> Presence and intention are skills–they can be trained
Please tell me how. I need to really really improve myself here. I used to be very good at being disciplined and focused, but being a parent and manager made me an ad-hoc reactive monkey that is always lagging behind with everything and not delivering on type, which I always did some time ago.
Either the book I recommended in the post or "The Healthy Minds Program" app. The Healthy Minds Program is completely free—only donations are accepted.
The book explains their system and includes meditations. I can send you the audiobook and you can download the epub ebook from that Anna's archive link. Obviously also you can buy a hard copy.
I like the Healthy Minds program app more than other meditation apps because:
It's a curriculum so you aren't just handed a library to randomly choose, there's a set path.
It's completely free with no option to pay other than to donate.
There's a lot of speaker options and I like the speaker.
I'm working on a privacy-focused frontend for the Healthy Minds program because their app is very outdated and has a ton of tracking. You can use it on the web at https://getflourish.org. Completely vibe coded, very much not done, but it has the functionality to at least demo it. The Android app is a lot better but I haven't released it yet. The web version needs a ton of work it was just done in an hour based off the Android app and doesn't even format on desktop.
If you're completely new to the idea I suggest the book With Each & Every Breath by Thanassiro Bikkhu. It's a Therevada Buddhist book but the breathing meditation instructions in it can be applied even if you want to ignore the other parts of the book.
I like to to think while talking. Nowadays I don’t have always somebody to talk to so I talk to myself and record on the phone; then voice to text to obsidian.
I have a lot of interesting notes and I can also plug them to AI to get some reminders, insights etc.
But I agree with your general message - thinking is still superior
The place is called Atelier Wolimierz, but it was technically located in the village of Pobiedna, Lower Silesia. Next to the old Wolimierz train station. I was there in 2014. They converted a small airplane hanger in a “earth ship”. The place was pretty wild though at the time, very anarchy vibes, but it was an amazing time. I learned some Polish there and later back home (The Netherlands) I met my Polish wife with this limited Polish knowledge. Have been to Poland many many times ever since! I would actually love to move there with my wife and our daughter.
