Learning to notice ......

Are you even paying attention to where your awareness is? A Still Point Curiosity & Contentment self enquiry

Welcome to our next Curiosity & Contentment post for members of the Still Point meditation & mentoring community inside Inner Source.

If you would like to subscribe or upgrade to read the full post and come to the live mediation circles (via Zoom) then you can do so below.

If you are already a free subscriber then find out how to upgrade here

---

The beating of wings as a flock of redwings move collectively over the rooftop, the pinkish red flush of the Japanese Acer standing proudly between its green neighbours, the fallen tree stump from a recent storm moved to the side of the path now so I no longer need to step over it.

In the space of a few minutes into my regular walk I’ve noticed all these things . The Acer tree particularly caught my eye because I’m shocked I’ve never even registered it before!  Head down, maybe earphones in,  brain somewhere else as I’m marching up the road to reach the path where we turn off away from the traffic and enter our little enclave of calm. My dog and I.  This woodland footpath which runs parallel to the road, behind the local park, is full of beautiful gems of nature. A narrow stream trickling down hill, glass-like over the smooth rocks, the bird song that is ever present yet frequently unnoticed. Stepping carefully over the logs making a tiny bridge over the once again muddy ground,  I think to myself once again ‘how on earth have I never seen that tree before?’

Like anyone else I have to pay attention to being aware and noticing. My mind is more often than not distracted by my day.  I have to set out with an intention to be aware in order to be aware. I’ve mentioned this before and I will mention it again - I am a classic busy-minded person. Whatever might be the underlying reason for this or whether it’s just simply a habit I’ve developed,  I find it incredibly difficult to switch off my brain.

However, through the practice of morning meditation, breathwork and purposefully being mindful during my day I can stop the ever growing swell of arousal within my head and bring it back down to calmer, stiller waters.

When I do this I’m the better version of myself  when my husband and daughter come home. I can cook our evening meal and regard it as precious time to reflect on the day rather than a task to be completed. I can recognise whatever's been done today is enough, close my laptop and leave it till the morning. I can watch the news and acknowledge all the terrible things happening in the world with a degree of equanimity when there is little I can do to alter it. 

 If I watch television, I can stop after an appropriate amount of time and get to bed, leaving sufficient time to read a few pages of my novel before turning the light out.

All of this sounds very deliberate and controlled. Most probably, yes it is. Creating a format and the schedule for my day has brought me far more contentment and space to be curious about my life.

Awareness

There is so much stuff out there about mindfulness to the point it becomes overused and people stop listening or get bored with the idea. Being mindful to me is about paying attention to what we’re paying attention to. Where our awareness is. 

I’ve gained great clarity about this through my meditation practice bringing the distinction to where my awareness is and if it has gone elsewhere.  When my attention notices my awareness is no longer on my breath but off thinking about a phone conversation I need to have or what I’m going to eat for my breakfast or something that happened the previous day, it can bring my awareness back. That might not make any sense and it may simply be semantics but it’s really helped me both in my practice and in my daily  application of being mindful.

When we learn to notice what’s going on in the world around us it helps us to see what’s going on in our heads. 

Learning to notice takes practice like learning anything else and we have to go about it in a really deliberate way. Taking ourselves from consciously incompetent can feel like a steep learning curve. However, unlike many other things you may want to do, this gives you the instant gratification and instant reward of feeling calmer, clearer and more present. It takes discipline to build the habit to continue once the motivation wears off but underpinned with the inspiration to truly experience the life we are living, these instant rewards build to an even greater longer term pay-off. 

Question for today