Hi folks!

2019-11-27 : 45 min : alternating between focusing on the breath at the nose and focusing on the breath through the full body

• Hearing high-pitched burning/ringing at 3-5 Hz throughout the sit
• Seeing occasional light blobs in the visual field
• Fair/ok posture (required correction several times)
• Occasional burning sensation through the nostrils
• At one point, during a switch to full-body following the breath, a sense of yearning or longing was followed by several waves of pleasure
• Switched from full-body back to following the breath at the nostrils when distractions were noticed during the sit

Currently reading

• TMI - Stage Six / Sixth Interlude
• MCTB2 - Jumping around a bunch
  
  • Read I through I.4
  • Read most of IV
  • Reading V
  • Planning to go through II and III next

Next in reading queue/interests

• Something by Bill Hamilton (Maybe The Spiritual Quest of a Scientific Mind or Saints and Psychopaths?)
• Something fun (maybe dharma-related, maybe not... considering Good Sex by Jessica Graham?)

Best wishes,
Jey

2019-11-29 : 30 min : alternating between focusing on the breath at the nose and focusing on the breath through the full body

• Background noise was fainter and the frequency was more difficult to discern
• Fewer light blobs in the visual field
• During the first shift from following the breath at the nostrils to following the breath in the whole body, more distractions seemed to arise.
• Shifted back to the nostrils in an attempt to quiet everything down.
• Even back at the nostrils, the breath seemed forced, intense, and a big ragged. (e.g. "pushing" too hard.)
• Eventually (20min in?) calmed and settled down, quieter, smoother, slower breath
• Watched peripherally to avoid dullness
• After things quieted down, when waves of pleasure came this time, I consciously tried to avoid speeding up or forcing the breath
• It seemed that the calmer altered the experience of the pleasure waves, made everything easier to perceive, made the experience less "nervous" (for lack of a better word)
• Pleasure waves were the most noticeable in the space between the in-breath and the out-breath, but the calmer breathing revealed indications that the pleasure was present continuously

No major reading changes.

2019-11-30 : 1 hr 15 min : Following breath at the nostrils

Wow; I am so grateful for the opportunity to sit

• While doing the initial "Motivation -> Goals -> Expectations ..." preparation from TMI, the sensation of breath in the nostrils suddenly came to the forefront of attention.
• Background noise at 3-4 Hz
• Noticed breath was forced initially, relaxed
• Breath sensations became less intense, "smaller", had to focus on finer details to follow them
• Relaxed posture
• Sense of calm, effortlessness, relaxation
• Blobs in the visual field started to dissolve to little dots
• Sense of calm increased
• Stayed sitting for 30 min more after the initial 45 min timer rang
• Effect of seeing little dots persisted after opening eyes (still happening now about 45 min after ending the sit)

Some additional thoughts or takeaways:

• This sit has nudged me in the direction of "more practice, less reading"
• I intend to go to bed consistently to get up in time for more practice

Planning to pause reading MCTB2 for now (Finished I.14 last night)
Might consult TMI here and there as things progress.

Best wishes!
Jey

2019-12-01 : 30 min : Following breath at nostrils and in full body

I had a runny nose and other cold symptoms.

• More distractions than usual arose, especially at the beginning
• Spontaneously (w/o conscious intention), switched from nose to full-body following the breath and felt some pleasure waves
• The sensations felt a bit duller than usual
• Returning to nose breath afterward, felt deeper focus
  
  • Heard bg noise more clearly (seemed faster cycles, wasn't quite sure)
  • Visual blobs dissolved to dots

This might be my last post for a few days since I go back to full-time employment tomorrow.

I'm still planning to practice daily.

Readings are currently paused, although based on the recommendations from MCTB2, Mahasi Sayadaw's Practical Insight Meditation might move up in the queue.

Best wishes to all of you!

2019-12-02 : 30 min : Following breath at nostrils and in body

• still had some cold symptoms
• anxiety/planning arose
• distractions
• moments of deep calm
• noticing the 3 characteristics in the breath

2019-12-03 : 35 min : Following breath at nostrils and in body : start at 20:00 EST

Wow. That was weird.

• light shaking
• visualizations of fireworks
• visualizations of the sentence "I do not exist" spelled out in letters
• sense of waves of relief
• light pain in the upper-right forehead (near eyebrow)
• flickering in visual field after opening eyes
• lots of distractions
• unusual phenomena were most present after full-body practice

I praticed in the evening because I overslept my usual practice time

2019-12-04 : 35 min : following breath at nostrils and in body : start 06:22 EST

Calmer sit.

• some distractions, especially early
• light twitching
• two or three times waves of pleasure followed full-body breath practice
• toward the end, a greater calm set in

Short 3-5 min breaks during daily life allow the opportunity to return to that calm.

2019-12-05 : 1 hr 10 min : following breath at nostrils and in body : start 19:00 EST

• earlier on, more distractions
• over time, settled down
• deeper calm
• good feelings toward self and others
• monk/elephant mental imagery (from pictures at the beginning of each chapter of TMI?)
• some vibrations, especiallly in fingertips and outside of nose
• brief pain in the upper right forehead
• visual dots
• ringing in ears (louder than previous sit)

I practiced in the evening because I went on a long internal dialogue this morning during the normal practice time.
I resolved this evening to spend another week without extensive reading to give myself more time to practice.

2019-12-06 : 40 min : following breath at nostrils and in body : start around 06:15 EST

• More distractions at beginning, gradually subsided
• Stronger intention to follow breath at start of sit and in daily life
• Full body breath led to clearer waves of pleasure
• Waves of pleasure lasted longer
• Easer to sense pleasure during entire breath cycle, not just during pauses
• Returning to breath at nose after full body practice, the sensations at the nose were "higher resolution", easier to perceive in detail
• Full-body breath and pleasure waves seem good for training the mind to pay close attention
• Holding intention to follow breath then releasing effort seems to work well

2019-12-06 : 50 min : following breath at nostrils and in body : start 21:35 EST

• distractions at beginning
• calmed down during sit
• clearer background noise, more tones
• interesting phenomenon when I opeend my eyes at end of sit
  
  • usual dots flashed into lines
  • felt observation "speed up"
  • felt intense feeling like anxiety but less scary
  • felt very attentive

2019-12-07 : 1 hr 52 min : following breath at nostrils and in body : start 06:10 EST

Went with two 45-min periods on the timer today

• distractions were present early
• some buried memories of emotional conflict came up during early part of this sit and everyday life yesterday afternoon
• full body practice led to some pleasure waves
• distraction interrupted the pleasure waves
• anxiety arose around dullness and distractions
• focused back in at nostrils and continued the sit
• things got quieter, distractions fewer
• calm settled in, gaps between throughts were much longer
• found thinking about what to write to be a distraction
• for the second 45 min session, resolved to just sit and not plan diary entry
• calm continued, grew in face of fewer and fewer distractions
• after opening eyes, calm still available, even in the face of strong physical sensations
• resolved to grow that calm and integrate it into my life

Also, I have been bowing and mentally expressing gratitude to my teachers and all meditators at the end of each sit.
It has felt really good and been positive so far.

2019-12-08 : 55 min : Following breath at nostrils, abdomen, and body : 06:20 - 07:15 EST

• Started sit after being awake in bed for about 2 hours
• Had a brighter light on in the room
• Both of these two seemed to reduce dullness and increase clarity
• Started the full body breath practice earlier in the sit
• Waves of pleasure were clearer than normal
• At one point during the full body breath practice, more intense energy with light shaking was present
• Following the breath at the nostrils afterward was clearer than last sit, with some vibrations noticeable, especially during the in-breath
• Right nostril was more open
• Right ear heard background noise more clearly
• Pushed toward releasing effort after the 45 min bell
• I think this sit sets a new standard for clarity
• Fewer distractions and those distractions that were present ended faster also
• Resolving to "Wake up!" before sitting going forward

After the sit, while making breakfast for my spouse, I had an experience of that intense, anxiety-like focus feeling. The wall started to flicker in my vision, and I could more clearly sense vibrations in the breath. It felt more awake.

2019-12-09 : 30 min : 06:30 - 07:00

- Great sit!
- Showering before the sit helped improve concentration
- Waves of plesaure were good
- "Don't block the joy"
- Even deep breathing can be "effortless"
- Resolved to feel and insight into emotional experiences and pleasure waves
- Ended with feeling of insight into sense of not having a single, solid self
- Insight into that smile/smirk that appears often on Buddha statues

2019-12-10 : 42 min : 07:00 - 07:42 : Following breath at nostrils, in abdomen, and in body

- Earlier on, more distractions (spouse and I both getting ready)
- Felt positive feelings earlier when focused on breath at nostrils
- More distractions arose
- Lots of mental imagery
- Focused on "back to breath"
- Followed breath in the whole body
- Clear, distinct pleasure waves washed throughout the body
- Returning to the breath at nostrils
- Fewer distractions and greater calm was present at the end of the sit

2019-12-11 : 25 min : 10:15 - 10:40
- Energy arising while following breath at nostrils
- Moderate level of distractions
- Setting a strong intention to follow the breath helped reduce distractions

2019-12-12 : 37 min : 18:31 - 19:08
- Rougher sit
- Distractions and dullness were present
- Lots of work-related distractions
- Wanting to get up before the timer / desire to arise from the sit
- Side note: following the breath in the full body led to fascinating sensations

2019-12-13 : 06:50 - 07:20
- Better sit
- Clearer introspective awareness
- Caught distractions sooner
- Some distractions arose because my spouse and I were getting ready at the same time
- Following the breath in the full body led to lighter waves of pleasure
- After pleasure waves, the focus shifted to the breath at nostrils, with some distractions
- Felt breath vibrations in nostrils after the timer sounded the end of the sit

2019-12-14 : 06:30 - 07:00
- Similar to yesterday's sit
- Sitting on the floor instead of a chair
- Some distractions arose
- I was more fidgety than when sitting in a chair
- Felt full-body pleasure waves after focusing on breath sensations in the full body
- Returning to the breath at the nostrils after full-body breath practice
- Still some distractions
- Things got quiet toward the end of the sit
- Followed Mahasi-style noting practice after the sit
- Found it easier to maintain awareness via noting
- Legs feeling ok after standing at the end of the sit

Reading
Practical Insight Meditation by Mahasi Sayadaw, The Mind Illuminated by John Yates, Matthew Immergut, and Jeremy Graves: Stage Seven and Walking Meditation Appendix


2019-12-14 : 08:07 - 08:33
- More distractions, especially around the family visit I am currently experiencing
- Full body breath practice led to pleasure waves
- Focusing back on the breath at the nostrils led to more clarity and calm
- I am enjoying walking meditation a lot

2019-12-16 : 05:52 - 06:23
- Wow
- Per TMI, resolved to stay in pleasure waves/jhana longer and go deeper
- Took longer to access (because of sleepiness?) but when there, twitchy energy was present in the whole body
- Felt "solider" and "deeper" pleasure waves than previous sits
- Left the pleasure waves and then returned once
- Noticed after leaving the pleasure waves the second time, it's possible to focus on the "screen" (black background) in visual awareness when the eyes are closed to keep distractions from taking over attention
- Focus on the screen, focus on the light blobs or other visualizations
- Resolved to practice walking meditation and focus on breathing sensations today
- TMI and Mahasi insight reading on weekend, walking meditation ad lib on the weekend. All these were helpful/valuable.

2019-12-17 06:05 - 06:52
- Good sit!
- Easier to focus on the screen
- Emotionally charged distracting thoughts seemed farther away in awareness
- Focus on breath seemed clearer
- Several rounds of full-body breath practice led "past" the shaky/twitchy phase to calmer, clearer waves of energy
- The wasves seemed clearer and seemed to originate from a more specific center point
- Quieting down and releasing effort toward the end of the sit
- Balancing attention on the "blank screen" of closed eyes and breath sensations with introspective awareness while releasing effort felt like riding a bike

Drew a diagram with two paths:

             /  - Judging Self - Hurry / Frustration
- Comparing  |
             \ - Judging Others - Disdain / Judgment

             /  - Kindness to self
- Growing   |
             \ - Kindness to others



2019-12-18 : 07:34 - 08:35 : Focused mainly on breath at nostrils
- More stable focus on the "blank screen"
- Fewer distractions
- Sense of tension lines between myself and others snapping
- Wishing others well and showing them new ways of being
- Accepting self and others
- Much less hurried

2019-12-19 : 05:50 - 07:02 : Focused on breath sensations at nostrils
- New mindset: every sit is a good sit
- Started with distractions, dullness, and gross mind wandering
- Tightened focus and applied effort
- Things got quieter and clearer
- Some distractions, especially around planning
- Earlier in the day, I had a short interrupted sit where I started on the "pleasure focus" practice
   - First, I felt and focused on tingling in the face
   - Then, tingling in the face subsided
   - Next, I focused on tingling in the right hand
   - I felt the tingling expand to the full hand
   - I was interrupted
   - I practice while walking and standing in line
   - I felt tingling in both hands while continuing to practice
- Also of note, yesterday evening, anxiety seemed to feed into insight practice and made it easier to sense vibrations and speed up perception. I am intrigued to read more of Mastering the Core Teachings of the Buddha later to see if it covers this topic.

2019-12-20 11:53 - 12:18
- following the breath at the nose
- distracted by family members talking in another nearby room
- focused temporarily on pulses of sound in my ears (focusing tigher seemed to make the sound pulse louder... was I flexing some facial muscles?)
- felt vibrations within the breath
- felt relieved or release
- stability of breath and lack of verbal thoughts or mental imagery seemed like positive developments

2019-12-21 09:08 - 09:38
- Practiced focusing on pleasure sensations in the hands
- Practiced focusing on breath sensations at the nostrils
- Pleasure waves spread to toes and core
- When returning to the breat at the nostrils, sensations were clearer
- Distractions from spouse in the room and from planning
- Returned and focused on the breath
- Noticed light blobs in the visual field. (The room was dark.)

