/fringe/ - Fringe

Free time could almost be thought of as the most baneful curse to ever grace our lives. Exportation, automation and invalidation of labor and other fields of work have all left a space in humanity for the class of people no one likes to talk about called NEETs. Having too much time on your hands might sound fun at first but as you learn it becomes exceedingly difficult to spend it without the income of a working man. This free time starts to putrefy into unproductively and self destruction.
*NEET - Not in Education, Employment, or Training.
As magicians we practice mindfulness meditation every day. But have you ever understood why? or do you just put it into your routine because it might of been recommended or told as one of the greatest practices a magician can do for them self. But I'm not here to talk about all the benefits of mindfulness meditation. But I do wish to talk about the effect it can have on your life when it comes to laziness and procrastination, a trait many of us seem to have.
Becoming more conscious is an absolutely essential part of becoming a magician and living a productive life. With practicing mindfulness meditation you will find yourself in thoughts or performing a kind of mental "reset". This can be in any activity or time of your daily life. All external stimulus will trigger an "egotistical" mental reaction if the magician is not in an aware conscious state of mind. He might get trapped in a thought loop over some mundane political or national issue only to be effected by the mental "reset" and then elevate to a higher state of consciousness, thus brushing the issue of and retracting his emotions. Refreshing awareness and bringing a higher view to whichever activity had been automatically performed is a great benefit in controlling your life.
To give some more meat to the above explanation let us recall events where we have pulled ourselves out of "thought loops" or generally out of other low states of consciousness. You might begin to remember some stupid or embarrassing moments. This is the kind of time where you use sugar instead of salt, or put your hand on a stove. Since we slip out of consciousness at any moment this can also life choices and decisions, spiraling your life further into a hellhole.
Thus being in a low consciousness state is very detrimental to one's life if they are NEET as we might imagine. Your life will eventually end up becoming an endless cycle of wasting time through various means like zombie image board browsing(Technically it comes under entertainment. But since we are on one I thought to give it its own category), entertainment, fidgeting, masturbation, excessive sleeping, excessive eating, etc. Go take a look at the /jp/, /a/ or /r9k/ NEETs if you wish to get a better idea of exceptional time wasting.
It's up to you to find what to do with your time. Some of us can only read so much or practice so much in a day, have very little money for hobbies and productive ideas. For the higher ranked wizards among us can spend more time on advanced ritual work or other projects for their favored path working system. But for the neophytes or more "casual" and slow progressing wizards it can be difficult to fill your day with productivity.
I'm not here to tell you what to do. Instead I'm here to tell you to Do. Figure out what you can do with your day and vigilantly perform it. Being conscious requires emotionally or intellectually stimulating activities if you are to make any progress at keeping a meditative lifestyle. So the bottom line is that you practicing mindfulness meditation will eventually help you to catch yourself in thought. Catching yourself in a thought/lower consciousness level will allow you to take back control of your vehicle and begin to consciously drive life in the direction you want it to head. If you don't want to control your body, another will gladly do it for you. So take up mindfulness meditation today!