I can't read anymore

Years of internet seem to have degraded my concentration abilities a fair amount and it results in me being unable to read even a short book. Whenever I try to read a new book, I'm stuck on the same page, reading a single sentence over and over again while my mind drifts. Then, suddenly, something clicks and I can read for 50 pages, like I could years ago.
When I pick up the book the next day, I seem to have forgotten half of what I had read the previous day and am stuck on re-reading the same sentence over and over again.

Have any of you successfully solved this problem? Does meditation help? If so, how to start? What other things should I to to have a clear mind again?

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Sleep consistently the same hours.
Eat well and exercise.
Engage in active rather than passive activities in your down time.
Change your cultural habits to suit the ends you wish to achieve not tomorrow, but five years from today.

Learn about technological determinism.

Read books on different subjects that you're interested in and practice coding chunks of information into symbols or narratives.

Read, review what you think you know, reread, question what you thought and look for instances which brought about this understanding. Then reread.

Look into extending your working memory.

Learn simple mathematics.
Learn to play an instrument.
Learn to draw or paint.

Learn to integrate your seething subconscious into things outside of yourself. Study them and their relationship to the part of you that is paying attention.

Don't destroy your painting and stab yourself in the heart. Persist, negate, worship the moments when you are clear headed, pay attention to yourself, and cultivate gratitude towards your capacity to reason.

Thank you very much. Could you expand on extend the working memory? How to do it?

Also, I have learned simple mathematics, have been playing music for the past 10 years and have been accepted into an art academy for painting.

Also, please expand upon this: "Learn to integrate your seething subconscious into things outside of yourself. Study them and their relationship to the part of you that is paying attention. "

I've solved it by pushing through. There is no magical tip, you just need to consistently sit down for two hours and read. Don't do anything other than go to the bathroom if you need to. That's it, just do it.

Not that user, but basically develop a higher degree of self-consciousness.

I suggest Jungian analysis, since they tend to try working alongside your consciously structured goals rather than forcing your life into fitting any school of psychological thought and that be the end goal of therapy. Or so I've heard.

Do you think it is wise to force changing many habits at once or one by one? I'd like to start exercise, read more, sleep in the same hours, reduce internet activity, but I think trying to do them all at once might kick me back into old habits sooner. Or is it actually better to completely turn everything around?

Like actually paying an analyst or working through Jung's work myself? Because analyst are extremelly expensive and currently, I'm on the track to become a painter. Not really a road to economic success...

git gud

>Could you expand on extend the working memory? How to do it?

No. I would look for scientific papers on the subject. I believe you can exercise the "workspace" so that it functions more efficiently, but I'm unclear if it is predetermined genetically. The capacity to hold more abstract ideas in your working memory might be unchangeable, and you might have to figure out methods of working around your own capacity - which is not unreasonable. This means writing notes, or other methods of outsourcing working memory.

But I would also suggest that the subconscious has a capability of reasoning that needs to be worked with over time to be able to bring forward understandings. This is a complicated process of coaxing your passion to do the biding of your ego. Narratives destroy this ability by misdirecting passion, or direction. So it can be rather difficult on the stability of your self to cope when you've emptied most of your subconscious of directions. Despair is usual, as well as boredom. But you just have to do as says and push through consistantly until your subconsciousness is fill with a passion to do the same as the ego and is therefor more accessible to the "workspace".

>Also, please expand upon this: "Learn to integrate your seething subconscious into things outside of yourself. Study them and their relationship to the part of you that is paying attention. "

gnosis.org/redbook/

You need to find the balance between hard work that is necessary and burn out. You definitely don't want to go full speed right away by changing your whole schedule. That is a good way to find yourself in the same position you were a week prior. But, as far as reading goes, I think trying to read for a few hours consecutively is something you should try right away and do it everyday. If you find yourself not engaged the entire time, you might be reading too quickly or treating as a chore. Reading should be exercise not a chore. Taking notes and asking questions will go far to help you concentrate on the text at hand. Don't worry so much about a page quota you should be meeting every day, but instead worry about a time quota. Did you spend one hour uninterrupted reading today? Two hours? And etc... If you're really bad off with concentration, try 45 minutes to start.

Thank you very much.

Just read a chapter a day damn brainlets

try a kindle

Read a chapter a day, or 15-30 minutes; gradually increase dailty reading over time.
Try to meditate before reading.

How to meditate? What is a good, no-bullshit way?

