Quote Originally Posted by TiredPhil View Post
Another of those coincidences that occur
All your advice was taken by me - about one month ago.
I have improved my diet, considerably.
I even read a book from cover to cover, only missing out a few pages. Poul Andersons ' BRAINWAVE"
As for meditation, I have been researching the subject for many months now, but there are a bewildering amount of styles out there. Care to suggest one ?
There are indeed many types of meditation, and that is of course both good and bad. Good, because one has many chances to find the really appropriate type for one self. Bad, because going through them all may take a while.

What I would suggest, at least for a start, is Vipassana - often called Mindfulness in English. It is essentially an effort of noticing whatever happens to be there to notice - without passing judgement on it at all.

In other words, sit still, notice something, and keep noticing it - and nothing else - without thinking about it. Simply pay attention to it.

The stuff you notice can be anything, the sound of blood rushing past your ears, or any other sound, the feel of a twitch on your nose, or the way it feels, where your upper and lower lips touch, or simply the feel of your breathing; the air going in, and out, in an endless cycle. If you begin to think (which you will), then you could start noticing your thoughts, or your emotions. But whenever you catch yourself blaming yourself, you should stop doing so, and instead return to noticing something - for example how the self-blame feels.

You shouldn't jump from one object to another in quick succession, but stay with it for a while (which will be as little as a few seconds, if it is a one-time sound, or as much as hours or more, if it is your breathing).

In the beginning you will probably struggle to maintain focus on just one thing for more than a fraction of a second, but with perseverance comes the ability to maintain focus unbroken for several seconds, and even minutes. And every second spent in this kind of meditation pays off in the long run.