Intention, Attention And Attitude

This practice can be done stand alone or before a longer practice it's an opportunity to bring our intention,

Attention and attitudes to mind when these three are in alignment our practice is more likely to bear fruit our intention is our why our attitude is our how and our attention is our what to begin with just dropping into the present moment points of contact between the body and the surface we're on sensations of breathing and now bringing our intention to mind this could be a general intention,

Why you practice in the first place what mindfulness and meditation bring to your life or it could be a specific intention for this particular practice or this period of time could be around noticing moments of reactivity and responding with greater patience and compassion toward others and toward yourself could be an intention to think,

Speak and act out of love rather than fear or it could simply be an intention to stay with the sensations of breathing to whatever degree possible and in setting this intention it's important not to strive towards it and not to judge or criticize oneself for mistakes or missteps now we can shift gears and consider what we're doing,

Our attention so our posture is a good place to start how are we sitting,

Lying or standing?

Are we embodying a sense of dignity and relaxed alertness?

How are we moving our attention,

Resting it on different aspects of our experience?

A good way to do this is to rest attention on one part of the body perhaps the middle finger on the right hand just sensing what's here right now in the middle finger on the right hand then expanding attention to include the entire hand four fingers,

A thumb,

Knuckles,

Palm of the hand,

The back of the hand,

Just holding the entire hand in awareness then moving attention to another part of the body the eyes perhaps or anywhere that you're comfortable with just resting attention here and sensing what's here in this part of the body right now then expanding attention around that area to include the whole face or the whole leg or the whole torso depending on what part of the body you were focused on focusing and broadening attention is a key aspect of mindfulness meditation as is sustaining attention so perhaps shifting away from the body part and resting your attention on the in-breath and the out-breath in the nostrils and the throat following the in-breath all the way in then following the out-breath all the way out before we move on to our attitude just checking in with our posture again whatever position you're in just making sure you're alert and relaxed a posture that embodies dignity and compassion towards yourself and the world around you softening and now we come to our how.

How are we paying attention?

How are we approaching the practice?

What attitudes are we trying to embody?

There are nine foundational attitudes to keep in mind when practicing mindfulness I'm going to say each one aloud and pause so you can see what comes up these are attitudes that emerge through the cultivation of mindfulness and are also attitudes that we need to bring to our mindfulness practice as well as other every aspect of our daily lives they are patience letting go or letting be acceptance which is not passive resignation but active recognition of what's going on,

Of how things really are non-striving,

Not trying to get anywhere or achieve anything other than being with your moment-to-moment experience non-judging,

Being aware of the judgments that the mind makes moment by moment and not judging the judging trust,

Trust in your body and its ability to carry you through life trust in yourself trust in the process beginner's mind,

Leaving assumptions and biases at the door and remembering that in the mind of the expert there are very few possibilities gratitude gratitude for awareness gratitude for yourself,

Making the time and space to practice gratitude for the many conditions for happiness that exist in our lives when we are aware of them and generosity giving yourself to life,

Giving your time and energy to others giving yourself permission to stop and rest permission to make mistakes permission not to be perfect you may bring all of these attitudes to mind or just a handful,

Perhaps even just one because within each of the nine attitudes every other is present and as we come to the end of the practice returning your attention to the sensations of breath entering and leaving the body carrying with you this knowledge that when our intention,

Attention and attitude are brought to mind and are in alignment our practice will bear fruit thank you for practicing with me