So when working with focused attention and broad awareness,
What's really happening?
What are we doing here?
We choose to focus our attention on a meditation object.
Right,
Typically the breath.
The mind wanders,
We bring it back.
The mind wanders,
We bring it back.
But our focused attention is like a microscope or a laser.
It's very good at,
And with practice it gets better at,
Seeing everything in a small circumference.
The feelings of the breath at the nose,
Or whatever we choose as our anchor.
But that focused attention can easily shift to something else,
And then all of our focused attention goes into that space.
And it's hard for us to,
Initially at least,
And potentially ongoing,
Be aware that we've shifted.
It's like we're focusing our attention on this thing now.
So we get very good at focused attention,
Practicing mindfulness,
But sometimes we lose the capacity to see what we're focusing on.
I know that sounds like a bit of a contradiction,
But we're refocusing our mind again and again and again and again,
And we're really focusing deeply.
So we're training focus.
But focus without awareness of the broader context can lead to a focus upon something else.
So we add the idea of broad awareness.
We step back,
We see with peripheral vision,
We see the broader picture,
All the possible things that could distract us.
And we're just sort of almost keeping a net,
Casting our gaze wide.
But just like a percent or two,
We've got the majority of our focus upon the meditation object,
And the rest of it broad.
Right,
Just a tiny bit broad,
But it's like we're noticing things as they come across.
We're noticing what our mind is throwing up.
Because for whatever reason,
We're not focusing the mind.
The mind doesn't like to be focused.
It's not a natural thing.
Mindfulness meditation itself is a practice.
It's a skill to develop.
It's like juggling.
It's like dancing.
It's like any other skill.
It takes time and practice for our mind and our body to sort of learn the pathways,
Learn what we're doing,
And sort of get on board with it.
And it doesn't like being focused.
It wants to bounce around.
It wants to scan.
It wants to keep us safe.
It wants to make us think of different things.
Because doing so is a safety mechanism.
I think when it comes down to it,
It's a survival response.
Focusing on the breath,
Focusing the mind,
Bringing it back,
Bringing it back,
Bringing it back is a very valuable skill.
But if you were just doing that,
If we were born with this natural capacity to do it,
We'd be far more at risk of predators.
Right?
We'd be far more at risk of danger to the self.
It's not evolutionarily beneficial in a way.
So we scan.
We're constantly on the lookout for danger.
And in the same sense,
Our mind is constantly saying,
Hey,
Think of this,
Think of this,
Think of this,
Think of this.
Because the more we think of these different things,
The more we,
I guess,
Address the potential problems,
The more we are anxious,
The quote unquote safer we are.
Evolution doesn't care for feelings.
It doesn't care for mental state.
It cares for survival and procreation.
Right?
So our mind will constantly be throwing up the idea of scanning,
Thinking of all of these different things.
But we are more than just that.
We can choose to practice this point of focus.
We focus with our focused attention upon the breath.
And then we notice what our mind is throwing up at us.
Oh,
Look at that sound.
Consider this thought.
Think of this thing.
Feel this bodily feeling.
What does it mean?
What does it mean?
What does it mean?
Thanks,
Brain.
I see that that's there in peripheral vision.
I'm going to refocus upon the breath.
That's the way I look at it.
And there'll be many different interpretations of it.
But,
I mean,
Even just more broadly speaking,
The mind is constantly activating and triggering.
And that process of just the mind being active will itself throw things up.
Maintain the focus on the breath,
Broad awareness to catch it.
Does that make sense?
