In this meditation we're going to get curious about what attention is.
What is our attention and how does it differ from awareness?
What is the relationship,
The dynamic between these two aspects of mind,
Attention and awareness?
So as usual just take some time to get comfortable,
Make sure you have everything you need and just settling into a comfortable posture.
And let's start by becoming aware of awareness.
So we can do this with our eyes open or our eyes closed.
And just having a sense of this broad awareness and everything it contains.
So there's all the sense impressions.
Just taking some time to go through each of the senses and notice the sense impressions.
Sights,
Sounds,
Smell,
Taste and touch.
Sights,
Sounds,
Smell.
There's also feelings,
Emotions,
Intuitions.
There's a sense of spaciousness of the space behind us.
The space in front of us and all around us,
Above us and below us.
What else is there in awareness?
Just take some time to sit with that question.
So we have this sense of a broad,
Potentially limitless awareness that contains everything.
Everything appears in awareness and then fades from awareness.
So just keeping a sense of this broad awareness,
Let's get curious about what attention is.
So attention,
The word attention comes from the Latin and it literally means stretching towards.
So just seeing if we can get a sense of that,
Of how the mind stretches towards an object,
A sensation,
A thought,
A feeling.
There's a kind of reaching out towards this,
Towards that.
So if we're meditating with our eyes closed,
Just opening our eyes and choosing an object in front of us could just be the ground in front of us or any object.
Just resting our visual attention on that object.
So this is attention,
A stretching towards,
A reaching out.
Okay.
So just notice how when we fix our awareness on that one spot,
Our broader awareness,
Our broader awareness can fade.
The awareness of the rest of the room,
The awareness of ourselves,
The awareness of the space around us.
And when we broaden our awareness out to include all of that,
We can lose our sense of attention.
The mind is pulled in this direction and that direction.
So we're going to see if we can stabilize our attention on the object.
Just letting our attention rest there.
And as our attention becomes more and more stable,
We allow awareness to open up.
So one is not at the expense of the other.
So our attention on the object is stable.
And our awareness of everything else is opening up,
Becoming limitless.
And when you're ready,
Just closing our eyes.
And taking the breath as the object of attention.
So choosing the point at which you have the strongest sense of the breath in the body.
It might be in your belly,
In your chest,
Wherever it is.
Just resting your attention there.
And when you're ready,
Just opening awareness.
Opening awareness out.
To include everything,
All sensations,
Feelings,
Thoughts,
Sense of spaciousness.
So our attention is stable,
Is resting on the object,
Resting on our breath.
And awareness is fast,
Open,
Limitless.
Like a clear blue sky.
This is mindfulness.
This focused attention with open awareness.
As Ginny O'Dell says,
Attention is a state of openness that assumes there is something new to be discovered.
So for the last few minutes of this meditation,
Seeing if there's something new for you to discover about yourself,
About the breath,
About the mind.
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