3741 days ago  ·  link  ·    ·  parent  ·  post: Today's Writing Prompt: Hubski of Liberty

  Find us the disparaged, the lost, the tired, the poor, 
  Your refugees yearning for a new ship to grace the shore,
  The sailors on a journey without a set course.
  Send these, the restless, the homeless, the lonely, to me,
  Where they may find refuge and salvation in hubski