Beyond The Label

Language is a human superpower, but it has limits. The word "plant" doesn't capture the leaves. The word "heater" doesn't capture the layered hum. In this practice we go beyond the labels. We look at one object and study its texture, color, shape, as if for the first time. Then we drop the visual and listen to our sound environment as if it were a piece of music. Recorded live with the Healthy Minds Program.

Transcript

Today, We're going to be talking about noticing the subtle details, Which is a key aspect of insight. And we're going to do a 10, 15 minute practice or so. So these are just simple words. And they're an example of something that makes human beings pretty unique, Which is this faculty of language. And you'd be hard-pressed to argue that language isn't an incredible superpower. Right, I can see Gianvito sharing, Tired, Karen shifting and changing between strong and unsettled. The ability for us to use a couple of words and transmit a sense of how we're feeling in our inner experience is incredible. And of course, I'm using language right now to share this practice with you. Language is a huge part of what it means to be a human being. At the same time. . . Language can be quite limited to capture the subtle details. So for example, When I read that Lauren is feeling disconnected or Christine is feeling overwhelmed, I mean, I have a vague sense of what those words feel like when I feel them, What my inner experience is like when I say a word like that. And what we're going to explore today in this practice is we're going to try to move beyond the language, Beyond the labels, Into experiencing things we see in the world around us, Things we hear in the world around us, Things we notice in our body and our inner experience with an added sense of clarity. So that's what we're going to be practicing. So glad to share this time with you. We're going to practice for about 15 minutes starting now. And yeah, We'll be ending at about 10, 19 Eastern Time. Just so you know. Glad to have you here. Let's get started. We can start by finding a comfortable position, Anything that feels natural for you. That captures a sense of wakefulness, But also relaxation. If you prefer to close your eyes, You can do that. It's up to you, Whatever feels more comfortable. If you do choose to keep your eyes open, I recommend finding a single point to stare at. I find that very helpful. And now just taking a moment to relax into your posture so you can. Loosen your face a little bit, Let go of your jaw. Relax your shoulders. Let your arms and your hands settle to whatever position they might find themselves. Letting go of your belly, Relaxing the chest. Loosening the legs, Just generally giving the body a sense of release. Settling in and fully arriving to this moment. And we'll start the practice in a moment, But first. Just let go of any sense of doing anything. Get out of that mind frame of I'm doing something very specific here or I'm meditating. It's something special. You know, Bringing all this effort to try to do my best to try to be the perfect meditator. Just let it go and bask in a little bit of acceptance of the present moment. Just let things be as they are. Just sort of drop the ball. Relax into the moment. If you've got thoughts on your mind, That's okay. Just let them happen. If you're noticing sensations in the body or sounds or sights from the outside world, Just let it all be as it is. Great, Now when you're ready. What I want you to do is gently open your eyes if they were closed. And take a look at your visual field around you. You might notice shapes. Color, Texture. You might be facing a wall and you can notice the subtle textures of the wall or maybe there's a window. And you can see lots of complexity and lots of objects and colors and textures and movement outside. Maybe you're in a room. There's a number of objects, Shadows, Light. You might notice your mind. Automatically associating language with what you see. For example, I just saw a bird out the window, And in my mind, I heard Robin. My mind just naturally associated a label with that bird. That's perfectly okay. Just notice that. Notice the mind's linguistic tendencies. There's no need to grapple onto them. Just let the words come and go. And try to really hone in on your visual experience. What does that bird really look like? What does that table really look like? Noticing the subtle details of texture and color and shape. I'll give you a few moments to really zero in on your visual field here. Now I want you to pick one object in your visual field. It could be anything. It could be something natural like a tree or a rock. Or something like a piece of furniture or a little statue on your desk. Papers, A book, Anything like that. And once you've chosen something, I want you to notice all its subtle details. Again, The label for what it is might arise in your head. Just let that come and go. And instead, Bring the emphasis on the subtle shapes, The subtle colors, And textures. Become fully aware of how much this object. . . Is without the label, How much it is beyond the label. Now I'm looking at a plant and that word plant somehow just fails to capture. All the very subtle details of the leaves and the unique shades of color and texture. So let the thoughts, Let the labels come and go. And really. Notice the subtle details of your chosen object. If this feels challenging or awkward, That's perfectly natural. It's sort of a different kind of practice. You can just notice those feelings, Those thoughts come and go. And every time you notice that you've sort of lost that focus on your chosen visual object, Just take that moment to start