As I hope is clear from the piece, while I am pretty sure driving silent would help a lot, it wasn't my first rodeo when it came to doing nothing - I already had a bit of meditation behind me. If it's yours, would be really interested to hear how you get on.
I will check out your pieces on meditation first. I've been doing it a lot at different stages in my life but never really siccked to it properly… it's a good tip though. Driving in complete silence sounds pretty challenging at first, I can hear my thoughts racing towards me!! One step at a time.
Hope you enjoy them! But to save you all the effort (!)
I’ve come to believe that meditation likely has two components, mental rest (which likely happens regardless when you cease input) and insight. The latter sounds lofty, but (for me at least) means a gradual change in relationship with your thoughts - a sense they pop up rather than being something you authored. This insight will happen over time the more you try and focus on something fixed (the road, the noise of the fridge, your breath) and recognise that thoughts just arise that pull you away from that. After all… if “you” were trying to concentrate on the road, where did they come from?
Insight is beneficial in all sorts of ways, but it also makes the mental rest a bit more bearable over time. Because as you say, the strong likelihood is that switching off any input you will be assailed by a million negative thoughts (mainly for me it’s about how my boss hates me!). I suspect this tide of negativity is likely worse for people because our phones have eradicated our mental rest. The insight bit gradually makes this tide of nonsense more bearable, and over time pleasant. In my view.
What a reply!! Thank you for taking the time to write. I really appreciate it. I actually took a screenshot to read it again! Mental rest and insight… really good points. What have these phones done to us/what did we accept to happen?? We need to work on this. Thank you for your work!
Not driving, but one way I cut down noise in a small but meaningful way is while I eat breakfast. I come home from the gym, prepare my yogurt/berries/granola, and sit and eat with no other form of entertainment or distraction. It took some getting used to (so easy to scan Substack or check emails on my phone) but has been a great change that helps me settle into the day.
I don't drive much but my commute is a 50 minute walk which I have started doing in silence and have found it more enjoyable than I thought I would.
Really interesting. 50 minutes is quite a stretch. Can I ask... what's it like? Do you find it easy to stick to?
And have you noticed any benefits from doing it? I always suspect my own benefits come 24/7 rather than in the moment.
Oh I will definitely give this a try! Looking forward to the sunmmer series 📵📵📵
Thank you! Me too :-D
As I hope is clear from the piece, while I am pretty sure driving silent would help a lot, it wasn't my first rodeo when it came to doing nothing - I already had a bit of meditation behind me. If it's yours, would be really interested to hear how you get on.
I will check out your pieces on meditation first. I've been doing it a lot at different stages in my life but never really siccked to it properly… it's a good tip though. Driving in complete silence sounds pretty challenging at first, I can hear my thoughts racing towards me!! One step at a time.
Hope you enjoy them! But to save you all the effort (!)
I’ve come to believe that meditation likely has two components, mental rest (which likely happens regardless when you cease input) and insight. The latter sounds lofty, but (for me at least) means a gradual change in relationship with your thoughts - a sense they pop up rather than being something you authored. This insight will happen over time the more you try and focus on something fixed (the road, the noise of the fridge, your breath) and recognise that thoughts just arise that pull you away from that. After all… if “you” were trying to concentrate on the road, where did they come from?
Insight is beneficial in all sorts of ways, but it also makes the mental rest a bit more bearable over time. Because as you say, the strong likelihood is that switching off any input you will be assailed by a million negative thoughts (mainly for me it’s about how my boss hates me!). I suspect this tide of negativity is likely worse for people because our phones have eradicated our mental rest. The insight bit gradually makes this tide of nonsense more bearable, and over time pleasant. In my view.
What a reply!! Thank you for taking the time to write. I really appreciate it. I actually took a screenshot to read it again! Mental rest and insight… really good points. What have these phones done to us/what did we accept to happen?? We need to work on this. Thank you for your work!
Hard relate to the under-the-dashboard middle fingers! 😆
Not driving, but one way I cut down noise in a small but meaningful way is while I eat breakfast. I come home from the gym, prepare my yogurt/berries/granola, and sit and eat with no other form of entertainment or distraction. It took some getting used to (so easy to scan Substack or check emails on my phone) but has been a great change that helps me settle into the day.
I’m trying to observe your mental rest principle more. This summer will hopefully have a good deal of staring into the middle distance in it.
Terrifically practical! And great point on the capability of mentally resting while active.
I often drive in silence. Although my brain is rarely silent. I can do my best work driving in silence. It’s a form of thought filing.