Anyone here do guided meditation?

[captainphil]

I find it very helpful to do ten minutes a day with some really good headphones. Youtube has a lot of great videos out there.

 

[Screaming_Emu]

I’ve done some through various apps like Calm and Balance. I need to build it as part of my routine as when it’s good I really enjoy it. I’ve found they can be hit or miss, but as relaxing is one of my favorite things and I tend to be an overthinker, they’re great.

 

[JDean3204]

Not guided, but I’m a year in to Mindfulness meditating. Both setting aside 15 mins a day to meditate and micro-meditating when appropriate. It works well, I read a book from the creator of headspace and he walks you through mindfulness. A real life changer imo

 

[Minuteman]

Can you articulate how it’s helpful? (Not doubting, just seeking another person’s articulation of how)

 

[JDean3204]

Can you articulate how it’s helpful? (Not doubting, just seeking another person’s articulation of how)

For me, mindfulness has allowed me to be okay with racing thoughts as they don’t grab ahold of my attention and send me into a tizzy. See most of our thoughts have nothing to do with the present moment, you’re either ruminating about the past or tripping about the future. With mindfulness, you learn to grab the minds attention when carried away by a thought and bring it back to a present moment focus point. That point can be visually, aurally or breath related.

It’s hard as chit at first, you feel stupid, don’t see progress and get frustrated. Then you’re saying what’s the point if you can’t even be mindful about being mindful. That is totally normal, it takes time, similar to physical training. Curls for girls doesn’t work instantly, neither does mindfulness.

 

[Screaming_Emu]

For me, mindfulness has allowed me to be okay with racing thoughts as they don’t grab ahold of my attention and send me into a tizzy. See most of our thoughts have nothing to do with the present moment, you’re either ruminating about the past or tripping about the future. With mindfulness, you learn to grab the minds attention when carried away by a thought and bring it back to a present moment focus point. That point can be visually, aurally or breath related.

It’s hard as chit at first, you feel stupid, don’t see progress and get frustrated. Then you’re saying what’s the point if you can’t even be mindful about being mindful. That is totally normal, it takes time, similar to physical training. Curls for girls doesn’t work instantly, neither does mindfulness.

Yup. I’m pretty good at letting go of the past, but I do overthink about the future. It can be helpful, but I find my moments of peak stress/anxiousness are when I can’t just relax and accept the situation I’m in.

For example, sitting in a commercial flight it’s easy for me to get excited or worked up for when we get where we’re going, but that just leads me to get anxious and the flight seems to take forever. If I can focus on the fact that I’m sitting in a reasonably comfortable seat and can use this time to just relax, it becomes a much more enjoyable experience.

 

[JDean3204]

Yup. I’m pretty good at letting go of the past, but I do overthink about the future. It can be helpful, but I find my moments of peak stress/anxiousness are when I can’t just relax and accept the situation I’m in.

For example, sitting in a commercial flight it’s easy for me to get excited or worked up for when we get where we’re going, but that just leads me to get anxious and the flight seems to take forever. If I can focus on the fact that I’m sitting in a reasonably comfortable seat and can use this time to just relax, it becomes a much more enjoyable experience.

Honestly I think if mindfulness was given an honest try in the pilot community, it would really help with the stress of the job and lifestyle. But most alpha control types need not to be concerned about the above benefits, they’d rather keep spooled up and just unwinding with booze (not saying there’s anything wrong with that to an extent).

 

[Roger Roger]

I keep reading this as guided munitions

 

[Screaming_Emu]

Honestly I think if mindfulness was given an honest try in the pilot community, it would really help with the stress of the job and lifestyle. But most alpha control types need not to be concerned about the above benefits, they’d rather keep spooled up and just unwinding with booze (not saying there’s anything wrong with that to an extent).

I’d agree. There’s a lot of people in this industry that treat any operational challenge as an insult to their family. There’s so much in this job that’s outside of our control. Effect change on what you can control, let go of what you can’t and it’ll help in every single way.

A saying I adopted back in my ASA IAD days is “all we can do is all we can do.” I don’t claim to be great at my job, but I have gotten a few compliments from coworkers whose opinions that a value that have remarked on my ability to stay relaxed when things get stressful. One even called me “the most chill captain at this airline.”

I was a hockey goalie growing up and I learned that if you can get emotions out of your decision making and just take things one play at a time, my game improved greatly. I think that was mindfulness before mindfulness was a thing.

I’ve used that on the line too. As an FO we messed up a taxi clearance and got yelled at. Once we started moving again, I asked the two up front to stop the plane so we can get our F bombs out and then get focused again. If you make a mistake and choose to keep focusing on it, you’re just going to keep screwing up. Figure out what you can learn from the mistake that will benefit you the rest of the flight, then compartmentalize that stuff until you can review it safely.

 

[JDean3204]

I’d agree. There’s a lot of people in this industry that treat any operational challenge as an insult to their family. There’s so much in this job that’s outside of our control. Effect change on what you can control, let go of what you can’t and it’ll help in every single way.

A saying I adopted back in my ASA IAD days is “all we can do is all we can do.” I don’t claim to be great at my job, but I have gotten a few compliments from coworkers whose opinions that a value that have remarked on my ability to stay relaxed when things get stressful. One even called me “the most chill captain at this airline.”

I was a hockey goalie growing up and I learned that if you can get emotions out of your decision making and just take things one play at a time, my game improved greatly. I think that was mindfulness before mindfulness was a thing.

I’ve used that on the line too. As an FO we messed up a taxi clearance and got yelled at. Once we started moving again, I asked the two up front to stop the plane so we can get our F bombs out and then get focused again. If you make a mistake and choose to keep focusing on it, you’re just going to keep screwing up. Figure out what you can learn from the mistake that will benefit you the rest of the flight, then compartmentalize that stuff until you can review it safely.

You sound like an ideal captain to fly with in my books! Agreed with everything you said man, spot on.

 

[captainphil]

Can you articulate how it’s helpful? (Not doubting, just seeking another person’s articulation of how)

Sure! For me personally it takes my mind off of what I'm currently thinking and focuses it through certain factors such as breathing techniques that help you relax, guided imagery (such as being on the beach with your toes in warm sand) and essentially has you putting your focus on anything other than our daily stressors.

 

[///AMG]

I’d agree. There’s a lot of people in this industry that treat any operational challenge as an insult to their family. There’s so much in this job that’s outside of our control. Effect change on what you can control, let go of what you can’t and it’ll help in every single way.

I don't get this either. Like doooood, they are paying us well for this. Especially you. There are a few niche scenarios where this wouldn't be true, but I haven't observed this phenomenon during a moment where we weren't being paid.

I'm not of the "hold the before start checklist, I'm not working until L1 is closed" mentality, but there is a lot of open space in between these two extremes. The chair is decently comfy, compared to what I'm used to. I'll just sip my coffee, and if I'm lucky, I'll have a good CA to make fun of people on the radio for a while with. Life doesn't have to be hard. It can be even less hard when you are making what used to be minimum wage, every minute (not me, yet, but them).

 

[roundout]

Honestly I think if mindfulness was given an honest try in the pilot community, it would really help with the stress of the job and lifestyle. But most alpha control types need not to be concerned about the above benefits, they’d rather keep spooled up and just unwinding with booze (not saying there’s anything wrong with that to an extent).

real men don't need that touchy feely stuff!!

*checks US male suicide statistics*

oh.