2019-12-21 09:08 - 09:38
- Practiced focusing on pleasure sensations in the hands
- Practiced focusing on breath at the nostrils
- Pleasure waves spread to toes and core
- When returning to the breat at the nostrils, sensations were clearer
- Distractions arose from hearing my spouse in the rooming and planning the day
- Returned and focused on the breath
- Noticed light blobs in visual field with eyes closed in a dark room

2019-12-22 07:35 - 08:07
- Felt anxiety occurring at the beginning of the sit
- Chose to focus on breath sensations
- Felt a good opportunity to "go effortless"
- Noticed pulses of louder background noise in my ears and increased salivation
- Some ssmaller energy pulses arose also in the body
- Attempted to accept each sensation and bring focus back to the breath
- Toward the end of the sit, resolved to return to the breath throughout the day

- Mindful Review
   - Need to pay closer attention to spouse's words when choosing a seat at the restaurant

2019-12-23 07:45 - 08:30
- Focused on breath at nostrils
- At beginning, experienced more distractions by thoughts
- At end, experienced more distractions by sensations of spinning or noise in ears or feeling off-balance
- For both, came back to the breath
- Also felt moments of relief, calm, or joy
- Outside of core sits, the idea of "letting vibrations reveal themselves" from MCTB2 has been very helpful.

2019-12-24 05:32 - 06:14
- Focused on the pleasure sensations in the hands
- Experienced spinning sensations
- Experienced light blobs (lit room)
- Some distractions, especially around planning
- Felt calm, positive
- Resolved to hold positive/metta intentions toward family members
- Resolved to following the breath at night, especially when waking up with anxiety

Interested to read In the Buddha's Words by Bhikkhu Bodhi

Mindful Review
- Noticed that during time of being anxious I checked my phone
- Noticed that anxiety was occurring during some interactions with family
- Noticed that anxiety increased when I did not intervene during interpersonal conflict

2019-12-25 07:21 - 07:51
- Following breath at nostrils
- Used focus and effort to get stable attention at the beginning of the sit
- Waited 35 min after waking up to become more awake
- Experienced flashes of light and what felt like head bobbing
- Experienced brief memories (aka purifications) as one image flash or one string of words
- Experienced salivation
- Used intention to let each manifestation come, be, and go
- It's getting easier to sense the breath amongst all the activity
- Resolving to stay mindful today

Mindful Review
- Instead of jumping from feeling relational discomfort to cutting off the relationship
- Taking time to feel and experience the layers of discomfort before making a decision
- I resolve to reduce or avoid snap judgments (coworkers, family, etc)
- I resolve to feel and experience discomfort and anxiety occurring without jumping into a place of judgment
- I resolve to let go of the need to be seen as a decisive leader
- I resolve to move more slowly and let ambiguity exist in my decision making

2019-12-25 10:26 - 10:34
- Experienced pleasure focus leading to intense pleasure feeling with some twitching
- Was able to sustain and re-enter this state with eyes open and making occasional verbal statements
- It is getting easier to converse without narration and symbolic thought

2019-12-25 13:30 - 14:30
- Focused on breath at nostrils
- Things got noticeably calmer and quieter
- Resolved to stay there for a while , return there often, and use that place as "home base"

2019-12-26 07:55 - 08:26
- Used "close following" technique to pick up small, fine breath breath sensations
- Felt the "adrenaline rush" of faster, more detailed sense of breath
- Felt light shaking in my whole body
- Finer sensations felt at the tip of the nose
- Brief flashes of imagery of decay (apple decaying, human person decaying)

Mindful Review
- Regret not staying mindful during board games, movie watching, and night driving
- Need better peripheral awareness when driving, especially in deer-filled areas at night
- I resolve to take more breath breaks during those activities and have more metacognitive awareness
- I will recompense by showing a calm, peaceful demeanor to my spouse
- I intend to let go of a "boundaries-first" mindset and focusing on avoiding or reducing harm.
- I intend to drop strong ultraskeptical, ultralogical "self-protection"
- I intend to drop strong financial "self-protection"
- I am grateful that I sat during the night when I woke up. This caused me to feel better that night and the next morning.

2019-12-27 08:31 - 08:59
- Distractions at the beginning
- Brief flashes of distractions in the middle
- Deeper calm at the end
- Less effort, greater calm
- I resolve to expend for less effort in jhana/pleasure wave and insight practices
- Sponteaneous close following of the breath happened this AM

Mindful Review
- Various distractions like planning, narrating, and lusting arose
- I resolve to let go of these distractions by focusing on the breath
- I resolve to let go of trying/striving to self-protect, make good decisions, and be greatness

2019-12-28 10:50 - 12:15
- Focused on following breath at nostrils
- Some distractions and some dullness
- Greater calm at end
- Felt breath vibrations at nostrils afterward

Mindful Review
- Lots of narrating
- Lots of planning around side hustle and family conversations
- Some lusting
- Lots of craving
- Peripheral awareness and focus on the road while driving was beneficial
- What is the difference between craving and hunger?

2019-12-29 10:05-10:25 and 12:31 - 12:54
- Sitting with eyes open, traveling with family
- Some ill will arose
- I practiced brief lovingkindness before returning to the breath
- Later afternoon sit was more stable
- Looking out the window at the bird feeder, color drained from view

Mindful Review
- Anger/ill will
- Narrating, planning conversations, especially when I'm alone
- On the positive side, paying attention while walking or driving, breathing sensation while driving walking sensations
- Paying very close attention to every word, syllable, sound, verbal filler word, and facial expression while someone is talking has also been positive

2019-12-30 06:35 - 07:07
- Following breath at nostrils
- Tons of planning and narrating occurring
- More distractions were present at the beginning and at the end. Fewer distractions were present in the middle of the sit.

2019-12-31 06:41 - 07:11
- Focused on breath, held more "loosely"
- Experienced some distractions, esp. mental imagery of future self being successful in meditation practice and family formation
- Experienced warm feelings of compassion
- Experienced verbal "I don't want to be alone"
- At the word alone, experienced calm and absence of verbal content or mental images
- This persisted for a while
- There was some "static" or "background noise" occurring
- Toward the beginning of the sit, the thought "What if I looked at family as opportunities instead of obstacles?" arose
- Before the sit, lots of narrating or planning around how to deal with behavior by some family members
- Befire the sit, I felt relief when I accepted the narration and let it be present instead of trying to fight it
- Maybe I can make the narration my meditation object? Break words down into syllables, etc?
- Seeing healthy relationships and cultivating clear, emotionally honest communication as part of sila training
- Toward the end of the sit and during the day, the idea "I do not exist" continued to occur

2020-01-01 06:25 - 06:50
- Focused on breath at nostrils
- "Screen" came close, then far away and seemed to fluctuate
- Brief moments of "light disk" appearing in my field of vision
- Several distractions especially around planning what to say
- "What if I radically accepted the religious background of my family and stopped trying to chane it?"
- What if I shared "cool science stuff" as an info supplement?
Mindful Review
- How do I transcend judmental behavior?
- How do I transcend overly scrupulous religious behavior?
(There was a lot of negativity in my handwritten notes from this review. I was feeling sick later in the day.)

2020-01-02 17:08 - 17:40
- Illness (stsomach bug) is occurring
- Dulllness and distractions were present throughout the sit
- Yet, anger and frustration that were ocurring a lot before the sit died down during and were not seen after
- This marked release from negative valence was stunning

2020-01-03 16:09 - 16:41
- Focused on pleasure sensations in the hands
- Pleasure spread up arms to whole body
- After returning to the breath, more distractions popped up
- Focusing down on the breath helped reduce distractions
- seemed to find effortless practice later
- Mental concern around vacations arose, deep anxiety channel
- Returned to the breath afterward
Mindful Review
- Conflict with spouse
- Stress over communication about vacations

2020-01-04 09:30-10:15
- Wow, 45 min is amazing
- More time to experiment
- I def need to practice mindfulness the rest of today
- Several submerged thoughts (aka purifications) rose to the surface
- Pleasure wave focus in the body started at the beginning of the sit
- Focused on the breath after the pleasure wave focus
- Once I "dropped effort", lots of sensations arose
   - Floating
   - Lights
   - Feeling free from clinging
   - Feeling like my idea of "self" was breaking into little parts
- Wild thoughts , nomations, distractions, also arose

Did my first round of bio-emotive processing (Doug Tataryn)


2020-01-05 11:15 - 12:13

- Had trouble sleeping last night
- Followed pleasure waves
- Returned to the breath
- Experienced distractions and submerged content (aka "purifications")
- Focused back on the breath
- Worked on moving from effortful to effortless practice toward the end of the sit and after the bell sounded
- Had a vision of different versions of myself in a warehouse laying down guns and hugging each other
- Still recovering from illness, less nausea during sit than just before
- Experienced relapse in stomach sickness today
- Had trouble sleeping the night before

2020-01-06 06:51 - 07:24
- Experienced more sickness symptoms
- Experienced more aversion/remorse
- Attempted to focus on pleasure sensations on hands
- Had some moments of sensory clarity and relief/calm

Mindful Review
- Letting go of the "need" to be healthy
- Letting go of the "need" to be wealthy

2020-01-07 06:30 - 07:25
- Focused on pleasure sensations in hands at the start of the sit
- Tantalized throughout the sit by some light disk visualizations that I'm trying not to chase with my attention
- Pleasure sensations spread to whole body
- Returned focus to breath at nostrils after pleasure waves
- Some brief flashes of distractions
- Longer distraction occurred once
- Resolved to practice metta more, especially today (longer drive)
- Feeling much better physically, still having some gastrointestinal symptoms

Mindful Review
- Anger or frustration at self still occurs somewhat; hoping metta will address this
- Kindness to self, enjoying life more, etc. seems like it would be beneficial
- Desiring deeper and more authentic connections with the people around me

2020-01-08 07:51 - 08:23
- Showered before sit
- Greater sensory clarity
- Focused on pleasure sensations in hands
- Spread quickly to the whole body
- Enjoyed "popping out" and re-entering
- Resolved to keep practicing pleasure waves
- Focused back on the breath and things became silent, calm, deep, and still
- Felt very pleasant
- Few distractions, most planning in background of awareness
- Right at the end of the sit, more distractions were occurring
- "Let it come, let it be, let it go"
- A little bit of metta practice at the end
Mindful Review
- Anxiety around doing a good job
- Regret/remorse around how I treated some coworkers in the past

2020-01-09 06:45 - 07:21
- Focused on pleasure sensations in the hands to start with
- Distractions of planning, narrating, and craving were brief and light
- While feeling pleasure waves in the whole body, I felt a sudden wide spaciousness
- It seemed possible to enter and repeatedly remain in this spacious state
- After leaving the spaciousness, I alternated between effortful close following of breath vibrations/sensations and effortless focus on the breath
- It seemed easier to deal with distractions using close breath following
- I had several mental images pop up
   - The end of a number line representing the end of a person's life
   - Cutting a red cloth coming out of the belly like an umbilical cord and then spinning untethered
   - A person decaying into a skeleton (was it me? ... could have been me.)
- Resolving to revisit the spacious spot and use close following more
Mindful Review
- Lots of narrating and planning
- I resolve to let go of overly scrupulous self-righteous self-protection

2020-01-10 06:47 - 07:25
- Followed pleasure waves in hands
- Distractions around planning & craving
- Felt waves of pleasure fill the entire body
- Felt broader, spacious place
- Felt like the body was flying
- It was easier to keep attention on the sense of pleasure in the body and not on the breath
- Used close following of the breath after the pleasure waves
- Someetimes, the sensations of the breath would disappear
- Resolved to follow the breath throughout today
Mindful Review
- Some interpersonal conflict
- Was I too stubborn?
- Should I have listened etter?
- Am I working too hard to protect a false self-concept?

2020-01-11 14:30 - 15:00
Mindful Review
- More interpersonal conflict
- Lots of anger occurring
- Feeling self-righteous
- Simultaneously wanting to judge myself
- Target of anger shifted from self to others
- Resolved to listen more and ask permission before jumping into other people's conversations
- Resolved to let anger go
- Resolved to avoid making harsh decisions or jumping in or out of friendships based on anger
Meditation Practice Notes
- Dullness was present
- Distractions, especially toward planning or anger, were present
- Brighter lights or patterns were moving in the visual field
- Focused on pleasure waves in the hands
- Felt pleasure in the whole body
- Focused on close following sensations of the breath at the nose
- Felt vibrations of the breath at the nose

2020-01-12 06:26 - 07:26
- Experienced fast thoughts and vibration feelings in bed before getting up to sit
- Started with focus on pleasure in the hands
- Waves of pleasure spread to the whole body
- Pleasure waves changed in nature a couple times
- Pleasure waves changed from ragged/intense to smoother
- It was easier to experience the pleasure waves as a self-sustaining state and remain in that state
- Resolved to be able to return to that state and stay there
- Counted down my return to following the breath
- "Popped out" on count of zero and closely followed the breath
- While experiencing breath vibrations, I asked questions like, "Who is craving?" "Who is hungry?" "Who is angry?"
- The answer I got back: "No one."
- Woah! Resolved to keep doing this practice
- Experienced a larger gross distraction toward the end of the sit
- Managed to leave the gross distraction after 2-3 attempts
- Returned to following the breath closely and experiencing vibrations at the end
- "Who is planning?" -> "No one."
- Going into the sit with strong motivation and intention to pursue metative absorption first and then insight seems to help a lot.

