Thank you all. I think you all are very right with what you say. I have always felt guilty upon awakening from one of these dreams, because they feel very lucid, as if I could have decided not to act in the way I did and keep the dream dry. But I guess when I really think about it, even though I fee...

In order to discipline my mind I have decided to observe to the best of my ability the precept to refrain from sexual misconduct. Thus I do not masturbate or use porn. However upon beginning this I have started to have wet dreams about once every week. Although it is certainly preferable to wrecking...

Greetings Birdy, I think it was Buddhaghosa who said that 'Noise is a thorn to jhana'. But you can support your meditation practice by ensuring you maintain your precepts, engage in Dana, selfless service and study. These are probably more important than a perfect meditation place. Keep in mind als...

I went up to a buddhist house the other day and talked with a lady there about a meditation problem. I told her that I was a beginner and of the things she advised me to do as we talked about beginner meditation was never to sit longer than 20 minutes. However I am not an absolute beginner and at th...

Thank you all for your input. And thank you for providing me with this link :) @Mkoll - Not quite... I'm really tempted to write up a whole lot to relate to you my experiences as I, too, used to be a conspiracy theorist, but I can't help feel it would take us too far off topic and stir controversy w...

Lately I have found to just be kind and well-wishing to both myself and the people I share my experience with day-to-day to be profoundly liberating. As a beginner I do have these feelings of metta come and go but for the most part when I feel it escape I actively remind myself to be kind and I know...

Oh I do very much like Mindfulness In Plain English. It has helped me very much. It's not so much that I think 'concentration' is a bad translation, but I do think the fact that it's not a literal translation should have been better expanded upon... I think a lot of beginners would get thrown off th...

That really seems like not only a mistake but a really big one to make, then, in misdefining what has been translated as 'concentration.' Especially when reading Mindfulness In Plain English, it's such a central element of what the book talks about as far as developing the skill of mindfulness goes,...

Wow.. Yes that does change things, thank you for that bit of advice. I was always wondering at what point this practice would change from being a chore into more of a compulsion, I assumed it was once I started to get clarity and peace that I would be afraid to lose that would motivate me into it...

Thanks for all your replies. It's good to know that I wasn't entirely wasting my time, but yes I guess I should indeed make sure that I don't sacrifice any discipline of my sitting practice. It is difficult dealing with this mind of mine...

Hello everyone :) Please excuse me if you find this all complete drivel but I must warn you that I am a beginner... So expect very beginner things of me. I want to relay to you some of my first mindfulness experiences. I first experimented with meditation about half a year ago and of course I found ...