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