2020-01-13 06:07 - 06:58
- Started with stronger intention and motivation
- Had to loosten the intensity just a bit (was a bit too tight)
- "Do whatever is in front of you with passionate intensity and mindfulness"
- Focused on pleasure waves in hands, felt them spread to the whole body
- It is possible to "turn up the intensity dial" on the pleasure waves to the point that they overwhelm much more of the mind
- This increased absoprtion, for me, was slightly disrupted by the breath cycle
- The intense pleasure waves felt more "ragged"
- Recalled instruction from The Mind Illuminated's jhana appendix to focus on the "feeling of pleasantness"
- Entered a different state that felt like floating in a warm bath
- Resolved to remain there
- Was able to "dial it up" to absorb more of the mind
- After a while, it seemed my "energy tank" ran out and the experience subsided
- I returned to focus on the breath
- Deep calm, thoughts and feelings were like background noise
- Very calm, effortless focus
- Seems possible to return there
- Seems very helpful when dealing with strong negative emotions
Mindful Review
- Lots of strong negative emotions and distress yesterday
- I resolve to use meditation and calm to help address those
- Need to let that narrating mind go

2020-01-14 05:22 - 06:21
- Focused on pleasure waves in hands
- Seemed to alternate between
   - very ragged energy
   - fairly raggedd
   - calm/flowing
   - "lights out"
- Each state was easier to focus on and maintain throughout the breath cycle
- Ragged energy states are feeling less pleasing and less attractive than before
- Pushing myself to continue practice and practice longer has been very helpful to progress
- Around when the bell sounded (45 min), started practicing "finding the still point" from TMI
- Felt like floating up through my head while doing the exercise
- Felt like looking at infinite reflections between two mirrors, but nobody there
- Felt positive calm peace
- Some brief distractions, especially around planning to maintain practice and narrating
Mindful Review
- Resolved to be less nervous at work today
- Resolved to reduce narration and keep up practicing
Side notes
- Pleasure wave practice helps remember physical / mind states.
- Remembering helps retain insight experiences
- Noticed link between narration and fear while driving

2020-01-15 05:20 - 06:05
- Mainly focused on pleasure sensation in the hands and visual phenomena
- Mainly experienced ragged energy waves
- Practiced following breath vibrations after this shorter sit during daily life
- Resolving to practice more meditative absorptions

2020 -01-16 06:10 - 07:09
- Focused on visual phenomena
- Experienced ragged, intense pleasure waves
- Distractions popped up momentarily when pleasure waves subsided
- Pleasure felt like straight-up shaking
- "What if I accepted every sensation and stopped trying to control them? What if I accepted this shaking?"
- Slightly smoother pleasure waves after that thought
- After waves died down, started practicing finding the "still point" and coming at it with a question. "Who is watching/feeling/etc.?"
- It was very intriguing to experience every thought or experience as not having an "I" behind it
- Even narrating thoughts don't have a person behind them
- Example: Two people talking attribute self and other to words and sentences. Yet, behind either there's no solid, permanent "I".
- I guess this is partly what's meant by focusing on arising and passing away
- Resolving to keep practicing concentration and insight
- Went back to pleasure waves a bit by end of sit
- Resolving to let my practice be unique
- Resolving to notice arising and passing away
Mindful Review
- Lots of planning and narrating
- Resolving to let that g
End of Day 2020-01-16
- Lots of tension over whether or not to buy a video game
- Such a huge contrast from the no-self feeling I was having just a few hours before

2020-01-17 06:08 - 07:10
- Focused on visual phenomena
- Some snap judgments I made about people I barely know seemed to be blocking me from accessing deeper pleasure waves
- Practice brief metta to let them go
- Was able to access more ragged energy waves
- Switched to focusing on sensations in the body
- Easier to access calmer/deeper pleasure waves
- Spent some very enjoyable time simply following the breath
- After brief interruption, I closed the sit with finding the still point and asking, "Who is ... ?"
- Felt joy and relief at the sense of not having a separate self
Mindful Review
- Some entrepreneurial and recreational activities seem to be disturbing my unification ofm  ind
- What if I let those activities go?

2020-01-18 09:06 - 10:07
- Sit felt calmer and less rushed
- Focused on pleasure waves in hands
- Experienced shaking in the body
- Eventually, "slid out" and returned to the breath
- Some brief distractions popped up around planning and narrating
- Returned to the breath
- Started practicing the still point
- When I started asking, "Who is ... ? " I started feeling a buzzing feeling in the back top of my head
- The buzzing spread to the whole body and felt like the shaking that accompies the waves of pleasure in the whole body
- Eventually, it all subsided and I returned to the breath for the remainder of the sit
- The sit ended with a deep sense of calm
Mindful Review
- Noticed a good amount of anger and fear occurring before the sit
- I think practicing metta (especially toward self) could help reduce that
- I need to start sitting more promptly after waking up

2020-01-19 06:00 - 07:02
- Had lights off
- Harder to go from focus on pleasure in hands to full body pleasure practice
- Eventually, over came brief flashes of distractions and made it to full body pleasure waves
- After experiencing the more ragged energy waves, popped out, focused on the feeling of pleasantness, and dropped into more stable (but still "bubbly") pleasure waves
- Somewhere in there, a thought occurred. "Maybe I'm not progressing hrough the stages because I'm not simply effortlessly following the breath enough."
- After popping out of smoother waves, followed breath at the nostrils without effort
- Experienced tingling pleasurein the body
- Experienced salivation
- Experienced feeling "head spinning" or disoriented
- Ended the sit with close following of the breath
- Felt vibrations at the nose and lip

Mindful Review
- Lots of planning, narrating, and worrying
- The idea "Stop carying / worrying about what they think" arose

End of day notes
- Lots of narrating
- I felt *way* better today cleaning and organizing some documents instead of playing video games
- If something causes "icky" feelings, I resolve to let it go
- Embracing the opportunity to grow and learn from frustrations and icky feelings instead of just feeling frustrated
- Embracing a trio of physical fitness, mental fitness, and financial fitness
- Reread The Mind Illuminated Stage 8
- Resolved to spend more time intentionally using the "Exclusive Attention" and "Arising and Passing Away" practices from Stage 8
- Resolved to spend less time on the "Finding The Still Point" practice until more consistent Grade IV piti is present
- Resolved to focus on a good, wholesome home life by taking care of chores

2020-01-20 05:04 - 06:04
- Focused on pleasure waves in hands to kick off
- Experienced ragged, intense pleasure waves in the whole body
- Exited and reentered the pleasure waves in a smoother, still energetic state
- Anxiety about a medical appointment was occurring (the appointment turned out fine)
- Focused on the breath at the nostrils after the pleasure waves subsided
- Several distractions floated in awareness (including a song that was playing at a party two nights ago)
- Focused more intensely
- The most effective approach seemed to be letting the practice continue with less effort
- Some brief "dependent arising" and "momentary concentration" practice felt good and seemed to help reduce distractions
- Experienced light blobs in the visual field, tingling sensations in the body, some extra salivation, some "head spinning", etc.
- Things quieted down and became very calm toward the end of the sit
- The thought that "'I' do not exist" occurred; let it run; felt tingling and vibration from it; felt good

2020-01-20 18:30 - 19:25
- Started with just following the breath
- Noisy environment, many distractions were present
- After about 25 min, took a break to move laundry to dryers
- Second halfof the sit was much quieter
- Easier to focus on breath
- Sensations of pleasure, relief, being unburdened, and joy
- Scary/disturbing visualizations (especially around water or drowning) occurred
- Tingling feelings in body
- Ended sit with focus on pleasure sensations in the body
- First round of pleasure sensations was very ragged, second round was smoother

Mindful Review
- I think it's time to stop narrating (especially out loud) in daily life
- When I catch myself narrating, I resolved to take a 10 sec breath countdown break, congratulate myself for catching the narration, and return to the breath.

2020-01-21 05:08 - 06:08
- Quickly felt deeper calm
- Maybe daily life narration countdown is helping
- Focused on pleasure waves in hands
- Pleasure spread to the whole body
- Waves went ragged first, then smooth, then ragged
- Fet like I was a more unbiased observer in the pleasure waves, not directly experiencing them
- Pleasure waves subsided
- Focused on effortlessly following the breath
- Anxiety and anger and ill-will arose as distractions
- Partially was able to remain uninvolved with the anxiety and let "thought packets" pass through and feel their sensations
- Ended up dropping into the thoughts and engaging with their content
- Eventually distanced self from the thoughts, experienced the anxiety and anger as a "knot" sensation in the abdomen, and felt the "knot" dissolve
- Some other distractions popped up, but was able to follow the breath and escape them
- Felt the thought '"I" do not exist' arise, resonate, and shatter into a bunch of vibrations
- Felt the thought '"I" have accomplished it' arise and smiled/laughed at the thought
- Felt light vibrations, light head spinning, and light salivation during breath following

Mindful Review
- "junk food" for my mind includes
   - narrating
   - worrying
   - reading pointless articles online (especially links from social media sites)
- Resolving to count 10 outbreaths when I find myself doing these

2020-01-22 04:34 - 05:04
- Followed pleasure waves in hands after stabilizing breath
- Felt ragged wavs in fully body
- Felt "second round" of intense waves in the full body
- Experienced distraction "dropping" me into pleasure waves; distraction "moved me around" some aversion
- After leaving pleasure waves, aversion popped up again
- Struggling to know what to do with the aversion

2020-01-22 Evening Sit 20:50 - 21:43
- Just followed breath
- The thought "Pain is inevitable, suffering is optional" (which appears to have uncertain provenance) occurred
- The thought "There are no choices, only cause and effect" occurred
- I would backedit the above quote to say, "There are no separate choices"

2020-01-23 06:43-07:28
- Distractions, anxiety, and planning were present throughout
- Very busy time at work, lots of work-related planning occurring
- Tons of frustration, anger, and ill-will toward a group of people whose actions were hurtful to me in the past
- Toward the start of the sit, was planning ways to get this group of people to change
- Felt a ball of tension in my lower stomach
- The thought "What if I completely accepted them?" arose.
- Over time, the ball of tension released
- I was able to feel whole-body waves of pleasure

Mindful Review
- Acceptance! (Resolved to accept people for who they are more completely)

2020-01-24 06:56 - 07:26
- Lots of narrating before the sit
- During sit, spreading legs wider on the chair seemed to help the spine be straighter
- Straighter spine led to deeper pleasure waves in whole body
- Ended with focus on breath

Mindful Review
- How do I balance meditation and time with family?
- How do I keep from long narration in AM?
- Maybe the content of narration is more applicable to me than to the people I imagine myself talking to?

2020-01-24 21:24
Arising & Passing Away from TMI
mental or physical process
could be mentally contacting a thought or physically contacting a sensation

2020-01-25 06:55 - 07:55
- Got up and did some kitchen chores 1 hr before waking up to meditate
- When I did wake up to meditate, jumped quickly to whole-body pleasure waves
- Three distinct experiences of the pleasure waves
   - Smoother
   - Rougher
   - Smoother
- Moved to following the breath at the nostrils
- New sitting posture seemed to help
- Following thought stream forwards and backwards (office XMas party)
- Experienced waves of energy currents rising then subsiding in the body
- Thoughts got quieter toward the end but were still present during the sit

2020-01-26 05:46 - 07:05
- Started w/ pleasure waves in the body
- Seemed like I experienced calmer waves first, then more ragged ones, them calmer ones again
- Heart rate increased & skin felt warm during pleasure waves practice
- Seat was sweaty after the sit
- After a while of practicing this, felt a bit physically tired
- Decided to aim for deeper pleasure waves experience (deeper jhana)
- Felt like I was levitating or floating
- Practiced that for a while until the bell
- Practicing leaving and entering that state is important but difficult
- Continued with floating pleasure wave practice until the bell
- Followed breath and looked for the still point for a while
- Things were encouragingly quiet
- Brief energy waves while following the breath

Mindful Review
- Lots of narrating
- How do I deal with the root anxiety motivating all this narration?
   - Every moment, every day, return to the breath
- Trusting other people?

Editing Notes
- I'm feeling noticeably less aversion, frustration, and anger in general over the past few days.
- Reviewing these notes increased my resolve to keep reducing the amount of time spent narrating this week

2020-01-27 05:48 - 06:53
- Started with pleasure waves in the body
- Eventually, got more physically tired and practiced the "floating / levitating" pleasure waves
- When exiting one pleasure wave experience, felt sensation of space pushing outward
- Was able to concentrate on space pushing outward and enter a different experience
- Some scenes from a TV show I watched yesterday appeared
- Practiced the "Finding the Still Point and Realizing the Witness" practice from The Mind Illuminated Stage Eight.
- Experienced light blobs and mild nausea
- A sentence occurred. "You've hung on to 'self' for so long."
- Fear of being tricked or fear of getting hurt was occurring

Mindful Review
- Less narrating is occurring. Let's keep it up!

Checked in at 08:45
Still less narration, go team

2020-01-28 06:00 - 07:00
- Woke up without alarm
- Felt refreshed, positive, and less tense
- Took more time before going down to sit
- Kindnesss toward self was occurring (less anger)
- Spent time shifting and arranging the seat to be more comfortable
- It felt easier to enter pleasure waves and the waves felt less ragged
- Distractions arose, but I wasn't as frustrated or tensed by them
- Practiced pleasure waves with buzzing at the base of the spine and general feeling of happiness throughout the sit
- Shifted to the still point
- First asked, "Who is ... ? "
- Felt part of the mind respond with, "Hello, I am ..."
- Continued contacting the still point
- Asked again
- Seemed like metacognitive introspective awareness (m.i.a.) "zoomed" out up and to the left
- Perceived the part of the mind that was talking off to the right
- The still point was up and to the left
- Suddenly, instead of coherent sentences, the talking part of the mind started saying seemingly random words and sounds
- This continued for a bit, until m.i.a. stopped perceiving a talking part of mind
- Attempted to keep asking that question and zooming out with the still point
- Then the bell sounded

2020-01-29 04:30 - 05:00
- Focused on pleasure waves
- Took time going through the four step transition
- Seemed easier to focus
- Seemed easier to release energy/tension
- Pleasure waves seemed smoother
- The bell rang while I was practicing going in and coming out of the pleasure waves

Question for Reddit: Does less effort / tension make it easier to access higher pleasure jhanas?

