suggestion
I know that this sounds weird, and as soon as I say any names or titles, it could put some people off, but I've been reading a book this week that I am enjoying for pool about as much as I enjoyed Pleasures of Small Motions. (I'll cite my sources and put in a link at the bottom.)
He says that the mind is like a muscle- or more accurately, the synapses that occur in our thought processes can be changed and strengthened with practice. We can diret our thoughts and strengthen our focus and concentration through practice. Practice being meditation.
So don't get freaked or intimidated. As far as just starting out, the "Nothing," "Emptiness," and "Void" that you hear people talk about can be misleading, and can harm your progress as you start to worry about goals and whatever "Nothing" actually means. Lots of people quit trying to meditate because this concept is so troubling. Don't worry about the Nothing.
First, there should be a learning to rest. If you sit quietly and just let your thoughts flow, without pursuing them or blocking them, you can get to a point where you are merely observing them.
If you block thoughts, your mind can become tight and small, turning you into more or a zombie than the creative, limitless person you want to be. If you pursue them, you will be ruled by them, being angered, frustrated, and distracted by them.
But if you practice sitting back and just letting the thoughts go past, you can actually relax- something we
forget how to do- AND as you start to watch the thoughts go by passively, you'll start to see how trivial, inconsequential and temporary most of your thoughts are, and the less important they will seem.
Just sitting there and having all of those thoughts fly by is progress. You're finally noticing how much crap is normally flying around in your head, and then you can start to actually let the crap go without being caught up in it.
You can try it now in just about three minutes. Think about your breathing. Let thoughts pass. If you find yourself being distracting or following a thought, just return to listening to and feeling your own breathing. Don't be worried about ALL of the thoughts (my arm itches what's that buzzing when's lunch did I pay the bills I hate that guy walking by) because as you notice them, you will realize that it's a flow of inconsequential, meaningless, temporary things. Like a sporadic buzzing.
Every time you find yourself following a thought through, or pursuing another related thought, just let it go and return to breathing. Listen and feel yourself breathe. You will find yourself less likely to be distracted into following thoughts as you keep doing this.
Eventually, as you begin to see your own mind as something that you can direct, and as you practice focusing on what you want to focus on, directing your own mind becomes easier. (qupte): "If we want our mind to stay, our mind stays; and when we want our mind to do something, it does something. We have complete control over our mind."
You're not always going to be sitting around listening to yourself breathe. This is your practice, learning how to direct, control, and focus.
In that priceless video someone recently posted of Earl playing right through a crash in the bandstands, he was focused on his runout. He saw what he wanted to do with the table, and he was doing it. Something major crashed, and everyone got up. He paused, assessed the situation in the bandstands, and went back to what he wanted to focus on: the runout of the table. He did not let himself become distracted, didn't follow the call of new thoughts and actions, he controlled his own mind and paid attention to what he wanted to do. Two shots or so in, he did have to stop and reassess the commotion, but again, it was not something he preferred to pay attention to, and he continued on his runout.
He allowed the distraction to take brief attention, made the decision that it was outside of what he wanted to focus on, and went back to what he was doing.
So the book I'm reading is not necessarily pool- related. Its about this Super Monk learning biology and physics with MIT professors while sharing his buddhist beliefs and practices with them, which has shown both monk and professors that modern science and buddhist meditation can be in harmony.
For example, science can actually measure the differences in the meditative mind, and hardcore physics and buddhist beliefs are actually complementary schools of thought. The book is
The Joy of Living and is on a buy one get one 50% off deal over at Borders (my true reason in getting it! I needed a 2nd book!)
BUT. If you would like to sample some of his stuff for free,
this website has a much better explanation of my quick paraphrase of the above. He says the same stuff in the book, too, but from a different perspective and using different examples. If you troll that site, you can find a whole bunch of his speeches for free.
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