Lens of Attention: Mindfulness

Lenses, in the context of the Beacons of Everyday Enlightenment represent more specific concepts and practices through which we can understand the rich meaning of each Beacon. There are Primary Lenses, which are the most commonly understood and most robust meditative concepts, and there are Other Lenses which are a collection of other closely related ideas for that Beacon.

Lens: Mindfulness
Beacons	Attention
Landmarks	Experiment with Mindfulness and Television Notice Multiple Sensations Simple Mindfulness While Walking Try Mindfully Watching Television

Mindfulness is a central theme of Attention. It refers to awareness of our thoughts, feelings, bodily sensations, and the surrounding environment. Mindfulness involves a kind of nonjudgmental observation, in which each thought, feeling, and sensation is acknowledged and accepted as it is. By cultivating mindfulness, one can develop a greater sense of presence, clarity, and equanimity. This attentive presence fosters a greater understanding of the nature of consciousness and is critical to the other Lenses of Attention.

Landmarks

The Realms of Everyday Enlightenment each have some noticeable Landmarks which show the likely alignment someone within that Realm has with each of the Beacons and their various Lenses. These Landmarks are things that need to be noticed and explored in the context of those Lenses and Beacons. And then through working on the Trails and Guides these Landmarks will serve as markers toward the next Realm where new Landmarks await.

Landmarks of Enrollment

Landmark: Notice Multiple Sensations

Landmark: Notice Multiple Sensations
Beacons	Attention
Realms	Enrollment
Lenses	Mindfulness
Guides	Eating
Trails	Learn About Attention

The Landmark of Notice Multiple Sensations starts out with simple Mindful practices of using smell, taste, and touch to Experience the Now. Review these questions to see if you have fully explored this Landmark and are ready to move on.
Landmark Lookouts:

• Paying Attention to a Sensation: Can you practice paying attention to one sensation at a time - such as smelling your meal?
  
• Paying Attention to Multiple Sensations: Can you hold your attention on two or more sensations at a time - such as smelling your meal and feeling your smooth utensils? Can you feel the difference as you move back and forth between single sensations and multiple sensations?
  
• Sensations in The Now: Do you feel how the "weight" of sensations in the present is different than other thoughts which are not part of "Experiencing the Now"?
  

Doing this oatmeal example (or something similar), you'll be introduced to the first basic concepts of practicing Mindfulness, as part of simply eating something. There is a lot more to it, but just the simple act of paying attention to sensations is enough to help you "Experience the Now".

• When it's time for your next meal, sit down at your table with your plate of food.
• Before you begin eating, take a moment to appreciate the sight and smell of your food.
• As you pick up your fork or spoon, bring all your attention to the act of eating.
• Pay attention to every sensation of each bite - the flavors, the texture, the temperature, the muscles used in chewing and swallowing.
• With your attention fully on the experience of eating, notice that all of these sensations make up "The Now" - this is what is happening!
• When your mind wanders, notice where it goes, then gently guide it back to your eating.
• Even if your mind wanders a hundred times, bring it back a hundred times.
• Clean up after your meal, maintaining your focus on the present moment.

=== Landmark: Simple Mindfulness While Walking ===

Landmark: Simple Mindfulness While Walking
Beacons	Attention
Realms	Enrollment
Lenses	Mindfulness
Guides	Walking

The Landmark of Simple Mindfulness While Walking is a good place to start practicing Mindfulness throughout your day. You should be able to be mindful anytime at all, and working on micro-meditative practices can be done in many different ways and places. Review these questions to see if you have fully explored this Landmark and are ready to move on.
Landmark Lookouts:

• Simple Mindfulness: Can you shift into a calm, attentive state where you are paying attention to what is around you?
  
• Mindful Walking: Can you experience a Mindful state, or Mindful qualities while walking or going about your day?
  

Wherever will be walking next should be a great time to be Mindful. Practice these types of steps.

• Try to just simply be as mindful as you know how, and be attentive to the walk, bringing your attention back to whatever feels pleasant, rather than allowing thoughts to distract you.
• Be aware of the sky and consider it as a ceiling or dome enclosing you in an area. Feel the quality of this area and how you are walking through it. Rest in this area and sense that it is the only place that exists in The Now.
• Whenever you notice your mind wandering, don't worry about that, and simply enjoy any mindful strategy for your current walk
  • Your feet are walking - notice the sound of your feet, the feeling of the steps
  • Your face - wind and sun create sensations on your face
  • Noises - what are the most pleasant and calming noises?
  • The Now - remember that you are "here" and it is the perfect place to be right now.

Landmarks of Engagement

Landmark: Experiment with Mindfulness and Television

Landmark: Experiment with Mindfulness and Television
Beacons	Attention
Realms	Engagement
Lenses	Mindfulness
Guides	Rooms and Boundaries Television

The Landmark of Experiment with Mindfulness and Television invites you to experience Mindfulness in another way to discover that Experience the Now is more complicated than just recognizing sights and sounds, it also means paying attention to your own mind, and in this case particularly how your own mind is perceiving and reacting to The Now. Review these questions to see if you have fully explored this Landmark and are ready to move on.
Landmark Lookouts:

• Mindfulness Near a Television: Can you be fully present and Mindful with a television playing in the room, which includes being mindful of the sound and light coming from the television?
  
