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A creative genius, a guru in the world of IT technologies, a man who changed the world, has been practicing mindfulness meditation for many years. She helped him relieve stress, clear his mind and develop creativity.
“If you sit down and just watch yourself, you will find how restless your mind is. And when you try to calm him down, the situation will only get worse. If, after some time, the mind still calms down, the subtlest things will open to you. Your intuition will sharpen, your vision will become clearer, you will be able to feel yourself in the present moment of time — here and now. Your thoughts will slow down, your consciousness will expand, and you will see immeasurably more than before.
This is how Steve Jobs described the effect of meditation to his biographer Walter Isaacson.
Mindfulness meditation has its origins in Zen Buddhism and Taoism. Jobs told Isaacson about it shortly before his death, by which time he had been practicing meditation for many years. This is evidenced by the journalist and writer Jeffrey James, who discussed with Jobs in the early 1990s how Zen and programming are related.
In those days, this was something exotic, James admits, but even here Jobs was ahead of his time. After all, today the positive effects of meditation are proven by neuroscience, and giants such as Google, General Mills, Target and Ford specifically train their employees in much the same meditation that Jobs discovered decades ago.
How to meditate?
According to Isaacson’s quote, the meditation practiced by Jobs is very similar to the one taught to James by the famous martial artist Yang Jin Ming. Here is his lesson, which includes six steps:
Step 1
Sit cross-legged in a secluded, quiet place, preferably on a flat cushion to reduce back strain. Start breathing deeply.
Step 2
Close your eyes and listen to the internal monologue, to the thoughts that «jump» in your head: work, home, TV … This is the chatter of your fussy «monkey mind». Don’t try to stop her, at least not now. Just watch your mind jump from one thought to another. Repeat this exercise for 5 minutes a day for a week.
Step 3
Instead of trying to quiet your whirling thoughts, try turning your attention to your «cowmind»—the part of your mind that thinks calmly and slowly. «Ox mind» simply observes the world around him. He does not give estimates, does not look for meanings, he simply sees, hears and feels.
When you open your eyes, the world around you will seem a little different, new and even somewhat strange.
Most people do not even suspect about it, although it can open up to someone in moments of upheaval, when the “monkey” mind falls silent. But even when we are completely at the mercy of our “monkey mind”, when his commands “Hurry! Let’s!» do not let him come to his senses, the “ox mind” imperceptibly continues unhurried, thorough work.
Step 4
As you become aware of your «ox mind», ask him to gradually slow down the work of the «monkey mind». Geoffrey James, for example, was helped by such a technique: he imagined how the “ox” slowly wanders along the road, and this spectacle lulls the “monkey mind”. Don’t be upset if he wakes up from time to time. Monkeys, they are. However, you will find that he has become more resting than fussing and making noise.
Step 5
After calming your «monkey mind», continue to focus on the «ox mind». And then the breath will slow down. You will feel the touch of air on your skin. Perhaps you will feel the blood running inside the body. If you open your eyes, the world around you will seem a little different, new and even somewhat strange. Let’s say the window becomes just a rectangle filled with light. It does not need to be opened or closed, repaired or washed. It just is, here and now. Just like you, here and now.
Step 6
It will take some time to reach this state. But if you did everything right, then you won’t feel the time that has passed from the moment you turned on the timer until the moment it turned off. Gradually, day by day, increase the duration of your meditation. Surprisingly, no matter how long it lasts, you will not feel the passage of time.
Steve Jobs Speech to Stanford Graduates
Three Benefits of Meditation
Regular practice of mindfulness meditation provides three clear benefits:
You will get rid of stress. Even if difficulties arise in life, they are unlikely to develop into serious unrest.
Forget about insomnia. Geoffrey James testifies that with regular practice, 2-3 seconds is enough for him to fall asleep.
You will begin to think more clearly and more accurately evaluate everything that happens in life. For Jeffrey James, mindfulness meditation helped move away from destructive relationships in his personal life and leave a job that made him feel unhappy.
Source: Inc.