Basic Awareness Practice.
Potential.
Start by taking a moment to settle and relax before you begin.
Find a comfortable sitting position and listen to what the body needs,
Shifting position to be comfortable and balanced if necessary.
Begin by bringing attention to the body in relation to the space it's in,
Sensing the room and any objects around you.
And shift the attention to the entire body as it sits here.
And now move the attention to the breathing process in the whole body,
Breathing naturally and leaving the breath to find its own rhythm.
And come back to the sensation of the entire body.
Bring to mind your reasons for doing this basic awareness practice on potential.
What's motivating and inspiring you to engage with this process of inner development?
And finally,
Wish yourself success in this process.
This practice is designed to help you gain a deeper understanding of your full potential for personal and social transformation,
And how you can recognise,
Cultivate and fulfil that potential by bringing awareness to your whole self and questioning what you are.
It will also encourage you to question your life and open up to possibilities of change and fulfilment,
Helping you build a picture of what your potential might be,
What may be helping you develop your potential and what may be limiting you at the moment.
Human beings are the product of conditioning factors,
Biological,
Psychological and social,
And so we are conditioned.
These conditionings create and influence how we perceive the world,
And how we perceive the world then influences what we think,
Say and do in the world.
Conditioning can be grouped into three categories.
The first is the body.
The physical body and the biological and physiological factors relating to the body.
The next is the mind.
Mental and emotional factors relating to our inner life,
Which means experience mediated through the mind.
And finally social conditioning.
Social and cultural factors relating to relationships with others in groups and institutions.
It also refers to social identities,
Which are identities defined by institutions.
However,
To explore the totality of life,
It is important to explore the idea of human potential beyond the constraints of these conditionings,
Which is related to meaning in life.
As Fredrick Streng said,
Persons can transcend the situation of their biological,
Social and psychological life.
A human being is not just a product of physical,
Biological and social forces,
But has a freedom of choice.
In order to do this full investigation justice,
It is important to examine your experience from two perspectives.
The objective,
Third-person perspective,
Measuring what can be measured in a factual,
Scientific way.
And the subjective,
First-person perspective,
Investigating what can only be experienced personally.
You might like to have a pen and paper to hand for this next practice.
Listen to the following questions and reflect on what they mean for you.
Are you only something that can be scientifically observed?
Are you only your personal experience?
Are you just your body?
Are you just your mind?
Are you just your relationships,
Your identities,
Your cultural influences?
Or are you all of these things mentioned?
Is there anything that cannot be reduced to just your physical,
Mental and social conditionings?
Is there anything outside of these?
Are you something beyond these conditionings?
Can you transcend your conditionings?
Why might this be useful?
What might this be called?
Do you believe you have freedom of choice to develop and overcome limitations?
What might your full potential be?
What does fulfilling your potential mean to you at the moment?
And finally,
Take a moment to notice any response to this inquiry,
Whether it's a physical feeling,
An emotion,
A thought,
Words,
Images and so on.
And feel free to note anything down you feel you'd like to capture.
And remember,
We're using the image of the spiral to show how certain personal qualities build on and reinforce each other in an upward spiral towards positive potential,
A positive reinforcement spiral.
Likewise,
Certain personal qualities also build on and reinforce each other in a downward spiral,
A negative reinforcement spiral.
So using your learning from the previous practice on potential,
Simply note whether this may be helping you develop towards the top of the spiral or if it may be limiting you towards the bottom.
Finally,
Taking a moment to reconnect with your posture,
Rebalancing,
Relaxing and gently releasing any tension if necessary.
Being aware of the body breathing.
Taking a moment to recall your motivation for doing this practice.
Learning to mind what you've experienced and learned in the practice.
Have you discovered anything about yourself?
Have you begun to cultivate any helpful qualities or overcome or let go of any unhelpful qualities?
And how might this process be beneficial and meaningful and contribute to the welfare and well-being of yourself and others,
Your family,
Friends and those close to you,
Or those who inspire and nurture your positive development and all living beings and the environment they rely on?
And as this practice ends,
Try to carry this with you wherever you go,
By recollecting it occasionally.
