A CLOSER LOOK
Since awareness works so hard to help us stay concentrated let's give it it's just rewards. Sounds turn into thoughts. Got it. Barking dog, sound, back to concentration. It can't be that simple. Well it is but not necessarily easy, especially for the novice meditator.
A life lesson. Everything has a beginning a middle and an end. From a single breathe to a life, this is the process. You inhale (beginning), your lungs fill (middle), you exhale (end). You are born (beginning), you age (middle), you die (end). EVERYTHING in existence must follow this process. Even a distraction. We talk of a barking dog as a distraction that is disturbing, takes us out of the zone and ruins our session. BAD SOUND. But what if we hear the laughter of a young child. "How sweet". "Sounds so nice to hear a baby laugh". "One of my most favorite sounds in the whole wide world". GOOD SOUND. NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO! A sound is a distraction whether it's a bad sound or a good sound. They are all just sounds. We cannot push the bad sound out and welcome the good sound in. They all must go. So get to work, awareness.
A distraction occurs long before it becomes a distraction. We may be talking milliseconds here but time none the less. When the dog barks or the baby laughs awareness is hard at work identifying it and moving it along. Remember, everything has a beginning, a middle and an end. Look at it as a passing cloud. The sky is clear, along come some clouds, then they pass. Same with distractions. Awareness helps move the distraction along. In the beginning phase of meditation the distractions may be moving along at a snails pace. They meander along slowly, methodically. The job of awareness through practice is to move the distraction along as fast as possible. Remember, I said through practice. The more we meditate the better we become. Trust me and millions of others who will attest that the more you practice the better it gets, the longer you stay concentrated and in bliss. Eventually the passing clouds are moving like Nascar, you barely see them. The distraction is labeled and it disappears. The same with a thought. Out of nowhere you realize you need gas and it stops your concentration. Not for long. It is labeled as a thought and it disappears.
Three phrases to remember that must become a part of your practice. Identify, label, move along. Beginning, middle, end. Bark, sound, concentration. Gas, thought, concentration. Faster and faster and faster until it happens so quickly you don't even know it happened and your concentration remains intact. We can't out think the mind but we can trick it into thinking it's in charge when it really isn't. But what about a feeling?
Next Post - A DISTRACTION CALLED FEELING
Sunday, December 9, 2018
Saturday, December 1, 2018
INTRODUCTION TO MEDITATION PART VIII
DEALING WITH DISTRACTIONS - PT 2, AWARENESS
So as we meditate and concentrate on our object a sound, feeling or thought pulls us away. The object of meditation, as said many times before is to stay in the moment, so the longer we dwell on the distraction the longer we are out of the moment. But meditation has an ally called awareness (mindfulness), the watchdog of concentration. As we sit locked in concentration stuff is happening all around. Stuff that will break our concentration, take us out of the moment and frustrate the crap out of us. This is where awareness comes into play.
Let's examine a distraction, the barking dog. A dog barks. Our hearing picks it up and transports the sound to our mind where it analyzes, categorizes and stores it. Unfortunately the mind does not work silently in the background. In the split second the mind is analyzing, categorizing and storing it is also screaming, "It's a dog". "Sounds like a big dog". Sounds like a big dog that is close". Sounds like a big dog that is close and hurt". "Why doesn't someone do something about that injured, big, close dog that is barking"? This process could take 10 seconds or more depending on how much we engage it, which is 10 seconds or more away from the bliss of meditation. So where does awareness come into play?
Remember the job of concentration is to find a target, lock on and hold on for dear life. But in the concentration vs mind war, the mind wins. It is virtually impossible to out think the mind. Left alone to battle the mind, concentration comes up with the short end of the stick. Luckily concentration brings backup in the form of awareness. So as concentration is locked onto the target awareness is patrolling the area looking for potential distractions. Again, the dog. Awareness will hear the dog bark but can't physically block the sound from the mind which passes it along to disturb our concentration. We cannot stop this from happening. So what's the use?
Remember distractions come in the form of feelings or sounds. Once more, the dog. When a dog barks it is not a dog barking but a sound. An airplane flying overhead is a sound. Music is sound. So the fastest and easiest way to turn a distraction back to concentration is to label it as fast as possible. SOUND, FEELING OR THOUGHT. It's that simple. No need to complicate it or over analyze it. Awareness can label it and move it along. The more we practice meditation, concentration and awareness, the easier it becomes and the faster we move through the process. Awareness takes it's job seriously so let it do it's work.
Next post - A CLOSER LOOK
So as we meditate and concentrate on our object a sound, feeling or thought pulls us away. The object of meditation, as said many times before is to stay in the moment, so the longer we dwell on the distraction the longer we are out of the moment. But meditation has an ally called awareness (mindfulness), the watchdog of concentration. As we sit locked in concentration stuff is happening all around. Stuff that will break our concentration, take us out of the moment and frustrate the crap out of us. This is where awareness comes into play.
Let's examine a distraction, the barking dog. A dog barks. Our hearing picks it up and transports the sound to our mind where it analyzes, categorizes and stores it. Unfortunately the mind does not work silently in the background. In the split second the mind is analyzing, categorizing and storing it is also screaming, "It's a dog". "Sounds like a big dog". Sounds like a big dog that is close". Sounds like a big dog that is close and hurt". "Why doesn't someone do something about that injured, big, close dog that is barking"? This process could take 10 seconds or more depending on how much we engage it, which is 10 seconds or more away from the bliss of meditation. So where does awareness come into play?
Remember the job of concentration is to find a target, lock on and hold on for dear life. But in the concentration vs mind war, the mind wins. It is virtually impossible to out think the mind. Left alone to battle the mind, concentration comes up with the short end of the stick. Luckily concentration brings backup in the form of awareness. So as concentration is locked onto the target awareness is patrolling the area looking for potential distractions. Again, the dog. Awareness will hear the dog bark but can't physically block the sound from the mind which passes it along to disturb our concentration. We cannot stop this from happening. So what's the use?
Remember distractions come in the form of feelings or sounds. Once more, the dog. When a dog barks it is not a dog barking but a sound. An airplane flying overhead is a sound. Music is sound. So the fastest and easiest way to turn a distraction back to concentration is to label it as fast as possible. SOUND, FEELING OR THOUGHT. It's that simple. No need to complicate it or over analyze it. Awareness can label it and move it along. The more we practice meditation, concentration and awareness, the easier it becomes and the faster we move through the process. Awareness takes it's job seriously so let it do it's work.
Next post - A CLOSER LOOK
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