Grimm

What it does seem to do is give you this incredible belief in yourself. You can only rely on you to survive (physically and mentally). I've never done it in the wilderness, only indoors. Based on walks/camping trips, the outdoors is more friendly than inside a building (or cave for that matter). You have no choice but to face yourself when you're alone and miles from anything. The hermits or great spiritual masters always had to return so civilization. I used to think that solitude was the answer, as in it was the way to enlightenment or similar. Now I can see that's only half of it. The whole process seems to be self-realization. When you're in a building, home-like surroundings, near a shop or anybody, there's the knowing that you can always run for help. When cut off from your own species, you have no choice but to turn inwards... hopefully all of this makes sense. This is how I see it anyway. I've never been in the position of being ultimately isolated though. Definitely something good to come out of it. Reminds me of Cast Away.

A method that's worked for me is sort of rejecting any thought that has been born out of something I've perceived with my senses. Almost like a black hole sucks everything away including itself. So say a word, a picture, a feeling, a doctrine, a method, a way appears - I reject it. These are only imitations of what the senses actually perceived, if that makes sense. It is actually fun at times because after a few minutes (I'm guessing it's a few minutes) the habit just kicks in and I'm left with just being. There are times when this doesn't work though because I'm attached to the method, thinking the method is what is bringing about the happiness or something. Another method is saying to yourself, "just be". Anything that happens - a thought, feeling etc will just happen and you will witness it. There is no wrong or right way of doing this, the whole point is to just let yourself/things be.. because this will all happen regardless of what you choose to do. You sort of let go and surrender. Any repetitive task is helpful. I find that household chores help sometimes, even when I feel like I could be doing something BETTER, they end up the better thing. Writing out a word/sentence or drawing a continuous pattern on paper can be helpful for me too. At times I've played two strings of my guitar and tapped my foot to the rhythm, just listening to the droning notes. In a similar way, sometimes I drum on my chest with my fingers - a continuous, constant beat. I'm guessing this works similar to a shaman's rattle. To quieten the mind (a friend suggested this) let out a deep hum or chant. See the difference for yourself. Note how quiet your thoughts are before and after. Above all, I find walking is very good for clearing your head. You can also playfully imitate a monk (or any religious archetype) to get yourself in the mood to begin. I find reading scriptures puts me in the mind-frame to start, especially if I've slacked off a bit. Anything you're familiar with is best to start with. I find many useful: The Diamond Sutra and Tao te Ching especially. As others have said, there isn't one way to go about it. In the Tibetan Book of Living and Dying, it said how meditation should be personalized and not be seen as a chore. Be creative and make it a personal thing. Anything you do can be a form meditation. Meditation can be 5 seconds or 2 hours long. It's entirely up to you how long your meditation lasts. Start small and build up. The greatest experiences I've had have happened when I'm fed up and let go of all methods. I can't decide to this though, it's sort of like I've exhausted my intellect. I've stopped trying to get a 'thing'. Oh and meditation with drugs. It doesn't work for me but try meditation with and without them, that's the only way you'll get the answer.

I've figured it out now. The first one is prickly lettuce (lactuca serriola) and the other one is common sowthistle (sonchus oleraceus). Thanks for the help

I posted these pictures already under another post but figured it'd do better with its own post. There's only once plant growing in the entire garden. It looks a lot bigger than it actually is. The flowers are about 5mm in diameter. Any ideas?

I'm in SA and I've got a similar plant growing. It made me think of this post when I spotted it. The leaves have an awesome look about them. It sort of reminds me of Celtic knotwork...

I was the same. Weeds are fascinating. I don't have many plants in my yard (just trees and weeds) and lately I've been getting this nice feeling from them just from being around them. I think I was daydreaming and just noticed them there... really nice. They do look a lot like chicory don't they? I'm new to plants in general so I can't remember its flower.. I'll have to wait

The first one is definitely edible but I'm still not exactly sure what it is. At first I thought it was flatweed. However, the leaves on the weed here aren't covered in little hairs, except for behind the leaf. This plant has much rounder leaves and the leaves point upwards. The closest thing it resembles is a wild lettuce - maybe lactuca serriola? The younger plants have little to no hairs on them at all and are bitter/green in taste. After I tore a leaf of an older plant, a milky sap appeared.

I took some better pictures of the last one. They look like closest to Sonchus Asper (compared pictures off google images)

I looked up pictures for all sorts of thistles but this weed doesn't resemble any of them. It has a smoother look to thistles. I looked up pictures of wild lettuce too but didn't come across anything that looked similar. Still, thanks for the suggestions..

All fixed now. I was uploading from a phone before...

The first lighter green one is growing through bricks everywhere. The other one (red veiny sort) is on it's own. I've seen these a lot so they're pretty common. Only new to this but if you can help me, thanks in advance.