My first Noonhat lunch

I came across the Noonhat site the other day, which immediately seemed like a good idea to me:

The main goal of Noonhat is to connect us with people outside of our normal social, work, and hobby circles. It's easy nowadays to filter down to match on particular interests. I want to help all of us open up a bit and have good conversations with a wide variety of people. Occasionally, even people we may disagree with!

I tried to sign up in New Haven, but since the site only recently launched outside of Seattle, I got put on the waiting list there. However, I knew I'd be in Manhattan tonight for a sort of dinner discussion with Andy Oram and Karl Fogel, so I decided to put in for a NYC Noonhat lunch today.

This morning I got an email telling me I got paired up with Noam, who works in midtown Manhattan. We met and went for Vietnamese. He's working in corporate environmental affairs and has an activist background, so it turned out we had a lot to talk about. We got into stuff about the environment, about social networks, information freedom, free culture, and even a bit about free software / community driven development.

In a day where I'd be otherwise just getting a quick bite to eat while traveling anyway, it was nice to have some conversation, especially with someone who isn't necessarily interested in the same exact things as I am.

I'd definitely try Noonhat again, and would probably give Noam a call to get lunch again. He had some interesting thoughts on distribution models for scientific works that I probably would want to discuss a bit more.

So if you've got nothing to do for lunch, consider trying this out in your town. It's definitely fun, and a refreshing approach to getting people together in a world that seems to be a little too cliquey for own own good.

Five Meditation Techniques for non-meditators

Though I know that not everyone has the time or interest to deeply explore a meditative spiritual practice, I think we can all benefit from greater awareness and a deeper connection with who we really are. Though I'm completely an amateur when it comes to this kind of thing, here are five simple meditation techniques that you can try out on the way to work, during lunch, or other time that would just otherwise idly slip by. They're based on lots of the Buddhist stuff I've read, but aren't in any way limited to a certain kind of spiritual thinking or alignment.

1. Pay attention to what you eat. How many times have you savored the first bite or two of something to then be swept away by thoughts, planning, or worrying? Though we might not be able to eat our three square meals in a quiet contemplative state, picking one or two a day can do wonders for your mind. Don't push away thoughts when they arise, but don't let them encompass you, either. Notice the taste of your food, and how it makes you feel as you eat it.
   
   
2. Pay attention while walking. Again, it's all too common to decide on a destination, set the body to cruise control, and wake up at your destination, completely blocking out the trip in between. I try to focus on my breath and the contact of my feet with the ground. I also note any pain or tension in my body on longer walks, where it arises, when it gets worse, things like that. This is another time when you give your mind permission not to take your thoughts too seriously, let them come and go as needed, but don't worry about planning some super important project while you take a 10 minute walk.
   
   
3. Pay attention to your body posture. Every few minutes, or every hour, or as often as remember, check in with your body and see what your posture is saying. This simple process can be very effective in being aware of how you are feeling, as well as what your body is projecting to others. If nothing else, this helps keeps your limbs from falling asleep as you'll notice the awkward positions we put ourselves in.
   
   
4. Pay attention to what motivates your speech. Most of the time, we're responding to someone out of either an auto-pilot mechanism or some fight-or-flight mentality. If we stop to check in and understand "why" we're about to say what we intend to say, it makes it more likely that we'll speak with kindness and compassion. Sometimes, its very easy to forget this one and let some really painful or thoughtless words slip. That's okay, use it as a chance to see the effects that harsh words have on people, so that you can understand them better.
   
   
5. Pay attention to your thought process. Most of our thoughts aren't needed. They're just some sort of narration, designed to paint the world the way we'd like to see it. There are any number of ways that we do this, but if you simply begin to take note of the thoughts you are having, you might realize that very few of them are remotely relevant to your current experience. It's dangerous to be judgmental, though... the easiest way to piss off your brain and make it dredge up more miserable thoughts is to say "I shouldn't think that...". Instead, with kindness and patience, simply notice any thoughts you have throughout the day, or throughout some part of the day by labeling them as a thought. When we do this labeling, it seems like the brain naturally quiets down a little, and the less important thoughts seem to lose their grip on us. Again, we're not always going to be able to do this, and we'll easily get carried away by our thoughts from time to time. Instead of beating yourself up over that, just notice it, and resume the labeling.

Though I don't do all five of these every moment of the day, I do them as often as I can and they've really helped me in a lot of ways. I wouldn't suggest expecting them to help make your life easier or happier, because they won't do that. But I think if you try them out, they might make you feel a little more awake in your day to day life.

If you try these out, let me know how they work for you. Also, if other readers have simple day to day practices they use to hack the mind and understand it a bit, or bring themselves a little more awareness, please feel free to post them here.