- reread the Jhana Appendix
- Saw a quote about "being" rather than doing
- Intentionally used less effort when entering access concentration
- Took a longer time to feel pleasure waves in the whole body
- When the waves came, they seemed less ragged
- Felt less tension in the body muscles as well
- After some practice, was able to enter a state where there was less shaking in the body and greater awareness of pleasure
- However, in this state, I would still notice periodic flashes of discursive thought

2020-01-30 05:57 - 07:00
- Focused on pleasure waves in the body
- Felt warmer than normal
- Pleasure waves seemed less ragged, body seemed less twitchy
- There were moments of a "warm bath" feeling
- Moments of buzzing also occurred in the base of the spine
- At one point, (earlier than usual due to eating more last night?) , I felt tired and popped out of the pleasure waves
- Decided to practice the still point
- At first, felt jumpy and too energized
- After practicing breath following and metacognitive introspective awareness, things calmed down
- Q1: Am I at the correct tage for the still point?
- Q2: Is a calmer body and mind appropriate preparation for the still point?
- After a while, the sense of being "zoomed out" and watching or being aware of the totality of what the mind was doing at a high level pervaded awareness
- Q3: Is this the correct time to ask, "Who is watching?"
- After the question, an answer like, "I am" arose.
- I tried to nonjudmentally accept the answer, let it be, let it go, then ask again, "Who is ... ?"
- The second time, it seemed like the answerer dissolved
- A lot of physical and visual phenomena happened quickly
- The overall sense was every part of the mind that was being observed (breath sensations, visual phenomena, emotional sensations, etc.) all being connected at once
- There wasn't a verbal answer, per se, more like a deep awareness of this connectedness
- Looking back on the experience, it seems clear that although perception or watching is definitely occurring, there's no person or entity behind the perception. However, there's a lot of connected parts and pieces behind the perception
- Q4: Am I on the right track here? I intend to keep digging, deconstructing, and asking the question.
- Lots of physical energy in the body occurred
- Brightness or light phenomena occurred
- Neurons or blood vessel imagery occurred
- Tried to focus back on the breath, calm all this down, and try again
- Similar results occurred from repeating the process
- On the third or fourth time, there was a sense of being connected to multiple past experiences or thoughts
- All those past experiences seemed connected well into the present moment to
- Resolving to be patient and understanding with self and others
- Resolving to sleep and eat this weekend (during a trip)
- Resolving to enjoy this weekend
- Resolving to not overworry about my meditation practice slipping
- Resolving to follow the breath instead of narrating
- Resolving to keep communication open, but not force myself on others

2020-01-31
- No formal meditation practice today
- I chose to sleep in instead of practicing meditation during a weekend trip
- This decision was partially influenced by the fact that I became ill during the previous weekend trip like this
- Noticed a lot of anxiety arising while working at a coffee shop and realizing I could be expected by others to be somewhere else
- About 10 - 20 minutes of fairly ragged pleasure wave practice happened during everyday life
- About 2 - 5 minutes of following the breath also happened
- Burst of anger or ill-will happened
- While driving around, the idea of enjoying *every* situation (even the frustrating ones) occurred

2020-02-01 08:45 - 09:30
- Practice pleasure waves with my eyes open during the breakfast meal
- Pleasure waves started more ragged and eventually became stiller
- Practiced momentary attention by focusing on the corner of an angel glass figurine
- Felt escalating waves of energy during momentary attention practice
- Eventually, I felt pleasure waves in the full body
Still Point Practice
- had to focus on dropping the previous experiences I've had and allow new experiences to arise
- felt everything become more quiet and shutting down when I practiced the still point

2020-02-02 09:21 - 09:46
- Practiced pleasure waves with eyes open during the breakfast meal
- Felt more ragged than calmed down
- Much easier to enjoy the situations and not see ill will arise when practicing pleasure waves
Mindful Review
- Felt lots of ill will
- Learning to avoid bleed-through
- Learning to have greater compassion
- Ill will and judgment keeps us all locked into a cycle of judging each other
- Enjoying happiness and joy in every situation is liberating, but the price is giving up feelings of moral superiority
- How do I radiate more compassion and forgiveness?
- How do I enjoy situations saturated by angry or judgmental behavior?
- Practiced momentary attention on frozen spot on a window
- I feel much less compelled to intervene or fix behavior by other people
- I see craving in myself
- Fully accepting my place in the massive causal chain of suffering and not fighting it
- Then pain and craving goes dark
- Goes out like a light

2020-02-03 06:46 - 07:06
- Focused on pleasure waves
- Felt more ragged and more smooth pleasure from time to time
- Lots of distractions around planning

Mindful Review
- Became very angry with myself when I failed to take action and instead meditated for about 20 min
- How do I balance the joy of meditation with the responsibilities of daily life?
- When do I intervene to change a situation that I deem to be messed up and when do I use meditation to simply accept it?

2020-02-04 05:36 - 06:36

- initial impressions: "phew!" "I'm back." "hugs!"
- focused on pleasure waves at the start of the sit
- felt very easy to slip into calmer/more stable pleasure waves
- distractions seemed like fuzzy waves, farther away
- practiced going in and coming out of the pleasure waves
- switched to following breath in body and at nostrils
- felt brief bursts of joy
- distractions appeared more vividly
- after following the breath further, distractions died down
- practiced still point
- almost tried to ask "Who is ...? " too early
- waited, things slowed down in quieter state
- "turning awareness in on itself"
- bursts of joy
- was better prepared for the bursts of joy and settled down from them more quickly
- several visions
   A flashlight in cavern
      - "Who is holding ... ? "
      - flashlight spinning but the cavern was empty
   B me getting hit by cutout walls flying toward me
      - tried to contort self to match the holes in the cut out walls, but I wasn't perfect
      - pieces of me kept getting knocked off until I was a skeleton
      - skeleton shattered
      - pieces reassembled
   C myself chasing or grasping for bubbles
      - saw myself sitting and enjoying meditation
      - lots of thoughts arose

   - returned back to breath
   - had vision of a bunch of versions of self coming together and hugging
Mindful Review
   - Everything turned out ok in the end
   - I started thinking about other areas I was waiting (like student loans)
   - How do I push for wise decisions w/o selfish clinging?
      - Leaning toward waiting till April

2020-02-05 05:45 - 06:14
- Focused on pleasure waves in the hands
- Lots of distractions, yet waves spread to the whole body
- Intentionally focusing when reentering led to clearer, deeper wave sensations
- Followed w/ focus on following the breath
- Distractions were present, yet calm was also present

2020-02-06 06:10 - 06:40
- Lots of work-related distractions
- Focused on pleasure sensations in the body
- Felt and experienced a much deeper calm while still having pleasure sensations in the body. Wow!

2020-02-07 05:46 - 06:47
- Focused on pleasure waves in the body
- Experienced pleasure waves that felt deeper and more stable than before
- Less shaking, more pleasure in the body
- Felt an edge or taste of equanimity, too, I think
- Followed breath at nostrils for a few cycles
- Turned to still point practice
- Took my time settling in
- Narrating occurred "Hello."
- Verbally asked, "Who is ... ?"
- the voice said "I am"
- the second time I asked, it was as if the narration froze mid-sentence
- moved past narration
- visuals and physical sense of the entire body & mind being connected
- later questions, instead of a verbal "Who is ...?" felt more like turning a spotlight back on itself
- saw a lighthouse spinning, then rotating just on z-axis, then no lighthouse and just light
- followed breath and felt tingling and uplifting
- inside the mud, briefly glimpsed what looked like thought or suffering producers
- one of them was frozen with ice

2020-02-08 06:00 - 07:00
- found calmer pleasure waves
- entered these calmer waves 3x
- "uplifting" or "arising" sensation accompanied the calmer waves
- followed breath at nostrils
- found calm
- followed still point practice
- noticed that the still point practice & four step intro are both becoming less conceptual & more feeling
- was able to move past narration before asking "Who is ... ?" this time
- sense of awareness w/o an "I" behind it
- got distracted by a thought stream narration
- narration was about presenting trinitarian nonduality to my in-laws
- came back from distraction
- "Who is narrating?" (about Trinitarian theology?)
- Who is craving? Who is lusting? Who is angry? Who is scared (for their job)?
- ended w/ close following on the breath
Mindful Review
- Eating less to lose weight
- Hungry more often
- More craving food
- Return to the breath as a way to deal w/ craving (?)
- Insight practice (Who is ... ? ) as a way to deal w/ craving?
- Need to continue to reduce narration in daily life by returning to the breath


2020-02-09 06:46 - 07:56
- Practiced pleasure waves
- Lengthened intro period
- Key obstacle was wanting others (in-laws and family) to be enlightened
- Letting go of those desires allowed a deeper pleasure waves experience
- Eventually, had an experience that felt like the still point and pleasure waves combined
- Still felt some energy in peripheral awareness

2020-02-10 05:34 - 06:40
- Practiced pleasure waves
- was able to find pleasure wave practice that seemed to meld w/ the still point
- entered & exited & returned 2-3 times
- followed breath at nostrils for a bit
- practiced the still point
- before I went through visualizing my surroundings, a single still point stood out
- shifted awareness radiated out from there
- the still point started to move
- it covered an entire sphere
- it seemed to explode into pure awareness of the entire visual field
- lots of energy, thoughts, sensations, etc.
- returned to calmer, stiller place
- it happened again
- bell rang
- practiced still point / awareness explosion a bit more
- resolved to carry this into daily life

2020-02-11 05:26 Mindful Review
- lots of self-righteous narrating
- lots of craving physical pleasure or relief
- Awareness (esp. Nondual awareness) and acceptance seem to be a key escape hatch
- another area was wanting or craving absolute precision, optimality, or perfection
- applicable in pers finances and at work
Meditation sit 05:33-06:33
- followed pleasure waves in body
- noisier or buzzier at first, then calmer and more stable/focused
- felt warmth in the body and my heart was racing. 
- discursive thoughts and ideas were less present after following pleasure waves
- followed breath
- practiced still point
- harder to know or be certain stage that's the best fit for me right now
- previous imagery of moving still point dissolving info awareness occurred
- imagery of self-concept being like a coin with a picture of my face on it
- dropping the the coin and appreciating joy and freedom
- experience of awareness permeating all experience
- following breath effortlessly toward the end

- resolution: use awareness and breath following to let go of narration,
perfectionism, judgmentalism, and wanting others to change
- resolving to stay in the now

2020-02-12 05:12
- skipping AM sit due to work trip
- felt depressed, lonely regretful
- this happened shortly after waking up too early
- reminded me of one night at the IDEA Center
- feeling frustrated, depressed, lonely, and regretful

instinctively, I'm letting it come, letting it be, and letting it go

in car meditating
- got frustrated because I couldn't hit deep pleasure waves (no jhana)
- following breath, accepting wherever practice is at
- joy resulted

2020-02-13 05:55 - 06:56
- Practiced pleasure waves at the start of the sit
- Gross distractions, planning
- Eventually settled down into deeper/calmer pleasure waves 3x
- Practiced still point
- Started with the still point between my eyes
- The still point quickly moved or dissolved
- Filling areas with awareness
- Practiced still point through the end of the sit
Mindful Review/Resolutions
- Focus better/more energy & clarity at the start of each sit
- Maintain better awareness & clarity in daily life
- Back to the breath!

- I resolve to let thoughts (even uncomfortable thoughts) come, be, and go

2020-02-14 18:25 - 18:32
- No formal sit today
- Practiced pleasure waves for about 10 min after getting home from work
- Lots of work-related planning
- Recognized I can follow pleasure waves while talking to someone or doing other activities

2020-02-15 07:03 - 08:15
- Practiced following pleasure waves
- Distractions arose, yet it seemed easier to accept them ("let it come, let it be, let it go")
- Entered and exited pleasure waves 3x
- Bell sounded as calming for the still point
- Practiced still point for about 15 min
- Entered still point at 3 different locations and had it dissolve 3 different times
- Last time, dissolved much faster than the other two
- Briefly practiced dissolved awareness with eyes open
Mindful Review
- Instead of narrating, practice still point and awareness in daily life

2020-02-16 Before Sit
- Lying in bed, lots of aversion due to remorse arose.
- Lots of pain
- Aversion/remorse shifted
- Aversion/remorse dissipated, but the memory is still accessible
- Is any of this related to the physical hunger I was feeling?
Sit 07:27 - 07:58
- Started w/ focus on pleasure waves
- Entered twice
- Waves seemed more ragged, less smooth than usual
- Moved to still point
- Took longer to stabilize, more distractions
- Eventually settled in
- Took longer for the still point to melt/dissolve
- Returned to follow the breath
- Distractions popped up
Mindful Review
- Letting go of remorse by forgiving myself
- Accepting myself and my own limitations

2020-02-17
- Ate more food last night and slept significantly better
- Bio-emotive processing podcast on Deconstructing Yourself had a big impact on me
- The core feeling belief "I am worthless" seemed to resonate most with me
Sit 06:07 - 07:21
- Focus on pleasure waves first
- Hard to overcome distraction initially
- First pleasure wave full experience was more jagged and raw
- Second was more stable and clear
- Third was also more stable and clear
- Brief focus on visual phenomena during third pleasure wave experience
- Bell rang after leaving third experience and prepping for still point
- Continued through still point dissolving/exploding twice
- The first time, the still point seemed "in the center", then exploded
- The second time, the still point seemed to "cut a line", drop a glowing flag, and melt/dissolve
- Sense of being connected
- Sense of extinguishing
- Throwing up a glowing dreamcatcher net and seeing it soaring up, seeing all people, and dropping back down on me
2020-02-18 05:45 - 06:45
Interrupted during middle of following pleasure waves but otherwise a usual sit
- Pleasure waves and then melting/dissolving still point
- Sense of connectedness
- What's next?
Mindful Review
- How do I maintain throughout the day?
- Using metta to increase kindness to self and others?

2020-02-19 04:36 - 05:07
- Followed pleasure waves in body
- Once one stronger pleasure wave experience happened, switched to still point
- Had one still point dissolve and then bell rang
- Distractions were more prevalent than yesterday's sit
- Transitions were jumpier and less smooth
Mindful Review
- Listening to Doug Tataryn on Deconstructing Yourself gave me the idea of more mindful sleeping
- I felt less surprised when my alarm went off today
- Hoping to maintain that throughout the day

2020-02-20 05:45 - 06:50
- Sit is done, but I'm still smiling :-)
- Followed pleasure waves in body at first
- Stretched before sitting
- Felt more aware of negative thoughts and distractions
- All the distractions seemed somehow smaller and far away
- I let the distractions come, be, and go away
- The pleasure waves felt deeper and clearer
- Went to the still point
- I got distracted at first, then came back
- After the first still point dissolved, I felt overwhelmed by joy
- Experienced energy currents in the body, laughing, etc.
- It felt great and made me very happy
- After a while, I reset my wild posture and came back to the breath
- Energy currents and the happy feeling remained
- They are persisting even somewhat after the sit
Mindful Review
- Allow myself to feel joy and feel good
- Uproot and release pain from the past
- Don't get caught up in trying to fix everything and everyone

2020-02-21 12:10 - 12:48 pm
- Sitting in the foyer/atrium area at work
- Lots of distractions from people walking by
- Pleasure waves in body: in - out - in (2x?)
- Found the still point a couple times
- Felt more stable energy and joy
- Noticed more visual illumination phenomena
- Overall, strong positive energy and joy
- Lots of smiling

2020-02-22 07:11 - 08:18
- Focused on pleasure waves, but took time setting up
- Was watching closer for illumination phenomena because it was more present during the sit yesterday
- After the first intense pleasure experience, visual light blobs appeared!
- I got distracted by planning
- "What am I going to do today?"
- returned to pleasure waves
- visual blobs continued
- after the third pleasure wave experienced, I returned to the breath
- focused on the visual blobs
- the blobs were fuzzy and moved around, but it felt like I entered a flow state
- felt like pleasure waves, but calmer and deeper
- aside: you don't have to keep using self-talk to push yourself
- second time entering visual blob flow state, the bob expanded to fill the whole visual field
- after the second visual blob flow, I practiced the still point
- The first time, the still point seemed embedded in a homunculus / buddha statue
- still point moved outside and the idol tipped over
- still point moved a couple times, then exploded/dissolved
- strong energy, smiles, and joy
- repeated through two more still point dispersals
- at one moment, saw distracting thoughts as being viewed or watched from another perspective or location
- tried to focus on the visual blobs, once more at the end of the sit, but failed
- ended with the last still point dispersing
Mindful Review
- hold more metacognitive introspective awareness (aka metacog intro aware aka mia)
- let go of worries
- hang onto the joyful smile

2020-02-23 08:00 - 08:30
- focused on pleasure waves
- brief visual phenomena, but didn't focus on it
- into deeper, calmer waves 2x
- followed breath
- dissolving still point 2x
- sense of nondual awareness and welcoming every sensation
- I was more tired today
- I was more distracted
- yet it was possible to focus
Mindful Review
- I want to accept myself, my wife, my in-laws, and my community
- shamatha plus joy seems like a good path to do that

2020-02-24 06:00 - 06:40 and 06:55 - 07:00
- Practiced pleasure waves
- Noticed light blobs, but they dissipated
- 3x entering stronger pleasure waves
- One, pleasure wave seemed like a window into mind
- after 15 minute interruption, practiced still point and experienced dissolving plus joy
Mindful Review
- lots of distractions
- Goal: stay more in the moment today
- Goal: accept spouse and in-laws as they are

2020-02-25
Mindful Review
- I killed a lady bug in our apartment last night. I regret doing this and resolve to relocate bugs outside when possible.
- Meditating throughout the day is awesome

2020-02-26
Stressful couple of days
Lots of working
Brief pleasure wave and still point practice this AM
Need to sleep more tomorrow. (Early night?)

