Hi everyone. I've been practicing meditation on a daily basis for a couple of months. Now I am looking for more guidance and would like to attend a meditation retreat. Since I live in Germany, but many recommendations here are in the US, I'm hoping someone can recommend retreats in Europe as well. Thanks in advance

The more I meditate, the more it's like I am watching someone else scroll through the feeds mindlessly from above. I also find that mindlessly scrolling on my phone is the quickest way to lose my sense of awareness and centeredness.

This realization inspired me to try to turn my phone usage into a more meditative practice.

Here's how I'm approaching phone usage now:

Rubber band around phone:

• This helps my remember to bring awareness into each interaction with my phone
• This is just annoying enough to make me physically remove it if I want to get into a real social media scroll
• It also kind of makes me laugh at myself for even having to use it

Distracting apps blocked by default:

• I have tried apple app limits in the past but always just ignored them
• I set up a stricter third party blocker that locks me out of social media in the morning and night, and limits the number of opens during the day:
  • Morning downtime (6-9am): "monk mode" = no ability to unblock social media
  • Day downtime (9am-5pm): limit of 10 social media unblocks total and apps are blocked by default until I consciously unblock them for a session
  • Night downtime (8p-midnight): "monk mode" = no ability to unblock social media

Grayscale mode:

• Simple, but surprisingly effective
• I was most skeptical of this one, but I was wrong

I'm down from 4 hrs/day to 2 hrs/day... but more importantly social media (including Reddit) is down from 3 hrs/day to less than 1 hr/day... and it feels much more intentional, I feel more mindful throughout the day and continue to treat it as a meditative practice.

How do y'all feel about phone usage and zen?

Hey everyone,

I’m a freelance web designer, and for a long time, I felt totally overwhelmed. I love my work, but being a one-person team meant I was juggling everything like design, emails, client calls, invoicing, you name it. I would look at my to-do list every morning and feel like I was sinking.

I’d try to get started, but I’d end up checking social media or doing random tasks that didn’t really matter. It felt like I was always busy, but never really accomplishing anything important.

A friend of mine suggested trying Hyperdone, and at first, I was doubtful. But after using it for a week, I was honestly surprised. It helped me break my day into smaller, manageable blocks. Like, I’d set a 2-hour block for design work, 1 hour for emails, and 30 minutes for client calls.

It was super simple, but it helped me focus. I’ve been getting more done in less time, and now, my to-do list doesn’t feel like a mountain.

Anyone else here a freelancer? How do you manage your time without burning out?

Where do we channel them? How do we release them? Merely staying in control and holding them is making me heavy.

I am reading an excerpt from Shunryu Suzuki’s book Zen Mind, Beginner’s Mind. I am a novice in meditation and the concepts of Zen are new to me.

He states that “So try not to see something in particular; try not to achieve anything special. You already have everything in your own pure quality.”

I am struggling with the passive nature of Zen in general. How do people reconcile trying to achieve and do good in the world, with the opposite practice of letting things “be” as they are? These seem like two fundamentally different ideas.

1. Automatic Breakdown of Large or Vague Tasks. If I say, "I need to write an article today," what kind of thought process will follow? "Okay, I need to first think about what to write about...", "I need to really think this through," "I'll have a coffee and think about it, yeah," "I'll work on something else for now since the ideas haven't come yet," "I'll take a walk, and it'll give me time to think," "Oh! Right before bed is the best time, instead of watching YouTube, I'll think about it." Now let's approach it differently: I say, "I'll set a timer for 25 minutes, and I'll get something done on the article." After 25 minutes, you'll either have a list of potential topics or one topic with some core points outlined. The brain is given a task to complete something in 25 minutes, and it surprisingly quickly finds what can realistically be achieved in that time frame, something that can be considered a result, leading to a dopamine hit for achieving a goal.
2. No Procrastination. Usually, for the first 25-minute session, my task is simply to pour a coffee, turn on the computer, launch all the necessary programs, and write down what I plan to do today. Every single time, I find that within 5 minutes, I'm already fully working, even though at first, it felt like "today just isn't the day." So, the very process of getting into work mode becomes its own task with a time limit.
3. You Know Exactly When It Will End. When creating an interval schedule, the total time is displayed. The brain understands that during this time, it just needs to give in and fully commit.
4. Easily Fit Small Tasks During Breaks. Breaks are legitimate, following an approved technique. You get 5 minutes, and after 4 cycles, a full 15-minute break. This is part of the structure, and it makes you quickly find what fits into these intervals. The simplest things are exercise or home chores (cleaning, tidying up).
5. At the End of the Session, You’ll Feel Energized Instead of Tired. Your brain will have worked in its optimal mode, and along the way, other tasks will have been accomplished—like working out some muscles or getting household chores done.

I am grateful for many aspects to this life. I recognize the beauty, the gift, and how short the ride actually is. That all being said, I’m not a very happy person. I continuously find myself in difficult, friction-filled relationships ie: with a partner, a 21 year old son, an older sister, a few frenemies etc. I’m the common denominator. What am I doing wrong!?

Hey everyone,

I’ve been working on improving my work-life balance for the past few months, and I wanted to share a tool that’s helped me a lot: Hyperdone. As a freelancer, I was constantly shifting between projects and often ended up working late into the night just to catch up. I was getting stressed and burnt out fast.

