Awakening to the art of conscious living …

Resting in our object of attention over and over again- moment to moment- eventually opens our awareness. Practice transforms our attention to awareness- a state of being and seeing where there is quality of clarity in our attention. Attending and conscious awareness- training the mind- is cultivated through this repetition of exercising our natural capacity. We all possess the seed of mindsight– free attention and natural awareness– but for it to grow and develop, we need to disrupt the operation of habituated patterns. Without attention in our own experience, we forget what we are really doing and open the door for habitual patterns to operate freely. Forgetfulness is a major roadblock to our practice. When the right intention, attitude, or outlook to be consciously present in our experience is absent, free attention and awareness cannot be cultivated and habit energy dominates. Reference model for Transforming Habit Energy to review this flow process.

When our free attention is directed on an object of experience, it manifests power for the same reason that emotions have power- energy. When attending and directing energy at what is experienced, we diffuse or reduce the energy of reactive patterns triggered by that experience. When purposeful and intentional, the attention is stable and inclusive- allowing us to be aware not only of the object at hand, but also of whatever else we are experiencing at the moment- for example, awareness of thoughts, feelings & sensations without being distracted. Living in attention is an awakening to life of clarity and vividness as we become liberated from the tyranny of reactive and habituated patterns… habit energy.  A reactive process needs energy to remain a governing and self-perpetuating mechanism operating within us. Without our attention, it cannot “drive” or thrive. Our free attention penetrates and dismantles habit energy.

Mindful attending transforms our being into a life of presence as it penetrates our conditioning of fear, anger, hatred, prejudice, etc.- as well as disrupts its operation and ultimately dismantles our habituated and reactive patterns. Taming and training our minds through purposeful and volitional meditation practice changes our relationships to what and how we experience. The practice itself is experiential not intellectual. What stands between reaction and response is attention. As we rest in our attention and in the space between the two, we break this reactionary cycle. We recognize and acknowledge that we are not completely our storylines.

This awareness itself is a rotation of consciousness as the identity and our relationship to that identity of ourselves may at best be only partially true- but not complete. The storyline of ourselves is a product of habituated sensing, perceiving, feeling, and thinking. It’s our mask as to how we may falsely see and present ourselves to the world. Unfortunately, this masquerade may prevent us from living a life that is more meaningful and complete.

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