2020-02-27

"I am broken" -> bioemotive processing

Here's a list of the 9 core feelings:
alone, inadequate, insignificant, lost, helpless, worthless, a loss/emptiness, bad person +++, hopeless

2020-02-27 about one hour following the breath from 8am to 9am while driving to a work trip
-  felt ragged pleasure waves in the body
- felt better than the previous work trip
- Learning to accept and embrace each unique phase of practice

2020-02-28
- about 20 min following breath from 8am to 8:20 am while driving back from work trip
- light pleasure waves in body
- listened to Daniel Ingram's "What Does It Mean To Be Enlightened?" on Robert Wright's MeaningOfLife.tv and  Evan Thompson's "Questioning Assumptions about Buddhism" on Deconstructing Yourself
- Thought both were cool

2020-02-29 07:06 - 08:06
- Lots of thoughts and distractions
   - Work planning
   - Startup planning
- By third round of pleasure waves, thoughts subsided and were more in the background
- By third round of pleasure waves, the pleasure waves were also more stable and continuous
- during the work trip, anxiety was occurring more on days I didn't meditate
- I switched to the still point
- the initial distractions faded as the still point repeatedly dissolved and exploded
- felt energy waves in the body and a smirky smile on my face
- deeper/calmer pleasure waves
- am I ready for stage 9 in The Mind Illuminated?

2020-03-01 08:50 - 09:35
- Focused on pleasure waves in body
- Repeatedly distracted by planning

2020-03-02
- Started with 3 rounds of pleasure waves
- Mind seemed quieter? But dull? Fewer thoughts than usual
- Spent time following breath with goal of calming meditative joy
- ACCEPTANCE
   - self
   - others
   - not trying to maneuver or change status
- Practiced still point and it melted a couple times
- Returned to breath
- Attempted following illumination/nimitta, felt pleasure strong in the body
- Back to the breath
- Seemed to cycle through fears/distractions and accept them
- Ended with scenes from movie appearing while following the breath
- * Kung Fu Panda 2, inner peace

2020-03-03 07:02 - 07:52
- Followed pleasure waves in body 2x
- Found deeper and more stable pleasure waves the second time
- Switched to still point and had it dissolve 2x
- Coming back to the breath repeatedly was very helpful
- Thoughts and distractions were caught sooner
- Thoughts around trying to be a healer and help people
- Letting those thoughts go, sending love to self and others... metta ->
- way less antagonistic this AM after practice vs. last ight after work and chores
- how do I mall .. ?

2020-03-04 07:40 - 08:00
- Followed deep pleasure waves in the body 2x
- Still point dissolved 2x
- Energy/joy but still following the breath at the end of the sit
- Distractions and thoughts arose
   - A lot around work
   - A lot around family
      - * esp with upcoming vacation
   - A lot around finances and housing
- Resolved: Back to breath

2020-03-05 07:45 - 07:55
Followed deeper pleasure waves in the body

18:43 - 19:08
- Practiced still point
- Took longer then expected to dissolve
- Followed the breath after that
- Tons of energy
- Following breath at nostrils seemed to calm it down
Mindful Review
- Things seem less personal
- Big bio-emotive processing moment: "I am a bad person because I don't do enough for my spouse."
- Cried tears driving to work and proceeding
- * Memories of father not helping mother and mother trying to figure it out on her own
- More stress and business at work
- * Overseeing subcon from India

2020-03-06 05:45 - 06:45

- Extra thankful for the hour-long sit
- Pleasure waves 2x
- Still point dissolving 2x
- Some purifications relating to letting go of family trauma or pain
- * Grieving over sister-in-law's loss at brother-in-law's death
- Opening cages and letting coloful waves

2020-03-07 09:01 - 09:28
- Experienced pleasure waves in body 3x
- Moments occurred when people's voices were far away
- Loss of perception or awareness of physical body
Mindful Review
- Lots of work-related stress
- Core feelings like "I feel alone", "I feel worthless"
- * convincing in laws related to the core feelings above

2020-03-08 07:45 - 08:30
- Pleasure waves
- Still point
- Stressful work

2020-03-09 07:47 - 08:07
- Followed pleasure waves
- Lots of work-related distractions
- Did get quiet as the sit continued

11:44 - 12:05
- Distractions
- Still point 2x
- Following breath led to greater calm

2020-03-10 19:40 - 20:15
- Followed pleasure waves 2x
- Still point 2x
- Following breath -> joy
- Mental images of people suffering/starving
- Mental images of buddhas
- Mental images of light
- All the images began to be connected or linked
- No longer trying to escape
- Work-related distractions

2020-03-11 07:40 - 08:10
- Deep pleasure waves 2x
- Lots of family-related distractions
- * Mother-in-law coming to help clean
- Anger, shame, hurt, scared

2020-03-11 19:04 - 19:20
- Still point 2x
- Dissolved twice
- Felt *much* better
- Amazing how much stress or pain is in mind

2020-03-12 20:00 - 21:00
- Deep pleasure waves 2x
- Still point 2x
- Following the breath
- Felt less connected to thoughts
- Visual of many thoughts piling into head then exploding
Mindful Review
- Regrets and fears
- * Over choice of spouse
- Wishing for things to be different
- Fantasizing about how things could be different
- I definitely suffer less in meditation
- * Would marriage counseling be a good idea?
- Should I get counseling?

2020-03-13 08:40 - 09:10
- Pleasure waves
- Distractions - work/charity
- How can I use my pain as motivation to help other people?
- This is the year

2020-03-14 08:45 - 09:30
- Pleasure waves 3x
   - Deep, but ragged
   - Hard to find calm
- Still point
- Distraction
- Meditative joy
- Still point
- Meditative joy
- Back to the breath
- Felt love toward all people
- Resolved to practice more in daily life

2020-03-15
- Busy morning
- Practicing while walking and moving
- Goal: dove back into joy
- There are some thoughts that cut like barbed wire, let's drop those :-)
- * Practiced while watching church live stream
- * Learning to accept and transcend my heritage

2020-03-16 05:44 - 07:10
- Deep pleasure waves 3x
- Still point 3x
- Following breath
- Illumination phenomena were more present while following the breath
- Could I cultivate nimitta by spending more time following the breath?
- Evening: reading about dharma scandals and MCTB2 authorship controversy

- More sleepy
- Took multiple tries to access deeper pleasure waves

2020-03-18 09:30 - 09:40
- Slept better last night
- Much easier to focus
- Noting earlier helped metacognitive introspective awareness
- Pleasure wave practice seemed to less ragged and wild
- Stopped due to interrpution
09:50 - 10:00
- Still point + following breath
- felt easier to get to meditative joy
- less of a aa"bump"
- desire/craving to maintain that state in daily life
- "Who is watching?"
   "No one."
   Relief
- Maybe meditation is like the button you press to erase yourself without hurting other people
- The other answer to "It's a Wonderful Life."

2020-03-19 08:20 - 09:00
- Clear pleasure waves
- Vibrations in the whole body
- Still point dissolved
- Following the breath
- Feeling connected
- Feeling separate self or watcher disappear

Resolution: I resolve to keep practicing meditation daily, pay attention to the three characteristics, and remain focused on the meditation object.

I resolve to do this to reduce my own suffering, reduce the suffering of the beings around me, and let go or release clinging to a separate self.

2020-03-20 09:50 - 10:10
- Brief pleasure waves x1
- Felt broad, inclusive, and expansive
- Stiffness/pain in neck & shoulders
- Still point -> dissolved
- Following the breath

2020-03-21 10:04 - 10:14
- Focusing on pleasure waves in the body
- MCTB2 descriptions: seemed like 3rd and then maybe 4th shamatha jhana
- Resolving to pour frustration into practice
- Resolving to spend less time reading and more time practicing
- Work and chore-related frustration - meditation practice

2020-03-22 06:50 - 07:20
- Pleasure waves
- Hard to distinguish from plane vibrations, but felt clear
- Feelings of love toward all beings

2020-03-23 04:45 - 05:45 and prev evening
- Emotional activation during and after watching a movie

06:40 - 07:20
- Inspired by mctb2, focused continuously on pleasure waves
- found 3 (or 4) experiences of pleasure waves
   - initially, quite ragged
   - energy seemed to settle down and radiate through the core of the body
   - body seemed less present
   - deeper place, focusing on equanimity
- checked clock around 30 min
- resolved to practice fuller, deeper jhana
- interrupted by work phone call
- focused on the breath during the afterglow of leaving the pleasure waves
- need to focus practice on going deeper

2020-03-24 05:30 - 06:00
- 30 min of bio-emotive processing

2020-03-25
- Resolved: Use time in daily life to focus on practice
09:03 - 09:23
- Focused on pleasure waves in the body
- Tension in the body -> lower jhana?
- Mind shifts, less tension, higher jhana?
- Comparing pleasure of jhana to everyday life
09:25 - 09:35
- Re-entered after distraction
- Easier to go deeper
- Tension or body shakes gave way to a deeper focus?
- Resolving to return to the breath repeatedly

2020-03-26 07:12 - 07:51
- Focused on pleasure waves
- Read x-meditator.com "Demystifying Jhana" last night
- Noticed 3-4 levels of pleasure waves in my practice
   - Direct pleasure waves in the body
   - Smile/joy/happy with pleasure waves present throughout
   - Pleasure waves lightly in center
   - Pleasure waves seemed to disappear ... equanimity?
- Brief still point
- Resolved to practice gently untangling/questioning the still point

2020-03-27 10:00 - 10:05, 21:24 - 21:27
- Very minimal meditation practice today
- Lots of extra hours at work prepping for release
- Anger and frustration arising at work / in relationship with work folks

2020-03-28 07:44 - 08:44
- Pleasure waves in body
- Going 1 -4 then 4-1 seems helpful
- Practiced still point
- "Deconstructing" or "seeing through" the still point/watcher
- Less luminous stuff / visions
- Following breath at the end
- Illumination / nimitta?
- Seeing the 3 characteristics in each state
- Being less aware and afraid of loss

2020-03-29 09:40 - 10:25
- Focused on pleasure waves
- Moved from ragged waves in whole body to stable waves in core
- Moved from stable core to focusing on pleasure/bliss
- After a while, had an intense experience of pleasure / bliss
- Pleasure / bliss with less awareness of body seemed to fade to deep peace (?)
- Focused on still point
- It dissolved / exploded disappeared multiple ways multiple times
- Felt pain in left butt bone
- Bell rang

2020-03-30 06:11 - 07:46
- Compassion welled up
- From ragged pleasure waves in the body to more subtle ones
- Still point kept melting or leaking instead of exploding
- There was one moment with the still point being electrified

2020-03-31 21:25 - 21:50
- Light focus on pleasure waves while watching TV
- Overslept past alarm

2020-04-01 06:3 - 07:37
- Pleasure waves
   - Heavy in body
   - Concentrated, rolling from bottom to top
   - Blissy pleasure around the borders
   - Deep calm
- Back down through the initial phases
- Back down felt clearer than on the way up
- Following breath
- Asking "Who is ...?"
- Adventure
- Sense of lasers shooting out of the base of the neck
- Sense of connecting everything
- Sitting in this state
- attacked by bats, melty
- walls closing in
- blankness like a turned-off TV
- some light blobs
- continuing in blankness
- heard self talk, saw a self-avatar
- the self-avatar popped like a balloon
- perception restarted?
- what was that?
- went down to creepy bats and back
- "Become a dharma teacher online"
- Give freely, be geeky
- "Yogi Body + Mind Fitness"
- Hang a shingle (?)

2020-04-02 07:10 - 08:10
- Five? Pleasure wave phases? (Last one was spacious?)
- Took time on way down
- Felt clear, distinct, good focus
- Focused on the breath
- still point
- "Who is ... ?"  "Nobody" -> "Everywhere"
- Various impressions
   - perception vortex
   - blinking out
- earlier, during jhana, releasing specific emotionally charged situations into equanimity
- toward the end of the sit, remembered to drop effort
- stable joy arose, feeling better
- resolved to follow The Mind Illuminated practice path more intently

2020-04-03 06:51 - 07:51
- Everything arises from itself! Everything passes away by itself! Wow!
- This is it!
- Nimitta is easier to see with consecutive days of  consistent practice
- Practiced pleasure waves, 4 transitions up and down
- Nimitta was more present
- Following the breath, joy arose quickly
- Focused on still point
- Seemed like still point congealing and dissolving for a long time
- Everything arises , everything passes

2020-04-04 09:09-10:01
- Four phase pleasure waves
- Mind was tired, distracted, scattered
- 4th pleasure wave phase seemed to help concentration
- Counting breaths after pleasure waves helped
- Repeated stiffness in shoulders
- Still point -> questioning
- Was helpful for disrupting narration
- Repeated questioning dissolved the watcher
- Repeated questioning dissolved "the end" of brick walls
- Just following breath between pleasure waves and still point -> joy and positive energy
- Helps to see the dissolution in a positive light

2020-04-05 07:04 - 08:13
- "Pain is inevitable, but suffering is optional"
- Four and a half stages of following pleasure waves
- The "half" stage was a brief spacious place
- Still point -> just following the breath
- Lots of dramatic visualizations / imagery occurred
- Multicolored light blobs in the visual field
- Witness kept dispersing as soon as I asked "Who is ...?"