• Mindfulness in the Television: Are you able to shift your mindfulness to the situations on the television as if you were in that scenario?
  
• Mindfulness of the Room and the Television: Are you able to extend your mindfulness to include both the scenario of the room you are in, and the scenario on the television, as if they were all taking place in the same Now?
  

With those questions in mind, try these steps while sitting at the TV.

• Enter a mindful state, and acknowledge that the television is a source of light, motion and sound in the room you are in. Mindfully notice the shape of your own room, what objects are in the room giving off sound and light or moving. For example, an overhead fan is providing a breeze, a gentle sound, and constant motion. Notice that the television is merely another object in the room, with no more significance than things like a fan or a lamp.
• Now shift your perspective into the television. Notice that you can be mindful of what is going on inside the television (the show, the movie, whatever it is) as if that was the whole world. Be fully present as if your universe was contained in the same universe as what is on TV. Your physical body, and the room around you melt into the background, and now you can engage in basic mindful activities from the perspective of a fly on the wall within the TV.
  • What are the various background sounds? (Birds, cars, people talking softly at a table.) - Try some of the Sounds Skills.
  • Whatever mindfulness exercises you personally connect with, try to apply them to what is on the television.
  • If what you are watching doesn't lend itself to any of these exercises, that's okay. Instead, practice mindfully watching the show, without distraction, allowing the world around you to melt away, and drawing all your attention to what is on TV.
• Once more shift your perception, now to include both the world of the television, and your own world, as if the space and experience within the TV was taking place within the room you are in. This will not make contextual sense in many cases, but in some cases (for example) it would be easy to see the people on the TV sitting at a table and feel that they are sitting at a table in the room with you.
• Note that this exercise is very similar to how you might play with your perception in a Mirror. Try adapting some of those exercises to the television.

=== Landmark: Try Mindfully Watching Television ===

Landmark: Try Mindfully Watching Television
Beacons	Attention
Realms	Engagement
Lenses	Mindfulness
Guides	Television

The Landmark of Try Mindfully Watching Television shows how you can treat Television as another object for your Mindfully Attention. Simply sit back, enjoy your TV show, but apply some Mindfulness to that time. Review these questions to see if you have fully explored this Landmark and are ready to move on.
Landmark Lookouts:

• Watch Television Mindfully: Rather than paying Attention to The Now in "your world", can you apply Mindfulness to what's going on in the Television show?
  
• Watch Television And Be Mindful: Can you watch television Mindfully, and at the same time pay attention to the room you are in with the same Mindfulness?
  

Just as you can be (and should be!) Mindful when with other People, you can apply that same Skill to your experience watching Television. For this Skill there's no need to put any additional layer of meditative effort into it more than just watching Television with Attention. Regardless of what you're watching, consider each of the following:

• Are you distracted by anything else right now? What is it, and why are you being pulled in that direction? Can you feel a tugging that pulls you away from what's on TV?
• Can you rest at peace with the show you're watching, without any need to wonder what's going on, what's coming up, etc.?
• You might review some of the Sounds Skills, and see how to apply them here. This will depend greatly on what you're watching, as some shows you might not want to do these.
  • Pay attention to certain sounds on the show. Especially things like certain vocal inflections from a given character that comes up often during dialogue.
• Pay attention to one moment of the show at a time. Allow every sound and sight to hit you, without any attempt to understand or absorb that one moment. Naturally, another moment, and another will continue to arise, and each time let just one moment exist at a time. After all, that's all that does ever exist at any time.
• Another completely different angle is to mindfully watch TV while also mindfully paying attention to the whole room. After all, what's going on the screen and speakers is co-equal in consciousness with anything else taking place in the room.

Landmarks of Enrichment

Landmarks for this Realm (Enrichment) will be added here when those pages are created.

Shadows

The Beacons of Everyday Enlightenment provide powerful guidance through the Realms. The Lenses represent different facets of those Beacons, which provide further focus or illumination of that Beacon. On the other hand, Lenses are also accompanied by two types of Shadows which tend to obscure our journey to Enlightenment. The first kind of Shadows are the Looming Shadows, which are the obvious opposite of a given Lens, and should hopefully be easy to avoid and train against once we understand them. The second kind are the Flickering Shadows, which could be confused with the associated Lenses, because they are quite similar to the Lens, while actually being a harmful or negative counterpart. Both types of Shadows should be understood in the context of the Lens and Beacon, and reviewed periodically to ensure our view is not obscured. Within the Lens of Mindfulness, is awareness of thoughts, feelings, bodily sensations, and the surrounding environment without judgment.

• Looming Shadow - Mindlessness, is moving through life without awareness, devoid of the presence of mind, is the exact opposite of being mindful
• Flickering Shadow - Overthinking, is when being mindfully present and aware in each moment turns into excessive analysis or fixation, detracting from the simplicity and essence of the moment.

Resources

• Getting Started with Mindfulness - "Mindfulness is the basic human ability to be fully present, aware of where we are and what we’re doing, and not overly reactive or overwhelmed by what’s going on around us."