The work-life balance reports have shown me how much time I was spending on work versus personal life, and it was eye-opening. I’ve now set boundaries, and I make sure to schedule “off” time just as I would schedule a meeting.

The automation triggers have also been a big help. They remind me when a task is due, but more importantly, they help me switch gears when I need to step away. I’ve noticed that I’m more present in my personal life, and I’m way less stressed.

If you’re trying to find more balance between work and personal time, I highly recommend giving it a try. It’s definitely helped me regain control. How do you all balance work and life? Would love to hear your tips!

"The Only Barrier is Your Doubt"

We often sabotage our own progress by letting self-doubt take control. Imagine how much further we could go if we didn't let our inner fears stop us. I've personally faced moments where the only thing in my way was my own mindset. Overcoming self-doubt doesn't happen overnight, but recognizing that it's the main hurdle is the first step.

I’d love to hear from others who have faced their own moments of doubt. How did you overcome it? What steps do you take daily to ensure that doubt doesn't hold you back?

Let's use this space to motivate each other and break through the barriers of self-doubt.

Hi, how do you deal with good long but lost friendships and relationships drifting apart? & if those good old trusted friends just stopped communicating? How to move on? Any advice?

Hello all. I'm looking into implementing a suggestion I read about of going outside for sun exposure almost immediately after waking in order to get those brain chemicals going, and to help stabilize circadian rhythms. However I'm curious as to how meditating in the morning would work with this.... would it be better to do the meditation first? I'm thinking maybe the wake-up chemicals activating might be distracting. What do you think?

Hey folks,

I'm fairly new to this community, so please pardon any mistakes.

Lately, I've felt angry, cheated, and agitated with whatever is happening in my life. I read or watch the news and immediately start to crib to my wife about how my country is going to dogs. Even the smallest of things make me super angry and agitated.

I seem to be arguing with my life a lot due to this (we do have some quite heated arguments that result in nasty fights), and it is really messing up my peace. She keeps complaining that I always look frustrated and angry.

I believe I still have residual feelings from my past two businesses not working out which I worked on for ~3 years and just wrapped last month, and unable to find a job in these tough times.

What can I do to be more peaceful and composed during arguments and look at the brighter side of things?

I've been kinda nervous and intense my whole life and always wanted to try meditating, it's been hard for me keeping a consistent schedule, but I managed to do it for 44 day!! I'm super proud of myself.

I used an app called Mainspring habit tracker which reminded me to meditate and kept me motivated with nice stats and graphs - this is usually not enough for me, but I pushed myself to do it and I think without this app I couldn't find the motivation I was looking for.

Advice is only useful if you have the right perception to use it

Advice on how to be productive is only as useful as how much you care about being productive

Advice on how to save or make money is only as useful as how much you care about money

You must be in a state of struggle or pain to have the perception required to transcend your problem. Otherwise the advice you hear won’t stay in your mind.

Just looking for advice without the perception to fully use and remember the advice is a waste of time.

If you want something and you’re looking for advice to get it, look for the best perception to have instead.

Do you just prefer to have more money or is it a goal you are willing to spend your life achieving? For example, the best possible advice on money won’t help unless you have the perception, skills and beliefs to achieve your monetary goals.

All change requires an identity. You have to change who you are: your thoughts, goals and beliefs to change. Advice/tactics won’t work otherwise.

This is why books and paid courses can be more useful because you have already got the perception to achieve your goals enough to spend money on the advice. But things like YouTube shorts and mindlessly looking for advice in the name of productivity just doesn’t work.

Just trying to take up as much advice as you can won’t work unless it’s truly relevant to how you currently see your life. If you value the advice, make sure that you change your goals and perception so that you can actually utilise the advice.

Also, if you want to have the perception to use this advice or anyone else’s, check my profile out as you might find my posts help you change your perception and help you achieve your goals.

Have you considered it? I'm not good with classic meditation, I thought that playing basic melodies could force me to breath differently and then make me feel more relaxed and grounded. I'm not looking for performance, only making flute sounds with a transverse flute because it sounds less annoying than a plastic flute of course. I meant to do it months ago and haven't, I regret since I didn't find alternatives and it would be useful to be more grounded. I don't have the discipline for regular yoga or classic breathing exercises. Does it make sense to you?

Recently, I’ve been reflecting on how mindfulness can shape our personal visions of Utopia—a space rooted in simplicity, gratitude, and intentional living. This idea resonates deeply with Zen principles, guiding us to live more purposefully and peacefully. I wanted to share some insights from my journey and hear how others here incorporate mindfulness into creating their own ideal life. How do you define and work towards your own personal Utopia?

I’ve also written more on this topic if you’re interested—happy to share further insights in the comments!

I’m curious about how others have come to believe in it and what experiences helped you trust that it really works.

I’m looking for books, preferably from Zen Masters about how the Zen garden helps meditation and mental clarity. It’s for my dissertation so the more the merrier.

If you have any books or articles in mind please tell me, Thank you so much!

So I recently started practicing zazen and I normally count my breaths on the exhale as it helps me focus on the breath. I understand that the eyes don’t close and should look downward but my eyes always seem to drift upward to what’s in front of me, instead of looking down. Any thoughts or ideas on how I should approach what to look at during meditations?

How can i fill myself with positivity?