2020-04-06 07:30 - 08:30?
- After pleasure waves, followed breath to joy
- Still point occurred multiple times
   - Lots of page turning/photograph imagery
- Awareness: everything sensing itself
- Going back through many old photographs / memories and watching myself disappear
- Shifted posture: harder on hips, easier on shoulders
09:30
- Lots of narration occurring
- Bringing focus back to the breath
- Resolved to stay more in the moment with the still point
- I eventually dissolved
- Every spirits jumping out of the photo
- I resolve to follow breath today

2020-04-07 06:28
06:54 - 07:59
- Still point -> "Who is ...?"
- Less dramatic switch to a new way of perceiving
- Fewer visions, more grounded, new mode of experience
- "I did it!" -> pulling up the tangled root of self-perception
- Feels linked to equanimity states
- Did four phase pleasure wave practice at start
- Distractions were more present for 1-4 than 4-1
- Letting go of philosophizing, narrating, and preaching
- Focusing on gently untangling from the still point
- 2020-04-08 05:39 - 06:39
- Four phases of pleasure waves
   -  1 - 3 up, clearer than usual
   - 4 had more fuzzy distractions
   - 3 -1 , more distractions
- Distractions were mostly focused on stressful work situations
- Counted ten breaths, noticed clear perception
- Practiced the still point
- It seems like equanimity is dissolving the self-other boundary
- After sit, it is easier to take on an "insight" / "inquiry" view. "Who is ...?"
- I would like to focus on concentration practice today
- Concentrating on visual phenomena off closed eyes
- (This practice is inspired by Daniel Ingram's Fire Kasina book and related notes in MCTB2)
- Repeating closing the eyes and concentrating on the after-images
- I stopped myself in the middle of jumping into a narration. I hope I can do so more often to reduce the time I spend narrating.

2020-04-09 06:30 - 07:30
- Facing doubt and fear
- Four phase pleasure waves
- Clear on 1 - 4 but work-related distractions and doubt made it harder to see/feel
- Distractions clear at the bottom of 4-1
- Stable , more equanimous response to the joy and energy
- Mental imagery of every one in the apartment building walk around in cause and effect
- Editing note: This imagery was particularly calming and peaceful for me because I had previous experienced deep anxiety around imagery of every one in a different apartment building fighting and suffering when I lived in Tulsa, OK
- I resolve to continue concentration practice on visuals today with the goal of attaining luminous jhanas
07:38

- Did I just experience the first luminous jhana?
- Followed visual phenomena, felt pleasure in the body
- Woah....

2020-04-10 06:14 - 07:27
- Focused on visual phenomena (nimitta) for concentration practice till 6:50
- Five phases (of?) experiences
- "Boundless Space" seemed more stable
- Been doing visual concentration practice in daily life (focused on afterimage after closing eyes)
- I resolve to continue closing eyes and focusing on afterimage to increase concentration
- Still point from 06:50 - 07:14
- "Who is ..?" -> emptiness, no answer
- Had to settle mind back down after work- and family- related distractions
- Physical body tired with work plus practice
- I need to rest this weekend
- Focus on data cleanup
- Don't try to do it all at once

2020-04-11 08:04 - 09:12
- Panicked when I couldn't reach luminous jhana when getting up at 5am to use the restroom
- By 7 to 8am, luminous jhana was accessible again
- 1 - 4, 1 and 2 were most clear. 3 and 4 were wild and ragged.
- work-related distractions
- 4-1 were roughly the same as 1-4
- still point -> "Who is ...?"
- Usually, there was no answer
- I continued until I was able to sit in a "no-answer", "not-me" state
- the bell rang about that time
- did some quick luminous focus 1 - 4, 4 - 1 and things were much clearer and more stable
- I resolve to forgive more
- I resolve to practice luminous jhanas and visual concentration in daily life over the next two weeks

2020-04-12 08:24
My motivation for practice: I don't want hurt to keep spiraling out of my life into others' lives. My goal: cultivate luminous jhanas toward the end of insight into the three characteristics
Expectations: Though I may stumble on the path I intend to press on
Obstacles: Regret, remorse, fear, workplace strife, family tension, ancient hatred
08:37 - 09:42
- I resolve to re-read TMI
- It felt easier and clearer to practice 1-4 and 4-1 today
- For 1, sustaining, focus, attention, and effort
- For 2, go effortless. Let the experience carry.
- For 3, incline to pleasure
- For 4, incline to equanimity
- Way up, few distracting
- Way back, less distraction
- Followed breath
- Calmed the joy
- Still point -> "Who is ...?"
- Seems more straight-forward to pursue the practice without language or words
- Visual phenomena were more present
- Need to settle down and focus on no-self
- Feeling of "waves in phase" led to quiet
- The waves were vibrating and connected, seemed to sync up in the back of my head at the base of the skull
- Less mental chatter happened after the "waves sync" experience

2020-04-13 06:50 - 07:50
- Mind was more activated and distracted this AM
- Practiced concentration on light blobs in visual field up 1-4 and down 4-1
- Fewer distractions on way down
- Feels less agitated and wild overall
- Still point -> "Who is...?"
- Feeling like I was melting
- Melting ideas, beliefs, and especially judgment and criticism
- Let causality unfold
- Stop trying to repoint the rocket
08:58
- Tons of narrating
- Who is ...? -> Melt...

2020-04-14 06:41 - 07:41
- Four five phases of visual concentration
- Less of a "barrier" to enter
- They felt "right there"
- Back to breath
- Attempting still point + "Who is ...?"
- Lots of strong emotion
- At times, felt like walls or barriers between the edges of my mind were melting

2020-04-15 06:04 - 07:04
- Tons of anxiety last night.

- Sitting on a ground cushion for the first half of the sit
- 1-4, 4-1
- I need to stay focused on visuals because it's easy to drift back to familiar body sensations
- Sat in chair for still point / realizing the witness
- Much more embodied today, less lost in thought
- Alternate perspective from experiencing watcher and asking "Who is ...?" and feeling watcher dissolve
- Each specific anxiety-causing situation seems dissolved
- During daily life visual concentration, I should focus on visuals not body sensations to know when to stop

2020-04-16
- Following visuals more closely, less focus on body sense
- jhana seemed deeper
- felt like it was more out of my control
- harder to distinguish phases
- still point melted quickly
- kept returning to still point and experiencing awareness melting
- resolved to pay closer attention to visuals over physical sensations
- earlier, yesterday, started seeing 3d spirals and some LOTR-like landscapes

2020-04-17 06:22 - 07:22
- Duller than usual (sat in dark right after waking up)
- 1 - 4, phases of visual concentration practice, 4 seemed especially dully/fuzzy. 2 and 1 seemed clearest.
- Trying to maintain focus on visuals over body sensations, but the visual nimitta was less consistent/more flickering
- Still point -> Who is ...?
- Seemed emptier
- Felt like there were moments without thoughts arising
- I noticed 3d spirals during daily life visual concentration practice yesterday
- I saw a few spirals while closing my eyes while writing this

2020-04-18 08:30 - 10:00
- Removed inner meditation cushion from plastic bag
- Sitting was more stable
- Luminous jhanas seemed to carry themselves 1-4 and 4-1
- Still point practice took a while to get revved up, but eventually "Who is ...?" became a wordless shift to a realm of deep vibrations
- Practiced some brief walking meditation around the apt and it was great
- Back to luminous jhanas
- I know I was distracted part of the time but I don't remember what the distractions were
Resolutions:
- Keep up luminous jhanas in daily life
- Add "Who is ...?" when eyes are open
- Maintain wordless awareness (nonverbal)
- Side note: I noticed spirals, but they weren't 3d today

2020-04-19 Resolution
- We can supplement with a basic self-def course
- But the core skill I want  to build mastery in is meditation


- I want to do this to reduce my suffering and the suffering of others
-
I want to supplement this with appropriate counseling and co-counseling
training to counteract the negative effects or side-effects of meditation

- Wow the streamentry subreddit wiki has amazing content.

2020-04-19?? 07:40 -09:06
- The jhanas 1-5 or 16 and 6-1 seem to be carrying themselves quickly
- Repeated 3 cycles of 1-5 or 1-6 and back down
- Following breath -> Still point -> Who is ...?
- Deeper "nondual awareness" state today
- Noticed I had been subtly flexing blood vessels in my head to make a (deep rushing) noise in my ears
- When I stopped doing that, everything seemed quieter and it was easier to focus
- I practiced about 15 min of very pleasant walking meditation after my sit.
- Tears came down my face while I was walking.
- Sat down and did 1-5, 5-1 cycle on the cushion after the walking
- During luminous jhanas, nimitta wasn't as clear until the second time through the 1-6, 6-1 cycle
- Before sit, got distracted by worries while stretching.
- After sit, I was distracted during visual concentration practice while writing this.
- I think I may have been mistaking the blood vessel noise in my ears for a deeper concentration state.
- I need to relearn how to distinguish some concentration states.

2020-04-20 06:50 - 07:02
- Rereading The Mind Illuminated, learning about sati as appropriate/optimal balance of attention and awareness
- Visual concentration 1-4, 4-1, 1-4, 4-1
-
Not having blood rushing through the ears, deeper concentration seemed
to lead to deeper concentration and more mental energy available
-
- Still point -> Who is ...?
- Letting go of the past
- Letting go of craving
- All we have is now
- This is it

2020-04-20 07:45
- During narration in the shower, came back to this moment.
- Gave myself a "pat on the back"
- Appreciation and joy for right now
- Checked in and I don't need to worry anymore

2020-04-21 07:05 - 08:05
- Followed 1-5, 5-1, 1-5, 5-1
- During the second luminous jhana sequence, felt the visual depth increase
- Still point was clearer
- There were lots of visuals occurring
- Felt like a transition from "fear" to "equanimity"
- Back to the still point again
- Seemed like the self was dissolving
- Ended with walking around meditation, felt love for all beings
- Resolutions
   - When I find my mind wandering, notice, be grateful, and come back to now
   - Live in now
   - Sit in visual concentration practice later today after a work meeeting
2020-04-21 20:00 - 20:30
- Followed the breath at the nostrils
- Was distracted by the relatively new posture when sitting on the floor
- Was distracted by thoughts toward the end of the 30 min sit
- Observed visual light blobs in perception with eyes closed
- heard light ringing in the ears
- Felt 2-3 peaks of joy/energy
-
The straight following the breat made the breath clearer when switching
from nimitta to breath or breath to nimitta for luminous jhana
practice.
- Very cool!

2020-04-22 06:38 - 07:37
- Followed two cycles of 1-4, 4-1
- Luminous phenomena were clear  at 3-4
- Clearer and more vivid luminous jhanas
- (Perhaps due to eating a lighter dinner and meditating last night?)
- Lots of visuals were present
- Kept going back to the breath
- Started practicing still point -> who is ...?
- The watcher dissolved
- Unfurling felt like the inverse of a flower opening

2020-04-22 13:25
- Detected craving for some other work situation or job situation
- I disrupted this craving by focusing on the breath

2020-04-23 06:07 - 07:30
- Had to let go of judging to go into access concentration
- 1-4, 4-1 first time, quick with more distractions
- 1-5, 5-1 second time, with fewer distractions, slower
- Sitting at night has improved concentration
- Still point -> "Who is ...?"
- Visual flickering
- Body sensations pulsing
- Felt like a deeper layer of deconstruction
- Vibrations/flickering outlived through rest of the sit and seemed stable /robust
- Flickering feeling lasted in walking meditation after the bell
- flickering feeling also lasted in sitting luminous jhana practice after the bell
- resolutions
   - deconstruct judging
The multicolored spirals seem more common after I've been staring at my laptop screen
14:46 Wow! Vivid luminous jhana 1-5?-1
Bright, strong, clear nimitta

2020-04-24 06:10-06:47
- Spent time narrating
- driven by anxiety
- right hip was sore

06:50-07:56
- Took jhana more slowly
- Did six-point review and four-phase transition
- Spent more time in each 1-4 jhana
- Nimitta seemed clear
- Still point -> who is ...?
- Lots of shaking happened
- Flickering and blinking
- Then it slowed down and stopped
- Still a few occasional vibrations, but overall, things seemed much quieter
09:51
- noticed narration again

2020-04-25 06:06
- woke up early
- tried to go back to bed
- ended up spinning in negative content
- Resolved: If I wake up and can't sleep, I will go sit
- some thoughts seem hurtful like knives or sticky like traps, but they arise and pass too!

