Just saying "Hi!"

[Jens]

Hello everyone,

I thought it would be nice to introduce myself. My name is Jens and I've come into contact with mindfulness through Buddhism around 5 years ago, though I should add that I do not think of myself as a Buddhist. Since then I've been practising mindfulness on and off with some longer periods where I sank back into mindlessness.
I recently stumbled across Alan Watts and his marvelous words made me realize that mindfulness is not something restricted to sitting on a cushion and he woke my interest to integrate it into every corner of my life.
Currently, there is no one in my environment interested in the practice (I'm working in research as a PhD student), so I come here looking for a community to find and give some stability.
Thank you for reading this and I wish you all the best.

Jens

[Gareth]

Hi, Jens!

[alexcr87]

Hi!

Grad student here as well, and practicing on and off for 15 years (although, maybe more "off" than "on" unfortunately than I would like to admit - but recently tried to make a strong commitment about it!)

I like this place, it's calm and filled with openhearted people that are willing to listen, and give wise advice, too. Welcome!

Haven't read Alan Watts. Would you care sharing a few words about what you've read?

Alex

[Jens]

Thank you for the warm welcome
Regarding Alan Watts, there is a lot of recordings of him shared via youtube, which I highly recommend (unfortunately, I cannot post URLs).
He called himself a philosophical entertainer and that name quite hits the mark. He talks about the self and that there's no way to improve it ("the worst thing you can say to an american audience"), he talks about religions and about death, but all in a very down-to-earth manner. I particularly like his analogy of life as a game, as music or drama, and not as a journey because life isn't going anywhere. That might sound a bit depressing but when you think about it it's very liberating that life just flows without flowing anywhere in particular.

[Gareth]

I think you just need a couple more posts to be able to post URLs.

[alexcr87]

I like that analogy about viewing life as a game or music!

[Jens]

I think you just need a couple more posts to be able to post URLs.

Yeah that makes sense

I like that analogy about viewing life as a game or music!

I am glad you like it.
It is quite different from our usual perspective of life as reaching some sort of goal, maybe graduation or maybe retirement. But in a game the ending is not important at all, we even stop playing when it's clear who's going to win and start a new round.
I like how mindfulness takes things we take for granted and turns them upside down and inside out.

[alexcr87]

Maybe this isn't specifically related to mindfulness (although in my mind, it still kind of is) but I sometimes think about what having no "goal in life" as you say would mean. For me, the "jail" that I set myself in involves continuing to study, getting a PhD, doing research, etc. but in the end does it really matter? I don't know. It sure gives me motivation, a sense of "having a mission" in life or something like that, give me joy regularly. It structures life - probably in the same way other people get their life structured by work, excelling in sports, or cooking. But if I convince myself for a moment that nothing about this matters, then yes, life begins to look like a game. So liberating, as you said.

Sometimes I also wish more people would see that game!

Just a little thought. I'm going back to my books now

[Jens]

For me it used to be the other way around that I perceived my PhD as giving me joy but as being highly useless (it's entirely theoretical). So I was trying to find some more useful profession, but thinking of life as a game made me realize that there is no such thing. I'm happier playing my part now if I don't try to force myself to be "useful".

Sometimes I also wish more people would see that game!

Yes, me too. If we all could take winning and losing less serious.