r/Mindfulness 2d ago

Photo Clicking my way out of autopilot

Post image

Every time I catch myself living on autopilot, I press a button on this little tally counter strapped to my finger. That click reminds me to come back into the moment and think: I’m here.

We joke that the number on the counter is our “Level of Awareness” — like we’re grinding XP in real life.

Why bother with a clunky counter instead of just remembering? Because the thing is big, awkward, and keeps nagging me to notice it. Plus, seeing the numbers go up is fun — it turns mindfulness into a kind of game.

So yeah, apparently I’m speedrunning enlightenment with a finger gadget.
Has anyone else tried weird hacks like this to stay mindful?

19 Upvotes

29 comments sorted by

37

u/brbrrws 2d ago

using ai to write entire posts isn’t mindful

2

u/Smushsmush 2d ago

Thank god we have the mindfulness police.

-8

u/XNitrous84X 2d ago

How do you know it’s AI?

5

u/Key-Description-3683 2d ago

It’s the dashes in the second and third paragraphs. My old teachers warned us about ChatGPT signs, this being one of them.

2

u/Kareltia 2d ago

Are you serious?? I use dashes all the time. Never thought that may make people think it's AI.

6

u/brbrrws 2d ago

its literally the REPEATED AND ENTIRE FLOW OF THE ENTIRE POST

When you use ai for long enough you know exactly how it spits stuff out -- this post has EVERY indicator

and its very clearly the LONG DASHES if u pay even half a mind attention and look at the post not just 'dashes' smh

1

u/brbrrws 2d ago

Because I've been using it all the time for 4 years

-27

u/rivamiriya 2d ago

Why not? The idea is still mine.

16

u/Knitmeapie 2d ago

“Speedrunning enlightenment” is the most absurd phrase I’ve ever heard. Good things take time and you don’t need “weird hacks.”

6

u/ReallyBadPun 2d ago

That’s because AI spat it out.

-9

u/rivamiriya 2d ago

Why not? I like speed as a way to do things

20

u/Month-Character 2d ago

Because speed is anathema to mindfulness. Its about letting go of control, not wrestling it to the ground as fast as possible.

4

u/Frolicks 2d ago

Agree. This smells of spiritual materialism, gym bro culture.

Admittedly tho I do think it's pretty cool

2

u/franzmaliszt 2d ago

i see your point, yet hard to not reas this as “my mindfulness is better than yours “

1

u/Month-Character 1d ago

Sure, but can we agree that there are tenets that must be fairly uniform to keep this from becoming "I mean, whatever makes you feel "mindful" whatever that means." And I don't intend this as a slippery slope argument. They specitically cite "speed" as the reason they are doing this. Do you think that someone who needs to get mindful as fast as possible for it to feel worthwhile is actually accomplishing anything? Or as has already been said, is this about gym bro BS to show your hustle?

7

u/52134682 2d ago

Where did you get it OP?

5

u/Silent-Lagoon 2d ago

I got one of these at a craft store. It’s meant to be used for counting rows or stitches when doing fiber crafts!

3

u/servantfollower 2d ago

What's wrong with autopilot?

3

u/rivamiriya 2d ago

Nothing, I suppose. It's just a choice - to opt out of autopilot mode and to try live aware. By living aware I sometimes notice some mind patterns that I don't like and try to rewire them. Sometimes feels cool, sometimes feels useful, sometimes I have doubts why I even do this 😅

7

u/gregNOWwatch8 2d ago

I wear a watch that just says NOW :D

2

u/rivamiriya 2d ago

Did you buy it? Did you craft it?

7

u/gregNOWwatch8 2d ago

I have a small niche store, I have mostly watches that don't tell time, watches that just say NOW. Mindfulness reminders.

4

u/ilovelela 2d ago

Does your store have a website or Etsy?

-1

u/gregNOWwatch8 2d ago

Website. NOWwatch.org

2

u/rivamiriya 2d ago

I had been actually thinking once to create or find something very similar. Do you deliver to Russia?

COOL THINGY!

2

u/mds1025 1d ago

This is a form of control an can become a psychosis

0

u/[deleted] 1d ago

[deleted]

1

u/EmojieOnly 1d ago

No. They are not.

Unless you're taking drugs or something like that you are not doing anything that risks psychosis.

Simply repeatedly doing something will not cause psychosis. It may be a symptom of a psychosis, one that is already present, but it will not cause it. And I'm not suggesting this is a symptom for OP.

An easy way to discredit what the commenter is suggesting is that we all* masturbate. That in itself released extreme amounts of feel good chemicals in the brain yet the act of masturbating doesn't cause a masturbation psychosis lol.

It's such a silly premise.

1

u/Curious_OnEarth 2d ago

I need this