I meditate a couple of times a day, as needed, for about thirty minutes.
I generally use it as a refocusing process. Whenever I feel discouraged, overwhelmed, apathetic, or like my head will explode if I can't get this button to render properly in Firefox, I stop, sit in my Big Comfy Chair, and focus on breathing. Usually I count to a certain number with each inhalation and backwards to zero with each exhalation. Sometimes I focus my mind's eye (and other mental senses) on a simple object like a piece of modeling clay or a pebble. Often I do both by visualizing varying quantities of an object (one pebble, two pebbles, three pebbles…). I used to listen to music (something in the vein of either Bach or Tangerine Dream), but now I just absorb the ambient noise.
Usually, after twenty or thirty minutes, the irritant is no longer an irritant, and I'm eager to resume my work. Once in a while, an idea or a solution to a problem will surface. (Maybe this is because the din of compulsive thought drowns out subconscious thought.)
And even though it's not technically meditation, I have found mindfulness — or at least not staring at a glowing rectangle every second — to be helpful. Instead of compulsively pulling out my phone when I'm waiting for someone, I attend to my surroundings. Instead of listening to podcasts when I walk, I listen to the traffic. Instead of ploughing through RSS feeds when I eat lunch, I enjoy the food — or maybe even speak to another human. Basically, less doing and more being. The irony is that the less information I engorge, the less guilt I felt that I'm missing something.
So it is absolutely worth it. Especially if you make concomitant changes to your habits to reduce digital ADD.
I generally use it as a refocusing process. Whenever I feel discouraged, overwhelmed, apathetic, or like my head will explode if I can't get this button to render properly in Firefox, I stop, sit in my Big Comfy Chair, and focus on breathing. Usually I count to a certain number with each inhalation and backwards to zero with each exhalation. Sometimes I focus my mind's eye (and other mental senses) on a simple object like a piece of modeling clay or a pebble. Often I do both by visualizing varying quantities of an object (one pebble, two pebbles, three pebbles…). I used to listen to music (something in the vein of either Bach or Tangerine Dream), but now I just absorb the ambient noise.
Usually, after twenty or thirty minutes, the irritant is no longer an irritant, and I'm eager to resume my work. Once in a while, an idea or a solution to a problem will surface. (Maybe this is because the din of compulsive thought drowns out subconscious thought.)
And even though it's not technically meditation, I have found mindfulness — or at least not staring at a glowing rectangle every second — to be helpful. Instead of compulsively pulling out my phone when I'm waiting for someone, I attend to my surroundings. Instead of listening to podcasts when I walk, I listen to the traffic. Instead of ploughing through RSS feeds when I eat lunch, I enjoy the food — or maybe even speak to another human. Basically, less doing and more being. The irony is that the less information I engorge, the less guilt I felt that I'm missing something.
So it is absolutely worth it. Especially if you make concomitant changes to your habits to reduce digital ADD.