The Science of Self-Help

View Original

Day 1697 & Horror and Vipassana

Day 1697 Record Keeping
Day 1669 Fixed Meditation (3 hours Vipassana while watching horror show)
Day 1543 Writing (6, 20 min Pomodoros)
Day 1082 Exercise (DID NOT DO
)
Day 823 Mobility/Stretching (15 min, back, back erector, and shoulder smash, hip stretch)
Day 133 Flossing (All teeth)
Day 121 Monday Groceries


Good sleep. Really depleted and tired today for some reason. Maybe it’s the cold weather…and my lack of warm clothes.

Horror and Vipassana
Over the course of my meditations I’ve tried to practice it in real world situations. But what i’ve found is a good half step is to practice during movies - especially ones designed to draw out tension and awkwardness.

Over the weekend I got sucked into watching The Haunting of Hill House, a Netflix horror series praised for being really good.

I hate horror. I get scared really easily, I get spooked, and usually can’t really sleep well afterwards.

But while using Vipassana to keep a firm hold over my emotions, I was able to not be scared, but more importantly, actually enjoy the series.

In addition to navigating the intensity (I’m not claiming this series was intense, just that movies are designed to cause emotional ups and downs), it was a great challenge with regards to duration. I practice for three episodes today - an hour, then a break, then 2 hours at length. That’s pretty good, and definitely something I think I would have struggled with before.

The fact that I was able to enjoy it is also a great example of finding things that I tend to shirk away from, and using it as an object of meditation. The only way is through, as some meditators say!