2020-04-25 08:15 - 09:37
- Was more intentional/mindful with the six-point preparation and the four-phase transition
- It was clearer when going from breath focus to nimitta awareness for luminous jhana
- Each of the 1-5 jhanas seemed clearer
- Sat in chair for still point - > "Who is ...?"
- Much less vibration, quieter, gaps in thoughts
- Longer periods w/o verbal thought
- Inclination toward cessations
- I feel it is acceptable to cease visual concentration priority in daily life
- New priority - leaning toward 1 month of breath mindfulness with the goal of producing cessations
- Would like to take some time to process and consider the goal
- Breath mindfulness - fewer thoughts (esp verbal -> cessation)
- Some moments today were like "sleeping while sitting up"
- I'd like more of that

2020-04-26
- During still point... who is ...?
   - Seeing through others's eyes
   - Back to breath, quiet stillness, vibrations, and gaps
- Earlier in the AM, anxiety and fear were occurring
- It's probably best and wisest to leave religion and spirituality as primarily a private matter amongst friends and family
- Started with six-point preparation but became somewhat hung up on obstacles. Anxiety, fear, and regret were occurring
- Four-step transition started with more distraction but eventually settled down
- Luminous jhana practice seemed clear. Each phase 1 thru 5 seemed distinct. Boundless space seemed less jumpy and more stable.
- sitting on the floor for jhana. Left legg was closest to the body. Sitting with the legs crossed. The right leg started falling asleep.
- Went to the chair for still point plus "Who is...?" practice
- Less energy/joy/jumpiness in the still point
- More gaps were present in each sensation pulse
- The bell rang for one hour, but I continued sitting. It felt like I wasn't done.
- Stayed in and eventually experienced the insight experience listed at the beginning.
- Stayed in a bit after the experience.
- Eventually, rose for walking meditation
- Distractions  arose at first but eventually I felt completely embodied and walking in the present moment
- Returned to sit for a four-step transition in the chair
- Went into exercise and shower and daily life attempting to preserve that intentional, present, focus and awareness.
- I resolve to pursue awareness and attention in optimal balance for the next month. (Till May 26)
- I puruse closed-eyes and following the breath.
- I cultivate conditions that can cause cessations.
- Mindful Review
- It's so interesting that I feel better and more calm after meditation.
- Who is disgusted -> no one
- Who is passing on their ideas and wisdom? -> no one

2020-04-27 06:15
- Anxiety, feeling trapped
- Realization: my life depends on my choices (aka equanimity, brahma vihara, my karma)

2020-04-27 06:50 - 07:50
- Stretched while doing six-point preparation... seemed to help me stay focused and get started more smoothly
- Four-step transition to meditation went well
- 1-4 and 4-1 luminous jhanas seemed clear and distinct
- Sitting cross-legged with the right leg closest to the body
- Still point -> who is?
   - worries and cares from earlier seemed silly or nonapplicable
   - how do I balance the trainings of morality and insight?
   - felt quieter and still
   - felt occasional energy bursts when "who is...?"
      - no one
   - overall, few thoughts and less sense of "I"
   - was able to return to a similar state during walking meditation

2020-04-28 06:40 - 07:48
- more agitated, restless today
- Mind wandered during the six-point preparation and the four-step transition
- Each of the four phases of luminous jhana seemed distinct
- However, the mind wandered during them as well
- Still point ->  who is ...?
- more thoughts, distractions, and visuals
- Who is ...? _> all senses pierced through
- One single experience like an expanding snowflake shattering
- sense doors collapsing into each other
- walking and the resitting had fewer distractions
- all ambitions and goals being dissolved or shredded and then reassembled
- pictures of the memories going away and then coming back
______
|           |   smooth
|           |

                jagged/shredded
|           |  
|           |   smooth
----------


2020-04-29 03:30 - 03:50 - Early AM
- Lots of work and home improvement-related stress
- Practiced luminous jhana 1 - 2 - 1
- Practiced brief still point
- "See how it walks, see how it plans, see how it buys home improvement products,  this Jeyan."
- saw self walking into the home improvement store
20:40 - 21:00
- Evening sit
- Right leg closest to the body
- Mind wandering
- Back to the breath
- Felt meditation joy
- Saw luminous phenomena
- recurring, "see how it walks" thoughts interspersed with sights of the local home improvement store
- a smirk, a smile, and a gentle light-heartedness to all this stuff

2020-04-30
- No AM sit today
   - slept in to rest up after a shorter night last night
   - work-related email started at 7am
- Evening sit from 23:01 - 23:27
   - Four luminous jhanas
   - Who is ...? + Still point
   - Feeling the good/beneficialness of connectedness
- Feeling like "the quest is over" and feeling like "the journey is done"
- Feeling like I could donate to charity, but I don't have to
- Super interesting how the meditation reveals a perspective that seems peaceful, accepting, and at rest




2020-05-01 06:25 - 07:38
- Wow! Intense jhanic expeirence
- Started off with 6-point preparation and 4-step transition
- Nimitta arose (bit fuzzy)
- Pursued luminous jhana practice
- Wavering between pressing beyond 4th jhana or returning
- Pressed on and experienced intense energy-joy
- "Big screen" or "endless space"
- Drooling on self
- Returned back down through the jhanas fairly quickly
- Followed the breath
- Brief walking meditation
- 4-step transition again
- Left leg closest to the body
- Burmese style sitting?
- I resolve to return to the breath throughout today

2020-05-02 10:05 - 11:22
- Stretched
- Right leg closest to the body, burmese style sitting
- 6-pt review, 4-phase transition
- Work-related stress and minor home improvement stress were obstacles
- Luminous jhanas felt fairly easy to enter
- Went up to boundless space
- Had some distraction during the 5-4 and 4-5 transitions on the way down
- 5 felt like less of an intense joy/pleasure shock compared to yesterday
- Back to the breath, sitting on a chair for the second half of the sit
- Checked phone, no work updates
- Still point -> Who is ...?
- Repeated, then vibrations in body core
- Similar to the feelings last week (April 25?)
- Vibrations grew less wild and seemed to have more gaps between them
- More thoughts arose during walking meditation
- self-hatred? You don't hate on someone who doesn't exist ;-)
- Resolution: Deconstruct down even further, keep following the breat in daily life

- Read David Chapman's post on "Visceral Dislike" on the approachingaro.org site for motivation
- Liked DBDodd's comment about social worker Mahayana and found it amazingly helpful
   - emptiness and compassion
-  Instinctively squished a bug in my bathroom this morning. I resolve to relocate bugs going forward.
- Was able to remember and refrain from squishing a fly this afternoon

2020-05-03 09:07 - 10:10
- Left leg closest to the body, sitting burmese style
- Neither leg fell asleep
- Six-point preparation, four-step review
- "Me" as an obstacle... Who is "Me"?
- Jhana was distracted before starting first jhana
- Later in the sit, I was more drawn to / distracted by some of the pages I had been reading on meaningness.com
- Taking jhanas one at a time and focusing seemed fruitful. Having an intention to focus clearly seemed to help.
- Started 1-5. Interrupted on 3 by a phone call on the way down
- Resumed after phone call
- Still point -> Who is ...?
- Fewer vibrations
- More space / emptiness
- Here's where the meaningness distractions happened
- Back to the breath... Who is ...?
- The question echoed and disappeared
- Nobody there
- Brief walk, four-step transition again after sit
- Resolved remain in nonconceptual state as much as possible throughout the day

2020-05-04 06:45 - 07:45
- Distractions around 4th jhana
- Continued up to 5 & (6th?)
- Symmetry between 1-2nd jhana and 5-6th jhana?
- Still point ... who is ...?
- Letting go of grasping
- Letting go of clinging
- Especially to the self-concept of a competent provider
- Burmese, right leg closest to the body
- Right leg didn't fall asleep

2020-05-05 05:55 - 06:17
- 6-point preparation plus 4-step transition
- Left leg closest to the body, left hip hurt plus right leg fell asleep
- Luminous jhanas occurred with lights off in the room
- Nimitta seemed clearest at 4th jhana
- Letting go of trying to "force" the jhanas and allowing them to unfold more organically
- Still point -> Who is ...?
- Distraction
- Calmer, stable letting go of a clinging or grasping
- Felt very natural
- Walked a bit
- Sat back down for another 4-step transition
- Distractions arose
- Vigilance, renewed effortless focus.
- Resolved to apply increased discipline to follow the breath in daily life

2020-05-05 19:50 - 20:00
- Tons of anxiety just before and during dinner
- Subsided toward the end of dinner
- Felt much better and less stressed after the sit

2020-05-06 07:16 - 08:10
- Right leg closest to the body
- Weird hybrid of Burmese and crosslegged postures
- Right leg fell asleep
- Leaning back seemed to reduce legs falling asleep
- Jhanas seemed more intense than usual. "Letting go" of control seemed positive.
- Less time in 5th jhana / boundless space
- Sitting, focus on the breath
- Still point -> Who is ...?
- Answer: Nobody there, empty
- Work-related distractions
- Counting breaths helped focus

2020-05-07 06:13 - 07:25
- Left leg closest to the body
- Sitting Burmese style
- Ouch! By the time I moved up to the chair, my hips and knees were hurting
- Side note: Was up late last night with work and family
- Jhanas: was it dullness or greater focus / yielding?
- Time seemed to pass faster than I was aware in 4 - 5 - 4
- Felt pain in 4 on return, but seemed "stuck" in that state
- Had to "nudge" the mind back down to 3
- Sat in chair following breath + Who is ...? for remainder of the sit
- Jhanas seemed less vibratory, more calm
- I wasn't shaking in 5th jhana

Mindful Review
- Stayed up too late last night
- Didn't practice enough breath mindfulness throughout the day
- Resolved: go to bed early
- Practice breath breaks
- Stretch in the evening

2020-05-08 06:00 - 07:08
- Last night, lying in bed, saw 3d sphere/polygon in visual concentration
- This AM, had to overcome distractions and settle down
- Stretched first
- Started timer, 6-point preparation, 4-step transition
- Luminous jhanas 2 and 3 were "sticky" and clear
- Did we go up to 5 or 6? Hard to tell
- Strong 4 equanimity on the way down
- Who is ...?
- More "nondual" or "awareness" state seemed to happen when returning from distractions to the still point
- Was able to do walking meditation in what felt like a nondual state with few thoughts active
Mindful Review
- Need greater kindness toward self
- Breaks to meditate throughout day helped a lot.

2020-05-09 09:00 - 10:40
- Wow! First 1-hr sit on the floor w/o pain
- Strong and clear jhanas, moments of less bodily awareness, moments of seeming to be absorbed and jump forward in time
- Still point -> Who is ... ?  Yielded a "syncing" of two light orbs
- Felt like attention and awareness were merged
- Felt opennesss and liberation
- Burmese style sitting, further back on the cushion, left leg closest to the body
- Distractions arose between jhanas 1-5-1 and during the still point
- Walking meditation after 1 hour was steady, a bit quick
- 20 min sit after walking with the right leg closer to the body, was trickier to get comfortable/settled, but sitting back on the cushion definitely helped

Mindful Review
- More silence, fewer words
- Letting go of hurts and pain
- Acceptance
- Return to breath after experiencing anxiety


2020-05-10 08:12
Mindful Review
- when I had a shorter time to eat, I was getting scared and losing mindfulness
- Judging self and feeling like other people were judging me when my or my spouse's possessions or transportation broke or were improperly maintained

Cooked and stretched, started sit timer at 08:45

2020-05-10 08:45 - 10:10
- Wow! Insight experience! Walking meditation! Clear perceiving without external thoughts!
- Using 6-point preparation and 4-phase transition in daily life
- Noticing/looking
- Ok let's go through it in order
- Kitchen prep after the Mindful Review
- Stretched out the body
- Noticed a slight tension or pain in the right knee during the backbend stretch (?)
- Pain or tension continued to the sit start, but subsided
- 6-point preparation was fast and clear
- 4-phase transition dropped smoothly into the 1st jhana (luminous)
- 1-6 jhanas were smooth
- Not sure if I made it to 7 (neither perception nor ...?)  or if it was simply a transition to greater depth and clarity of the formless jhanas
- Returned, seemed smooth, clear, and fast
- Having a good night's sleep last night seemed to improve the clarity of the sit
- Still point ... who is ?
- Distractions between transitions but jhanas seemed more pronounced on the way up
- When distractions arose during the still point practice, counting the breaths helped things return and calm down
- Had an experience of the boundary dissolving between me and the room
- Had an experience of multiple past memories being light downloaded into my body
- General sense of buzzing/vibrating connectedness
- After the sit, during walking meditation, experienced gross distraction twice, yet noticed that if I truly focus and stay in the moment, I am in the flow and not suffering

around 11:00 am
- Opening peripheral vision while watching TV with spouse
- Letting experience totally pass through perception
- Fluxing and opening experience
- Intention and purpose: continue and remain open throughout daily life
- Keeping eyes focused on the point above the center of the TV
- Resolved: keep this up in daily life

2020-05-11 06:50 - 07:50
- Longer time in jhanas today
- Harder to distinguish 5? - higher jhanas?
- Distractions arose, but didn't seem as bothersome or as sticky'


2020-05-12 07:00 - 08:00
- Followed jhanas
- Around 5-6, felt like I "broke through" to a deeper state of flow
- Who is ... ?
- Fading self-other boundary
- My thoughts of self were mistaken, but everyone else's self-thoughts were mistaken too!
- We're one big beautiful breathing blob of life!
- I didn't remember the insight above until I meditated again around 3:15 PM on 2020-05-12

Mindful Review
- Doing chores later in the evening last night
- Lots of craving

2020-05-13 07:00 - 08:00
- Left leg closest to the body?
- Hips hurt, especially toward the end
- Noticing afterimages and other visual phenomena in daily life
- Hard to remember anything particularly unusual about this sit
- Stopped around 6th jhana (boundless consciousness)
- Pursuing greater flow and awareness in daily life
- Still getting scared or freaked out from time to time.

2020-05-14 07:07 - 08:11
- Insight experience. Light flowing from people physically around me (such as spouse and neighbors) and people from my memories.
   - "lights out" / extinguishing
- Walking around without thought after the sit
- Fantasies about telling family and telling spouse
- Extinguished those too
- Swirl -> blob
- Ramp up energy -> dissipated
- Clearer jhanas, distracted still point
- Might have been fruition? Not sure.

2020-05-16 08:18 - 09:28
- Clearer nimitta
- Seemed like I went 1-7 or 1-8 with jhanas then focused on breath
- Felt the "ramp up" of energy and then leading off
- 6-point preparation and 4-stage transition before the sit
- Right leg closest for body
- Pain in right ankle
- Twinges in left ankle and right knee
- Distractions between jhanas and during "Who is ...?" practice
- Focus on the physical sensations arising and passing to stay grounded
- At a point, the questions "Who is ...?" and the answer "No one" seemed to dissolve into one
- Let it come, let it be, let it go
- See how narration doesn't always hold all the answers.
- Working more calmly with less anxiety
- Paying more metacognitive attention throughout the day
- Mindful working
   - Stay in this moment
   - Try not to be driven by stress
   - Take it one step at a time


- Seems best to stick with the body sensations and then let them dissipate

2020-05-17 09:22
- Left leg closest
- Burmese style
- Pain/tension in the ankles
- Seat back more on the cushion
- Felt more stable
- Let jhanas "carry themselves"
- at either 7th or 8th jhana, stepped out to follow the breath
- some distractions arose
- deeper stillness
- not sure if it was pure consciousness without an object but it felt like we were getting closer
- earlier in the sit, integrating and accepting painful memories with equanimity

2020-05-18 06:50-07:50
- Right leg closest to body
- Ankles hurt after sit
- Jhana 1-7, still point
- Right after sit. Deconstructring anger/frustration
- Intention to stay mindful throughout the day
- Decide which to toend, logic, sfgage, wording last

2020-05-19 06:30 - 07:30
- Dullness during jhanas (due to tiredness/less sleep)
- Feeling united or connected during still point
- Left leg closest to the body
- Ankles hurt after sitting


2020-05-20 07:05 - 08:05
- More sleepy (worked late last night)
- However, jhanas were clearer/easier to focus
- (Determintion/willpower?)
- During following breath, had a deep unitive experience
- Felt like my soul or chi was permeating everything

2020-05-21 07:30 - 08:00
- Lots of distraction
- Made it to 4th jhana or thereabouts
-  Had to stop meditating early to address an urgent situation

2020-05-22 07:01-08:01
- Right leg closest
- Edge of cushion
- Odd burmese-style sitting
- Tired, a bit dull sit

2020-05-23
Dream GLIC Tulsa - I bumped a wall and it cam disconnected and I could see through it but I couldn't get the wall put back together

2020-05-23  10:42 - 11:42
- Up through jhanas 1 - 7(?)
- Down to 4
- Deconstructing 4 -> following the breath
- The question "Who is ...?" seems to have dissolved
- Distractions seem farther away and I seem more disconnected from them
- Left leg closest to the body
- Burmese style
- Sit felt stable
- More discomfort toward the end of the sit


- This is happening deeper, subconsciously
- I would like to instead internalize the ideal of "no escape."

