Introduction
In my previous article, I wrote about reviewing one’s activity and emotional logs to identify “emotional bugs” — a practice I called debugging the mind.
That said, not everyone keeps daily records, and some may struggle to sort through their feelings and pinpoint what’s bothering them.
Especially for those who don’t keep logs regularly, tracing back to identify the root of a problem becomes difficult — in other words, debugging isn’t always possible.
So in this article, I’d like to introduce a different, simpler approach.
When facing confusion or emotional distress, this method can help you sort out your feelings, identify underlying causes, and regain calm — even without needing a log to look back on.
Extracting “Noise” Through Meditation
To begin with the conclusion: meditation can help you sort out your thoughts, identify the root of what’s bothering you, and regain emotional clarity — that’s what this article is about.
You’ve probably heard the word meditation before, but have you ever actually tried it?
For some people, it may seem like a difficult or intimidating practice. But in reality, as long as you have a quiet environment, you don’t need any special tools or knowledge — it’s a simple habit that anyone can start, anywhere, anytime.
There are many different schools and approaches to meditation, so it’s hard to define a single “correct” way to do it.
Generally, though, the goal is to calm the mind by “becoming empty” or “thinking of nothing,” and to increase mindfulness or focus.
However, what I want to share here is a slightly different take on meditation —
not the “goal” of reaching a state of emptiness, but rather the process of getting there and what it reveals along the way.
Because, realistically speaking, for most beginners (myself included), reaching a true “blank state of mind” is extremely difficult.
In fact, even though I’m recommending meditation here, I still find that kind of quiet extremely hard to achieve myself.
So then — is meditation that doesn’t go smoothly still meaningful?
Let’s take a closer look.
Imagine you decide, “Okay, I’ll give this a try today,” and sit quietly for 5 to 10 minutes.
Chances are, thoughts will immediately start popping into your head:
“I still haven’t replied to that email.”
“I need to add that to the shopping list.”
“I haven’t prepared for tomorrow yet.”
I used to think that moments like these meant I had failed at meditation — that I simply wasn’t good enough yet.
But now, I see things differently: those very thoughts are valuable output.
These scattered fragments of thought are like console.log()messages from your mind.
They reveal the unprocessed background tasks and low-level anxieties that have been running inside you all along —
and the moment you try to quiet your mind, they rise to the surface.
When the Noise Fades, True Stillness Emerges
As you meditate and these thoughts come up, simply try writing them down.
“This is a to-do.” “This is something I’m worried about.” “This is just an unfounded assumption.”
Don’t worry about categorizing them — the important part is to log them externally.
Interestingly, the more you repeat this process of outputting and recording your thoughts, the more those mental distractions begin to fade.
It’s as if the stack trace of your mind is gradually resolving —
and little by little, the internal noise starts to quiet down.
Then, at some point, a subtle realization may arise:
“…Wait — there’s nothing left coming up.”
That’s when your mind truly begins to settle.
For the first time, doing “nothing” becomes a meaningful kind of stillness.
By that point, the things you were anxious about, the tasks you hadn’t addressed, and the problems weighing on you —
they’re already written down, visualized, and acknowledged.
It’s like a clean system state with no error logs.
The backlog of pending processes has cleared, and the mental CPU is finally under light load again.
Conclusion
This article serves as a follow-up to my previous post, where I wasn’t able to fully explore this particular idea.
Meditation — both its methods and effects — can feel different for everyone.
So, to be honest, I can't say with certainty that this approach will work for everyone.
That said, for me personally, it has been a valuable method for organizing my thoughts — even without needing to review logs or reflect on past actions.
It’s something I still turn to from time to time, and that direct experience is what inspired me to share it here.
If you’re currently feeling uneasy or unmotivated,
why not try sitting quietly, just once, and giving meditation a go?
There may be far more “pending tasks” in your mind than you realize —
and simply acknowledging them can bring surprising clarity.
Thank you for reading.
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