/blog

Wow! This is some hard core journalling – oh to being that organised.

Almost forgot that it's 22/2/22 day. Waiting for 22:22:22 ...

I didn't realise today had a name: twosday

An idea that came to me while meditating recently: guided distraction.

That may seem a little ironic considering the circumstances but it's actually pretty common when you think about it. And I have pondered it on more than one occasion, on the blog.

One is more likely to think of guided meditations, following the prompts of an instructor or recording to relax into a session. Guided imagery and distraction therapy are frequently employed to help patients manage pain, especially after surgery, but I couldn't find anything like the concept that entered my head.

Mindfulness meditation, that which is de rigueur these days, is an attempt at removing distraction, of achieving focus but, as I've written before, the most common basis for this is using one distraction to combat others: breath.

Focus and distraction are likely more closely related than we would like to admit.

We need some form of distraction (in the loosest sense of the word) in order to focus as "we hear the subconscious voice most when we seek stillness" ¹ but what is wrong with harnessing that voice? Why can't we use meditation to access that strange, usually inaccessible world that lies just below the surface.

And so to guided distraction.

I see it as closely related to daydreaming or letting the mind wander but with some element of control or influence; not in the vein of a guided meditation but as more of a mental nudge, something to put us on a path without dictating where that path may lead.

I'm not entirely sure I'm doing it justice.

I love how Jason has little coloured labels like: breaking, update, must read – they really make certain posts stand out.

Thinking about how I could do something similar.

It would no doubt be a series of content filters like those already in use.