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
