I like to give myself words of encouragement like “see it with your mind” or “watch your mind”. These little unspoken words help me to keep my awareness for longer stretches of time.
Being aware of some form helps me come back to simple awareness again and again. It shows me how often & how easily I drift off. No judgment… Just return.
I tried again meditating on the black rock , this time without the distraction of saying the words “black rock”. Very funny that my monkey mind stepped it up a notch, talking a blue streak. It seems like the part of my mind that thinks in words wanted attention. I kept going back to simple awareness, but could not stay with form and awareness very long. It made me laugh!
When I focus on an object I seem to defocus (visually) and have to come back to focus. Still aware of object in defocus but have side thoughts faster in defocus than focus. That seems like a link. Liked switching to open awareness, refreshing and the time for each was about right to challenge but not too much.
Varying between object focus and objectless awareness is helpful in keeping meditatiin fresh. In objectless i have need to occassionally vary gaze up/down if slipping into dullness or mind too busy, and sometimes am looking at a cloud as object when doing objectless , but catch and go back to broader focus.
I discovered that the tendency to name, analyse, and like or dislike the object disappears when I
am able to hold the object in loose focus.
Otherwise when the focus becomes less relaxed,
these distractions become sticky and mind is sucked in and gets lost. It is amazing to see how we wallpaper our reality in this way!
I don’t have a car so I walk a lot and usually the same routes so to stay mindful while I’m walking, I pretend I’m describing everything I see, hear, feel, taste, and smell to a blind, deaf, friend at my side.
Yes a candle is a good support. I don’t tend to want to analyse it as much as a tree for example. I do like the alternate rest in awareness/focus on an object meditation method. Will we continue to do this or is it just a way of exercising our meditation “muscle” at this time?
Today I noticed more the sensations in my eyes than I could focus on the object with eyes and mind.Focusing an object for a longer time in a distanz different than my mobile (I do not want to use my mobile as an object for meditation was hard!
Yesterday I had to go to the dentist and focused on the dentists lamp. That helped me a little bit to forget what she was doing with my teeth.
At the dentist I thought meditating on an object helps to get out of the body but today when I felt the inability to focus for a longer time on a distant object I felt my eyes so that means it does not get me out of my body.
I realised that being a non native English speaking, some key words like “resting” or “mind” do not fully resonate… So I am struggling to fine my own experiencial reference point. For example, “seeing with the mind” didn’t work until I have found the equivalent (I hope it is) of seeing with my heart or full body or becoming one with the object. It is an experiencual feeling of the object “brought” inside of my embodied mind… Pfeu! This sounds too intellectual… I hope I am not corrupting the teaching or deviating too much by doing so…
@LUDMILA-EGOROVAALIGNIA-NET I think I can resonate with what you are saying. I have to connect with the object if i am to be aware of it because the perception of the object changes over time. And this opens a lot of different ways to see the object, not only with my eyes.
It seems my eyes always find something to focus on.
I like to give myself words of encouragement like “see it with your mind” or “watch your mind”. These little unspoken words help me to keep my awareness for longer stretches of time.
Being aware of some form helps me come back to simple awareness again and again. It shows me how often & how easily I drift off. No judgment… Just return.
I tried again meditating on the black rock , this time without the distraction of saying the words “black rock”. Very funny that my monkey mind stepped it up a notch, talking a blue streak. It seems like the part of my mind that thinks in words wanted attention. I kept going back to simple awareness, but could not stay with form and awareness very long. It made me laugh!
When I focus on an object I seem to defocus (visually) and have to come back to focus. Still aware of object in defocus but have side thoughts faster in defocus than focus. That seems like a link. Liked switching to open awareness, refreshing and the time for each was about right to challenge but not too much.
Varying between object focus and objectless awareness is helpful in keeping meditatiin fresh. In objectless i have need to occassionally vary gaze up/down if slipping into dullness or mind too busy, and sometimes am looking at a cloud as object when doing objectless , but catch and go back to broader focus.
I discovered that the tendency to name, analyse, and like or dislike the object disappears when I
am able to hold the object in loose focus.
Otherwise when the focus becomes less relaxed,
these distractions become sticky and mind is sucked in and gets lost. It is amazing to see how we wallpaper our reality in this way!
I don’t have a car so I walk a lot and usually the same routes so to stay mindful while I’m walking, I pretend I’m describing everything I see, hear, feel, taste, and smell to a blind, deaf, friend at my side.
I notice that when I simply look at something, it is much easier to notice when mind wants to label it…… And to choose simply looking
I use a candle. Sometimes it is steady sometimes it wavers and flickers. . Like my mind.
Yes a candle is a good support. I don’t tend to want to analyse it as much as a tree for example. I do like the alternate rest in awareness/focus on an object meditation method. Will we continue to do this or is it just a way of exercising our meditation “muscle” at this time?
I am using a rough cut piece of Himalaya rock salt ,it has one side that surprised me I found myself looking at a chimpanzee.
Today I noticed more the sensations in my eyes than I could focus on the object with eyes and mind.Focusing an object for a longer time in a distanz different than my mobile (I do not want to use my mobile as an object for meditation was hard!
Yesterday I had to go to the dentist and focused on the dentists lamp. That helped me a little bit to forget what she was doing with my teeth.
At the dentist I thought meditating on an object helps to get out of the body but today when I felt the inability to focus for a longer time on a distant object I felt my eyes so that means it does not get me out of my body.
I realised that being a non native English speaking, some key words like “resting” or “mind” do not fully resonate… So I am struggling to fine my own experiencial reference point. For example, “seeing with the mind” didn’t work until I have found the equivalent (I hope it is) of seeing with my heart or full body or becoming one with the object. It is an experiencual feeling of the object “brought” inside of my embodied mind… Pfeu! This sounds too intellectual… I hope I am not corrupting the teaching or deviating too much by doing so…
@LUDMILA-EGOROVAALIGNIA-NET I think I can resonate with what you are saying. I have to connect with the object if i am to be aware of it because the perception of the object changes over time. And this opens a lot of different ways to see the object, not only with my eyes.