My experience is what I agree to attend to. ~ William James

In our practice, we cultivate our ability to pay attention- objectively, openly, compassionately, and precisely. With refinement, our attending skill strengthens our capacity for self-regulation- to monitor and modify the flow of thoughts, feelings, and bodily sensations we experience. With a mindful way of attending, we remain open and curious exploring and examining our activities of mind in the present moment as they happen and as they are… calm and stable… concentrated and discerning. We remain steady even in the storm of streaming distractions that flood our awareness and compete for our freely focused attention.

We attend in the present moment with benevolent and purposeful intent as if it really mattered. Mindfulness is a quality of this willful attention that fosters the energy and power to truly transform the way we engage and relate to our own lives. Attending with the energy of mindfulness, we manifest an openness in awareness to see and examine the full spectrum of our direct experiences while refining a piercing level of concentration to penetrate the conditions and habits of mind that obscure our “true nature”. In the absence of this free attention, open awareness, and calm, stable concentration, we wander aimlessly with the whims of our minds. To break the cycle and free ourselves of a confused mind – to see clearly into the cause and condition of our unskillful patterns- and into the root of our suffering, we need to train in the mindful discipline of attending and concentration.

It is mindsight, which works to regulate our free attention and open awareness- focusing in and out like a lens on a camera. This mechanism “to see within” arises from our formal and informal mindfulness practice. Over time, our refined attention can move fluidly within the spectrum of observation from a widely “macro” to a precisely “micro” view. Mindsight helps to direct the energy and power of concentration to illuminate the nature of what is seen and examined in the light of mindfulness.

Collected and unified, our attention gathers its power and precision to penetrate the nature of what is observed. As a result of our strengthened capacity to remain present with our events of mind- regardless of their content- we become more flexible, resilient, and adaptive to both our inner and outer happenings. Attending mindfully allows us to find greater peace and ease within ourselves no matter what the conditions. The more we practice with this purposeful intent, the greater we enhance and strengthen our skill to pay attention… what we seed and nourish will eventually develop.

Comments