Attention
In this meditation I was paying attention to my breath arising and passing. There is sound from the tv in the other room; I note "hearing" and continue to focus on the breath. Then I note "hearing" again, but this time hearing doesn't pass by, but rather, I am seduced by these particular sounds and my thoughts go straight to the sound -- curious, intrigued, grasping. I notice how my attention reaches out to the sound of it's own volition -- like a mindless reaction. I use my will to pull the attention back to the breath. Mind still wants to investigate the sound. My will makes a choice to put the attention back on the breath. It went back and forth this way a few times until the sound dissolved and I was again watching the breath.
I saw how using my will to place my attention on specific objects, vs. allowing my mind to fly around wildly, concentrates my attention and strengthens my ability to focus. Conversely, and more illuminating for me, I saw how not focusing my attention allows my mind to be swept away by any (or all) passing phenomenon.
I saw how using my will to place my attention on specific objects, vs. allowing my mind to fly around wildly, concentrates my attention and strengthens my ability to focus. Conversely, and more illuminating for me, I saw how not focusing my attention allows my mind to be swept away by any (or all) passing phenomenon.
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I had a dream the other night that seemed significant enough for me to write down, but also somewhat strange to relate.
Before I had gone to bed, I was meditating (of course, what else). And then it seemed my meditation spilled over into my sleep, because when my husband came in to bed, I woke up and detailed to him the object of my meditation. He just "uh humm-ed" and fell asleep. But then I again woke up later in the night and seemed to still be in a meditation. The prominent object was the symbol of a star. It seemed the one communicating the star symbol to me was actually me from the past sending myself a signal (no, I did not watch a Star Trek re-run the night before.)
The communique' I was receiving was to focus on the star in my meditations. There were two perspectives to the star symbol. One perspective was a point of focus for my meditation, and I'm sure each of the 5 points of the star represented something, too - perhaps compassion, loving kindness, or something like that.
The other view was the star representing the world or life as we perceive though our senses. First, I saw the star as one dimensional - just lines on a page. I could equate these simple lines on the page to simple thoughts. Then the star took on a 3-dimensional quality when more lines were added, and it expanded up into space more. And the same equates to thoughts expanding life to larger proportions.
An example could be: I think of a car - simple lines on the page. I continue to think about the car and I begin to feel happy feelings about driving the car and hearing the engine roar. So I obtain the car and I begin to drive it and hear the engine roar. My life takes on a larger dimension from the additional thoughts (lines).
Alright, here's the crazy dream written down on this page from my past-life self to my current-life self. I have put away my judging mind and allowed the thoughts to pass along as they will. No holding onto anything. Just open space...
The laws of life are five:
Nonviolence,
Truthfulness,
Integrity,
Chastity,
Nonattachment.
These laws are universal. Unaffected by time, place, birth, or circumstance, together they constitute the "Great Law of Life."
-The Yoga Sutras of Patanjali, 2:30-31
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