I tried praying and I don't know who I was talking to
Grew up with no religion at all. My parents were kind, practical people who thought church was for weddings.
Last night I couldn't sleep, and for some reason I just said, out loud, 'Hi. I don't know if anyone's there. Thank you for my sister getting through her surgery.' Then I felt very silly, and also kind of lighter?
Is it prayer if you don't know who you're addressing? Do I need to pick someone first? Genuinely asking. Please be gentle, I'm new at all of this.
Ten minutes, and I lasted about four
Tried meditating for the first time. Set a timer for ten minutes, sat on the floor, and by minute four I had mentally reorganized my entire kitchen and drafted an email to my landlord.
Is that... normal? I don't have a religion, so I wasn't praying to anyone or repeating anything sacred, just trying to notice my breathing. Is there a version of this that doesn't belong to a particular tradition, or am I borrowing something that isn't mine?
Genuinely asking. Everyone here has been so kind about the beginner questions.
Quartz, from the engineer's side of the table
Something I find genuinely moving, as a skeptic: there's a tiny sliver of quartz in nearly every cheap watch on earth. Squeeze quartz and it produces a small voltage; apply a voltage and it vibrates at a remarkably steady frequency. That's the piezoelectric effect, and it's why your watch keeps time.
I don't believe a quartz point is doing anything energetic when I hold it. But I've started keeping one on my desk anyway. When I'm stuck on a problem, I pick it up, and the weight and the cold and the clean geometry slow me down enough to think.
Maybe that's all some people mean. Maybe it isn't. Either way, I'm less dismissive than I was a year ago, and that feels like progress.
My first tarot pull, and a question
Bought a secondhand Rider-Waite deck this weekend after reading far too many posts in this category. Shuffled it badly for a long time, asked something vague about work, and drew the Hermit.
First reaction: great, the card for being alone. But the little booklet says it's more about stepping back to look inward, carrying your own light. Which, honestly, is exactly what I've been avoiding at work.
For the readers here: when you were starting out, did you read straight from the booklet, or just look at the picture and see what came? I'd rather not start with bad habits.