Honestly, there is not a lot of secret about it.
>sit down on the floor, with an erect posture, not leaning against the wall or another object
>breathe in and out, and feel your lungs as balloons being filled and unfilled with air
>focus on your breathing, try to think about nothing else really
>instead of thinking your everyday thoughts and concerns, like "my back hurts" or "gotta study to that test", let your mind fully relax. You've got to think your meditation time as one in which you forget about everything and relax your mind
>eventually your mind will spontaneously begin to wander, drift through memories and isolated thoughts, as if you're on a plane seeing your brain guiding itself from afar
>don't hold it back, cherish everything thought, image or memory that may come to mind; the point is not to think about what you're thinking, but to observe

That's how it goes for me, so YMMV of course. If it helps, put on relaxed, repetitive music. I like Aphex Twin's Selected Ambient Works 85-92 and Arvo Pärt, but whatever works for you is fine. There are some videos on youtube of "meditation music"; I don't like them a lot, but you might.

Also, set an alarm for 10 minutes or more, so you can do it without worrying about time.

Thanks a lot. I have tried it before but am asking since I never got proper instructions. Have you tried different types of meditation? Like transcendental meditation and so on?

Not really, but I should give them a try sometime.

I have one more question for you. How exactly do you structure your time?

I'm currently in a place where I have enough time to watch a film each day, study philosophy, read literature and paint. As I've said before, my concentration needs to be worked on, but this applies mostly to philosophy and more complex literature.

But lately, I've been thinking that such a schedule is a bit oversaturated. What I mean is that I think I might get more out of my time, if I just read books and paint the whole day, since I'm focused on a smaller amount of things.

If I, for example, read Plato in the morning, go running, buy groceries, paint for 6 hours, read Goethe and then finish the day off with Battleship Potemkin, the sheer amount of themes and ideas and experiences is probably way to much for a human mind to process. Or is it?

I read literature and university texts, attend classes and volunteer in aiding refugees and migrants.

This is very ethical and humane of you. Always one book at a time?

Yup, usually one novel at a time, sometimes a short story collection along with it.

>volunteer in aiding refugees and migrants

What are you doing?! This won't save the white race.

Have you been raped yet?

just stick to one text. reading too many different stuff throughout the day means you aren't thinking deeply enough about the topic at hand

You will never make it OP

>Learn about technological determinism.
What should I read?

Go on holiday somewhere you can't use the net regularly without going to a bar or something. That's my tip, I've been out here since mid July and I've had to pace myself with reading since I have absolutely zero distractions. Ended up nearly plowing through my lit backlog almost in the first two weeks but I'm packing myself with the more abstract and experimental books like The Book of New Sun and Ulysses.

The first would be more advisable (but you'd have to look for Jungian centers near you and see in their student roster who could take you on as a pro bono or based on a sliding scale/student fees on the money you'd have available for that, or even do some online counseling with someone through Skype as that tends to have lower fees that in-person sessions), but the second can work given enough dedication.

For the second I'd suggest seeing his interview with Fraser Boa (should be somewhere on YouTube) to get you started - since your reading attention
span is a work in progress, or see/read Von Franz's "The Way of the Dream" on YouTube and see if starting through dream interpretation and symbolic self work resonates with you.

In my country we don't get many muslims, so don't worry

Delete internet.

I used to think that as much as the internet ruins my focus, I'm dependent on it while reading, because I constantly need to look up words, references etc.

I think I was mistaken. If reading without internet was good enough for my ancestors, it's good enough for me.

Use a pen and paper, take notes, then check it up online once you have finished reading. It does makes for a better understanding, the internet is a tool. Permanently going back to the computer to check things ruins concentration, I usually just end up shit posting in that scenario.

Taking notes while reading helps a lot with focus

Faggot detected.

so why are you here ?

There are some studies that certain kind of exercises might improve your working memory, but as always there are others who discredit those and say they only make you better at the given task and do not improve your cognitive capacity generally. As far as I know the exercise that seems most likely to improve working memory is called dual N-back, which you can download on your computer or smart phone.

Pic related or Industrial Society and Its Future

Rent a cheap hotel room for a week, without internet.
Maybe do it in Europe or somewhere, like Norwegian mountains
Only bring some books with you.
Enjoy.

Just buy a hyuuge dictionary.

its over 50 years old, it's still relevant and not outdated? (because it has to do with technology)

Oh yeah it's definitely still relevant, the title is somewhat misleading as the focus isn't on technology in the sense of machines, computers, etc. There are plenty of good summaries and critiques out there you could find, and I feel like I need to at least skim through parts of it again before I could explain it with any coherence so I won't try and get into it. I do think it's a good starting point in the subject.

Also I'm not , it was the first thing that came to mind when I saw "technological determinism" but he might have had something different in mind.

This is actually excellent advice, wow.

Because I'm not in a mood of reading?

Did you think of this or just copy pasted it? Tell me, brother, how much time until you stop believing this yourself and you get angry at yourself for believing in it. The longer you had believed, the angrier you will get. I'm sorry, but been there, done that.

what do you mean? Whats wrong? Can you explain?

bump