Friday, April 29, 2011

Friday Loose Bloggers Consortium: Nothing

When I saw the topic this week, I half expected Ramana to leave his post blank. :) I haven't looked yet, so maybe he did! But I actually do have something to say on the topic. lol

My first thoughts about the topic of "nothing" have to do with "inner chatter". Have you ever tried to meditate and empty your mind? It's pretty much impossible for me. Even when I'm listening very intently to someone who is giving me counsel, my inner voice keeps answering, or saying things like, "Oh yes Delirious, you need to remember that." It's very difficult for me to shut up the thoughts that keep coming, even when I'm trying to listen. Does that just take practice?

My inner chatter is quite harmless most of the time, but for some people it is quite detrimental. I know people who, no matter how talented they might be, keep telling themselves that they aren't good enough. And when you tell them that they did well, they simply listen, but I know that in their mind they are disagreeing.

I heard something once about how psychologists say that too many of us, when we are listening to others, are spending our time not really listening, but trying to decide how we are going to answer. We are thinking more about what we want to say, than what the person before us is currently saying. I think what makes a good listener is someone who can just listening without having the urge to answer back.

Is it possible to think about nothing? Even when we are asleep we are dreaming, even if we don't remember it when we awake. Have you ever tried to think about nothing? I don't even know if it is possible, but I do think we would be better listeners if we would try to think about nothing related to ourselves!

Now go check out what the other consortium members have to say about this issue!

6 comments:

Inklings said...

I took a class and discovered that men's and women's brains are set up different: that men can go to a "nothing box" and literally think about nothing, but women's brains are like a ball made up of intertwined wires, and they find it impossible to think about nothing. This is what happens to me in the middle of the night when I suffer insomnia. :0)

Conrad said...

Interesting, very interesting! Following up on Inklings, I think maybe we men mostly think about nothing, LOL.

Nice treatment of the topic.

Grannymar said...

I am fascinated at how NOTHING could produce so many interesting blog posts. I laughed at your idea of Ramana posting a blank page!

Nene said...

When you mentioned people who don't think they are good enough, it made me think of a quote I heard today. "We don't discover humility by thinking less of ourselves; we discover humility by thinking less about ourselves." (Dieter F. Uchtdorf, Oct. 2010 Gen. Conf.)

padmum said...

I nearly thought of posting a blank...then my inner chatter took over and it came out as a poem.

I like your blogging style--as if you were chatting with me.

Rummuser said...

Conrad has got it all wrong Delirious. Men have got one thing on their mind alright. They just pretend that it is football or baseball or whatever.

Only a mystic's mind will ever be free of chatter. But it will be single pointed.