fresh, To really refresh your view of that object. And look at it as if you've never seen it before, Really trying to study it with an open sense of curiosity. To view it with full clarity, Full vivid detail. Drop the labels. What are you really seeing here? Okay, Whenever you're ready, Letting go of that. You can close your eyes again if you'd prefer. And now we're going to drop the visual experience and do the exact same practice, Noticing the subtle details in auditory experience, So in the sound around you. So taking a moment just to get acquainted with the. Sound environment that you're currently in. You might notice sounds that are close. You might notice sounds that are far away. There might be. Sudden acute sounds like a bang or someone saying something in the other room. There might be long monotonous sounds like the din of an air conditioner or traffic outside. And really notice that the words we're using to describe these sounds. Somehow fail to capture the full sonic experience of really listening to those sounds. Trying to notice the subtle details. As if your current sound environment were a piece of music. That someone had composed and you're listening to this soundscape. In avid detail. Notice how each sound. Maybe has a start, Maybe has an end, But definitely has some sort of fluctuation to it. Even if it seems perfectly constant, If you really focus in on listening closely, You might hear layers of sound. For example, I'm listening to the din of the. . . Heater in this room. And I can hear a low rumble, Which feels pretty constant. But then there's some higher sounds that are fluctuating in and out, Pulsing. Really trying to get into those details. And again, Noticing that. The label heater. Doesn't seem to capture. The entire universe within this simple sound that's been. . . Probably playing in this room all morning, And I'm only noticing it for the first time now. If you want to pick one sound to focus on. Please do that. Though sound can be quite fleeting. It's useful also to just open up to whatever sounds arise, But still the practice is the same. Whenever you're noticing sound to really listen to it and listen to all its subtle texture and tones and frequencies and patterns of movement and change. Noticing that sound in high fidelity. You might even consider doing this practice with the sound of my voice. There's this transmission of meaning of the words that I'm saying. But if you really ignore the meaning of what I'm saying right now, So let go. Of the conception of language and listen to what the sound quality of my voice sounds like. You might hear different vowels and consonants and stops and starts. There might be little pauses between the words. Sort of like the way using genres to describe music kind of fails to capture the essence of the music. Or if anyone has ever tried to describe a movie to you. That you don't really get the full experience. So really trying to move through the conceptual realm of meaning and listen to the sound quality of. Your environment, Which might include my voice, Or the dins of the room, Or distant sounds, Or close sounds. Just noticing the subtle details. Perhaps even noticing their beauty. Appreciating them, Bringing a sense of appreciation. To just how much beauty there is in these subtle details of sound. Okay, And for these last few moments, Just letting go of the practice, Letting go of any effort, Any attempt to guide your attention in any way or to notice anything in particular. And just sitting for a moment or standing or lying, Whatever position you're in, Just letting yourself be as you are. These last few moments. Okay. Great work, Thank you. So you can do whatever you need. To unwind from the practice stretch up. Take a deep breath, Whatever you need. Transition at your own pace. And just a few words about what we just did. Got these four pillars of well-being that the science is pointing us to awareness, Connection, Insight, And purpose. The insight category, Which we're focusing on this week, Is really about cultivating clarity and a healthy sense of self, Really seeing things clearly. And when we say a healthy sense of self, That includes the way we experience the world. So seeing things in your environment clearly. Listening to sounds clearly, But also you can apply these same practices to understanding our inner experience, Our thoughts and emotions, Our body sensations. And so why would we do this? Why would we want to pay attention and see things clearly? Well, If we're able to reconnect to this deeper sense of clarity in the moment, In a moment of struggle or in a moment of a challenging time, For example, Or two months into quarantine, And certainly emotions can be running hot depending on your situation, Or if you're working on the front lines in this pandemic, Or if you're facing economic uncertainty, It can be very useful to reconnect with that big picture that we tend to identify with the superficial day-to-day of our thoughts and our beliefs and our assumptions and our fears and he said, She said, And all of the sort of things that arise, The TV shows, And the music we listen to and the sounds we hear and the loud neighbor. But having the skill to reconnect with this deeper sense of awareness of the subtle details of clarity of connection and appreciation, All connects into a deeper understanding of who you are, A healthier sense of self. And that's what insight is all about. It's about getting that clarity and connecting with it and staying connected with it in the times that you need it most. For yourself, For the people around you, For your communities, For the systems of society you stay in connection with, And ultimately for the world.