Meditation and Software Engineering
By: Matjaz Pirnovar
Tags: Engineering, Software Engineering, Consciousness, Software Development, Meditation

Meditation to me means connecting to myself and carrying the feeling of connectedness during the day. I used to be more anxious and a little lost. Meditation brought clarity and self-reference into my life. With them I’m much more aware, present and creative. I chose a career in software because complex problem solving couples well with the standpoint of the observer often experienced in meditation. In turn I’m able to meditate deeper and I’m even more present in my daily life.

What is meditation?

Meditation can mean many things. From zen retreats to walking in the woods, gardening, Headspace app, mindfulness. Or retreating into a cave in a remote backcountry.

By meditation, I mean sitting still with your back straight, eyes closed and internalizing your consciousness. Meditation is not relaxation. it is about raising the voltage of consciousness. It is about becoming more ourselves. Relaxation is usually a pleasant side effect.

Meditation as a spiritual path is a separate topic. Here I’ll focus on practical application of a meditation practice.

Meditation is good because…

Our lives have become fast and information rich. We’re inseparable from smartphones, communication media, errands, family needs, work requirements, emergencies, to do lists, news. A constant stream of information flooding our mind, creating imprints that cause persistent thoughts even when we’re not doing anything. I used to compulsively check my phone every few minutes, had a verbose and judgmental internal commentator that wouldn’t stop. I wasn’t able to really focus. A constant background noise. When I would write a test plan for a new feature I’d check my phone at least fifteen times, go to the bathroom twice and catch myself wandering away from the topic at least five times. And the pandemic and shelter in place.

Meditation helped me to slow down my thought processes to the point where I could separate myself (the observer) from the thoughts. Now I can literally see my thoughts in front of me coming in and coming out of my consciousness.

The purpose is to strengthen the observer, to give yourself a solid place to rest on. When we are able to see the thoughts as separate to who we are, then we can choose to follow them or not. We’re in control. Otherwise it’s the opposite, a stream of thoughts that controls us. And it’s not that we take this slow meditation practice to work and meditate in front of our screens. Meditating regularly at home will strengthen the perception of the inner observer to the point that we will become better and better at separating ourselves from the thoughts. Eventually we will be able to speed up the process and apply the same principle in the fast paced work environment.

For example, you are doing some deep work like coding or reviewing a PR. A thought about needing to go to an important meeting later in the afternoon appears. You may start becoming a bit anxious, asking yourself have you prepared, finding yourself chaining that thought to the list of things you need to prepare, which reminds you of a shopping list for the kids birthday celebration which leads to a thought about an appointment at the vet you forgot to reschedule. And so on. The domino effect takes place. You could say that is the ability to focus. To bring yourself back to the task, fighting distractions. Meditation helps a lot here. It is not the same as fighting thoughts, it’s deeper than that. Observing thoughts and de-identifying ourselves from them is a form of focus. But it has more profound effects. When you meditate you are in a deeper state of consciousness, there’s more depth than just a mental focus. That depth combined with becoming the observer is something that enriches us as human beings. You get to focus better plus you become more yourself.

With practice we become aware not just of immediate thoughts, but also of more subconscious ones. Some that we didn’t even know about or have completely forgot about. The imprints of all sorts, memories, habits that we learned when growing up.Those deep behavioral patterns and conditioning from our parents and culture are a whole new level of meditation that can result in significant positive life changes.

I prefer to meditate first thing in the morning while the mind is impressionable. I usually go for 45 minutes, but if you are just beginning simply sit in silence for 10 minutes. Letting the thoughts come and go and resting our awareness on the qualities of the inner space will create a separation between the sense of us and the distracting thoughts (a good resource: Meditation, Portal to Inner Worlds).

There is also an external distraction management. We can limit the distracting factors such as turn off phone notifications, enable do not disturb mode, put headphones on or reevaluate how you use your smartphone. But that’s not about meditation.

How does this relate to software engineers ?

You will be more present. More in control of what you decide to distract you. You will become better at letting distractions pass without pulling you off your focus. Your attention span and clarity of thinking will improve. When you hit a hard computing problem, meditation can bring unexpected hints to solutions. The method of “sleeping on the problem and waking up with a solution” will become easier and more intentional because meditation is a similar process.

Another technique that could be used in engineering is thinking in a packed form. Packed thinking is more a silent knowing than active processing and interpreting in your head. For example when you look at the keyboard don’t say “This is a keyboard.” in your head. Instead hold a silent knowing that that is a keyboard. You simply know it is a keyboard. Like the essence of the sentence. Stay with the essence, no need to unpack it. The knowing should be instant. Then move on.

It comes handy when you hold multiple pieces of abstractions at the same time, carefully architecting the most efficient design solution for an algorithm. You need silence and it helps if you are in the zone to be able to do that. It’s cognitively intense. In that sense programming can be a dynamic form of meditation. Or perhaps a technique that may deepen your daily meditation. You know that building something you feel inspired about can be addictive, creative, beautiful, poetic. There is beauty in moving pieces of code around. If you think about it, who hasn’t spent hours or days behind the computer working on their app? Why is it so addictive?

Part of the answer is a higher mode of thinking. A silent knowing. Things are just different there. Similarly in meditation.

Here is how…

Start with something small. Sit in silence for 15 minutes every morning and watch your breath.

Attend a high quality meditation workshop.

Practice regularly, daily. Best in the morning when you are most impressionable and can set yourself for the day.

Find a community where you can ask questions and have guidance through the process.

Regularity is key. Practice, practice, practice.

It is more efficient to stick with one technique and push it, than keep switching them.

If sitting still is not an option, then have moments of self-reflection. Be with yourself. Take a walk, stay silent. Be with your thoughts.

Conclusion

Regular meditation practice is an efficient way to gain control over what we allow to distract us. It brings clarity of mind and trains us to be present in what we do. We don’t fight thoughts and distractions, we get better at detaching from them so we increase focus and productivity.

Packed thinking or silent knowing is a technique that lets you think at a higher abstraction level where you operate at the level of silent knowing and not on the level of spelling out thoughts in your head. It allows you to think faster, to hold more than one abstraction at the same time, it brings more inspiration and is overall more satisfying.

Don’t think of meditation as a stress relief. It’s a tool to become more yourself, gain depth and be more present, productive and happier. But for that you need to practice. Start with 10 or 20 minutes per day. Sit in silence, observe your breath, let thoughts come and go. Best to attend a high quality workshop to get you started. And most importantly — have fun!