In mindfulness practice we're learning to place our attention where we want it to be.
Incredibly empowering to be able to do that.
But what shifts,
What opens when we allow the attention to rest rather than be directed,
Rather than be focused,
Rather than training it.
Begin by allowing everything to be exactly as it is.
Consider for a moment how our attention is moving,
Bouncing from thing to thing to thing all day long.
Not bad,
Not wrong.
Notice the impact though of your attention bouncing from thing to thing in this way.
Thoughts,
Emotions,
External objects,
Situations,
Circumstances,
Relationships.
Imagine for a moment a flashlight,
The light being your attention.
Visualize this light landing on a thought,
Then an emotion,
Then something someone just said to you,
Then another thought about what they said.
Notice this light moving from object to object.
As mentioned there's great benefit from training the attention to focus on one thing,
Something here,
Now,
In the present moment.
But for this meditation we're freeing the light,
We're softening the light.
Allow the attention to rest.
What are we resting the attention in?
To go with this analogy,
The light is drawing back into the flashlight,
The attention resting in awareness itself.
Allow yourself to feel the warmth of simply being,
The attention returning home.
The light of this attention resting in awareness that illuminates itself.
So rather than training the attention,
Directing the attention,
Focusing the attention,
We're softening the attention.
We're releasing the attention.
We're freeing the attention.
We're allowing the attention to rest in its source.
What is the source of attention?
Where does attention arise out of?
Let it draw back here.
Let it rest in awareness itself.
Free the attention from things,
From objects.
Even the breath is a subtle object.
Rest in the awareness that's free from attachments,
Free from hooking into any object.
Allow the attention to come home.
You don't have to train the attention to know your own being.
Here we're releasing the attention from things,
From thoughts,
From specific emotions that might be arising.
Rather than attending to these,
We're resting the attention.
And in this resting,
Thoughts are free to come and go.
Emotions rise,
Fall.
All these things forming,
Dissipating,
Entering,
Leaving.
What remains?
Rest the attention in what remains.
Rest the attention in awareness itself.
I invite you now to rest here as long as you'd like.
Freeing the attention from objects,
From things,
From the activity of the mind.
Resting,
Softening the attention.
Easing into,
Relaxing into being.
Awareness.
