Mental Chatter and Mindfulness

There is this problem I face every day. It’s where I’m thinking of something and then I’m contemplating it. For example, I’m talking to my dad and thinking of something so I’m not really paying attention but then this thing I’m thinking of, I don’t know why I’m spending so much time on it. It’s not like new or anything. It’s not novel. It’s not interesting; it’s just chatter in my head and then this happens twenty times a day. I’m just replaying the same moment in my head or talking to myself in the same conversation. If someone was listening, they would be bored out of their mind if they heard my internal thoughts. I’m replaying the same thing over and over and over and it’s a little bit weird because why do I need to say something in my mind for myself to hear it. When you’re speaking, you could translate some information from one person to another but I’m the same person so that doesn’t make sense.

I want to get out of this loop of constantly thinking of the same conversation. I want to remember a conversation I talked about and then I want to build on top of it so I can extrapolate and extend on my thinking. I think that is very important. A lot of what I just said is from Sam Harris. He is a great guy.

I’ve been listening to a couple of Sam Harris’s podcasts recently and at the beginning of this year, I’ve been replaying one specific one.

This podcast, it’s really short. It’s nine minutes long and it’s not talking to anyone. Sam Harris is just voicing his thoughts about the one resolution that matters the most and he’s talking about mindfulness. Mindfulness is essentially being aware of your experiences and taking more notice of what you say, where you are, and your place in this world. It really puts in perspective a lot of the things you do. It colors everything.

I’ve been trying to work on this throughout the year. I think I’m getting better at it. I’m able to articulate what I am doing and my ideas are more clear but I’m still trying to work on being in the present moment.

Future L., if you read this, please double check and re-watch this Spotify podcast. It is so good. I think I’ve listened to it at least 10 times by now.

I was going to go with my dad to a Sam Harris talk up in Los Angeles; however, we bought tickets too late and they were sold out. That would have been super cool.