2020-05-24 08:45 - 09:45, 09:45 - 10:15, 11:30 - 11:55
- sitting, walking, sitting
- During practice, directing visual attention to the nimitta helps reduce distractions
- Right leg closest to the body
- Watched some gotROM.com videos on YouTube about sitting /posture and working on using these to improve my sitting posture


2020-05-25 10:30 - 11:30, 11:30-11:50, 11:50-12:20
- sitting, walking, sitting
- Left leg closest to the body
- Resolved: more rigorous introspective awareness, especially during the still point
- First sit, Jhana 1-7-4 and sloppy still point practice
- second sit, still point with distractions
- The "Who is ...?" question is more turning to general metacognitive introspective awareness lately
- Resolution: I haven't experienced a cessation evnet yet, but I will continue my efforts toward that goal for the next month.

2020-05-26 06:10-07:10
- It's over. The quest, the search has ended. There's nothing left.
- That being said, I'll keep stretching, keep practicing, keep growing and keep integrating this perspective into my daily life.
- Jhana 1-7-4
- Still point -> who is ...?
- Took jhanas longer to get started
- Still point seemed clearer and less distracted


2020-05-27 08:35 - 08:50
- Reached 4th jhana
- Right leg closest to the body

2020-05-27 12:10 - 12:55
- Following the breath
- Who is ... ?
- Profound before/after difference in mental state
- Hard to put into words


2020-05-28 05:30 - 06:30
- Left leg closest to the body
- Right knee hurt/stiff at the end of the sit
- Jhana 1 - 7 - 4
- Still point ... who is...?
- Jhana 1-4 seemed clearer
- More distractions were present around jhanas 5-7
- All thoughts, worries, and feelings are empty
- Wow!
- Deeper still point.... they aren't there

2020-05-29 06:30 - 07:35
- Distractions were present within the 6-point preparation, between the 6-point preparation and the 4-stage transition, between jhanas, and during still point
- Left leg was closest to the body
Mindful Review
- Wow! Lots of wordly desire and aversion!
- (Reading the Second Interlude of The Mind Illuminated)
- Letting go of both during daily life will help follow the path


2020-05-30 08:15 - 08:30 (Guessing)
15 minutes of practice
- reached second jhana
- Follow breath throughout the day


2020-06-01 17:08  - 17:30
- Jhana 1-6
- Still point
- Who is?
- Piercing cellular membrane betwen self and others

2020-06-02 07:08 - 08:08
- Left leg closest to the body
- Jhanas 1-7-4
- Some distractions arose, especially when dissolving 4th Jhana back to the breath
- Still point ... who is?
- Observed luminous visuals
- Observed light noise in the background
- Felt very clear and stable
- Who is ...?
- Felt more vigilant and aware / on guard for distractions

2020-06-03
- During falling asleep found experienced equanimity flow. Felt relief

12:34 - 13:04
- Distraction arose
- Deep vibratory no-self quality to experience
- Seems like I'm able to connect into an open no-self state

2020-06-04 07:15 - 08:15
- Right leg closest to the body
- Weird snake god popped up when following the breath (or in 7th jhana? Can't quite remember)
- Distractions crescendo'd in interestingness during 1-7? jhanas
- Folowing the breath, eventually getting past the snake god mind into awareness watching itself

2020-06-05 06:20 - 06:45
- Wow craving is so temporary.
- Woke up w/ strong craving but it quickly went away

2020-06-05 08:30 - 09:30
- Left leg closest to the body
- Easier to get knees lower to the ground (now due to stretching hips?)
- More stable posture -> deeper concentration
- Jhanas 1 - 7? - 4
- Points during sit where mind and thoughts became more quiet
- Quieter, fewer thoughts
- Inclining toward cessation?
- Resolved greater awareness and fewer verbal thoughts throughout daily life.

- Resolving to recognize when I lose metacognitive introspective awareness of the present and gladly coming back to the present

2020-06-06
- Lots of agitation from a dream
- Lots of narrating after the dream
- Resolved to follow the breath before sleep to gain greater mindful awareness in dreams
- Light practice throughout the day; no formal sit today

2020-06-07 08:18 - 09:04
- Took longer for jhanas
- Sitting in a chair
- Maybe 7th jhana is boundless stillness or boundless quiet?
- Maybe 8th is boundless ...? booo.....
---
- Resolution: achieve and maintain stability of mind. Unification
- Through conduct and action and freedom from remorse.

2020-06-07 21:56
- Lots of agitation/aversion occurring

2020-06-08
- Wow. Burst of challenging doubt this AM.
- Amazing how vivid it was
- Resolution to stay with a unified mind seems to be helping.
- Activities or thoughts that produce a strong adrenaline or cortisol response (should be avoided/accepted to unify the mind?)

2020-06-08 06:38 - 07:38
- 1-7? 8? jhanas
- Following breath
- Left leg closest to the body
- Golden deity winked at me
- External Distractions arose during the still point
- Need to resolidify the still point when distractions arise, not just follow the breath
- Feeling of being beyond or behind in daily life

2020-06-09 06:41 - 07:41
- Jhana 1-4?
- Following breath, stable still point
- Two other people (one man and one woman) and I merged together
- The two people were people I had felt frustrated with over the past few weeks
- I saw myself as merged or connected with them
- Noting self-righteous anger or dissipating it or letting it go

2020-06-09 08:43
- I am one with everyone

2020-06-11 06:30 - 07:30
- Left leg was closest to the body
- Jhana 1-7? or 8? - 4
- Followed the breath
- The still point gave way to awareness quickly
- After a certain point, there was a new sense of quiet
- The quiet comes with a sense of being empty
- This seems to have persisted throughout post-sit walking
- "I have been judging existence for my whole life!"
- Downloading memories or experiences of other people, yet the quiet is still quiet
- Seeing or hearing ghosts asking me to meet their needs, yet the quiet is still quiet
- The game is over
- Everything is what it is all by itself
- This is it (in cursive)

- Having adequate sleep/rest seems to help deepen or further these insights
- Dying is the same as living
- Walking is the same as standing
- Accepted is the same as rejected
- Bored is the same as interested
- Hungry is the same as full
- Awake is the same as asleep
- Enlighted is the same as benighted
- Game over game over game over
- Afraid is the same as confident

2020-06-12 06:30 - 07:30
- Right leg closest to the body
- Jhanas 1 - 8? - 4
- Desire or craving a felt need (unclear handwriting)
- More thoughts than yesterday
- Energy bursts or whirloppols turning and disappearing?
- We're done; it's over.
- Note: Last night in bed following the breath, it was harder to focus
- Trying to keep knees from rotating when sitting cross-legged
- Knees aren't real


2020-06-13 09:55 - 10:50
- There's know I!
- I is just another thought!
- Narration is occuring
- Breathing is occurring
- Compassion is occurring
- Planning is occurring
- Those thoughts, no fear or worries
- The problems start when putting in an "I"!
- When it's "my" idea or "I'm angry."
- Wow
- Left leg closest to the body
- Jhana 1 - 7? - 4
- Followed the breath
- Still point - Who is ?
- Narration thought stream separated from the background
- It became clear that the "I think we should ..." is a separate thought stream from the default state

2020-06-14 08:05
- Woke up with a lot of agitation/doubt
- Presleep practice last night was fairly sloppy
- Maybe I should sit up in bed while following the breath before sleeping?
- Also, I should meditate after getting up each time in the evening
- THere's also a distance or a separation, especially after I'm more awake, between the agitation and myself. "Don't spin in content." (From MCTB )
- Some content, especially career anxiety and financial anxiety seems "stickier"

2020-06-14 09:08 - 10:03
- I resolve to identify negative/critical/judgmental attitudes and release them instead of hanging onto and amplifying them
- I resolve to read the suttas (Pali -> English translation to start)
- I resolve to use fewer "Hard rules"
- I resolve to remain more open to each situation on a case-by-case basis
- I resolve to return to the breath regularly, especially when judgy thoughts arise
- Jhana 1 - 8? - 4
- Following breath
- Still point -> Who is ...?
- The question itself is a thought without an "I"
- The judgment itself is a judgment
- During walking meditation, wow, my perspective on things makes a difference


2020-06-15 06:15 - 07:15
- Left leg closest to the body
- Jhana 1 - 8? - 4
- Took longer to enter jhana?
- Because I watched more TV yesterday?
- Who is ... ? -> Emptiness
- Unleashed a burst of questions
   - Who is worrying?
   - Who is saving for retirement?
   - Who is purchasing orthodontics for their children?
   - Who is ...?
- All questions disspated!
- Pulling stone statues and winking gold gods into present sitting
- Resolved: Greeting interactions, eating, and every other activity with this awareness
- Resolved: Read the suttas! Wow. DN 1 is amazing.

2020-06-16 07:00 - 07:50
- Jhana 1-8? - 4? - 5
- "Let jhana carry itself. Don't try to control."
- Practicing sitting in a car in a parking lot
- Jhanas were exceptionally vivid and clear
- Not self thoughts, breathing, "Who is ...?"
- Stopped just as no self awareness came to the fore

2020-06-17 07:20 - 08:14
- Right leg close to the body
- Jhana 1-8?-4?
- Who is... ?
- Who is...? led to ramping intensity
- Saw a spinning desk chair, but there was no one there
- Resolved: practice the discipline of silence and awareness and no-self

2020-06-17 08:32
- Less talking
- Less self thought
- More emptiness
- Slower/smoother communications

2020-06-17 12:42
- Spent an hour or so trying to research someone out of their political opinions
- This was an unskillful mistake

2020-06-17 16:33
- Wow! The constant drive for further mental activity and stimulation is unskillful.


2020-06-18 07:20 - 07:50
- Ate breakfast and had less meditation time
- Jhanas 1-8?-4 moved quickly, grateful for that
- Who is ...? ->
- Sounds and other textures
- Sat in car chair

2020-06-19 06:33 - 07:33
- Left leg was closest to the body
- Right leg fell asleep
- "Letting the jhanas arise"
- Cleaner/more vivid jhanas
- Some initial distractions
- letting them go
- Jhana 1-8, transitions seemed clearer
- "Effortless" still point
- Nimitta arose
- Remembered after stage 10, effort is required to reach awakening
- Applied effort to "Who is ...?"
- Energy vibrations
- Things seemed to dissolve
- Thoughts arising and passing like boxes on a conveyor or leaves on a stream
- There's no permanent, fixed self or I
- Even thoughts that would normally produce a lot of pursuit/craving/desire arise and pass quickly

2020-06-20 08:12 - 08:32
- Brief? 20 min practice?
- Jhanas? 1-8?-4?
- Breath -> who is?
Visiting in-laws this weekend

2020-06-21 08:40 - 09:30
- Resolved: Meditating on mind practice from TMI practice stage 9
- Less chasing cessation event and more letting everything be
- [Editing note: still need to be disciplined and hit time in meditation targets of 1 hr a day when possible]
- Metacog extrospective awareness
- Factory assembly line
- Who is ...? -> package
- No one -> package
- Factory exploded and reassembled

2020-06-22 17:36
- Having come thus far down this path...
- It would be foolish to turn back now
- How do I communicate with my spouse and orient my family around liberating sentient beings?

2020-06-22 20:40 - 21:12
- Jhana 1-8
- Tired, made distractions less prevalent
- Some Tibetan type imagery arose during the "Who is watching...?" practice

2020-06-23 12:10 - 12:40
- Sitting in car
- Jhana 1-8?-
- Breathing
- Still point
- More distractions occurred between breaths and the still point
- Nimitta seemed exceptionally bright and clear during jhana 1-3 or 1-4
- Had to bring awareness back to breath because visuals were so intriguing (or intricate)


2020-06-24 07:30 - 08:01
- Who is scheming?
- Who is ambiting?
- Anger is occurring
   - Feeling anger of all beings
- Loneliness is occurring
   - Loneliness of all beings
- Jhana seemed dull/less vivid? (tired?)
- Esp 3/4 jhana were dull
- Sitting in car seat

2020-06-24
- about 20 min meditating on the mind before bed
- meditating on the mind is a powerful practice, especially in daily life

2020-06-25 07:04 - 07:49
- Jhana 1-6 (time to be more realistic)
- Sitting on outdoor bleachers
- Anxiety arose and then "so what if someone attacks?"
- connectedness, zoomed out at globe level
- jhanas felt vivid
- still point -- who is?
- Who is...? as a gentle, subtle question, not an interrogation

2020-06-26 07:30 - 07:55
- Jhana, sitting in a car, seemed to go 1-6
- Spent a lot of time researching Culadasa and Shambhala misconduct the past few days
- Learning about Rob Burbea inspired me to practice further and deeper
- The practice is a journey
- A lot of my thoughts or doubts about my meditation practice will be answered and clarified by further practice.
- I have a lot of thoughts, doubts, or concerns about
- Having an adventurer's mindset
- Finding the realized state in every being
- Resolving to keep mindfulness in every moment of every day
- It's amazing how temporary many of my frustrations and anger are

2020-06-27 09:25 - 10:27
- Deep deconstruction of the idea "I am responsible to straighten everyone else out."
- Letting go of "Who is instructing?"
- Accepting my fellow-journeyors for who they are
- Resolved: to bring this anatta perspective to bear consistently in my daily interactions with people
- Jhana 1-6
- Left leg closest to the body
- Thoughts of "task is done. game over. the end."
- Seeing the blank empty space beyond

2020-06-28 10:00 - 10:50
- Thoughts or ideas appearing as transparent bubble-like structures and then popping
- Wherever we go and whatever happens, embrace the journey as a great adventure
- Co-creating and synthesizing meaning on the fly
- Game over
- Jhana 1-5?+ more?
- Felt like things were shutting down or disappearing during part of the post-5th jhana practice
- Tired; mind felt jumpy, restless, and undisciplined
- Felt shudders leading to disappearing or non-self-like experiences
- Felt joyful playfulness