Observation Points
If we aspire to become more aware and compassionate, as we’ve talked about, the most direct way is to develop intimacy with the ‘traffic’ in our minds. There are all kinds of ways to go about it: meditating; reading; listening to CD’s of teachers that interest or inspire us; working with specific explorations or exercises in our everyday lives; talking with friends; joining a meditation or Buddhist community; working one-on-one with a teacher – all of these can help our minds develop a habit of looking freshly at what is going on.
There are specific angles from which it can be helpful or productive to look at our thoughts. These are listed below -- they don’t take the place of the suggestions above, but they might touch on areas that you can feel you need to explore more deeply.
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At times, you might also find it helpful to have some kind of regular reminder that helps you recall your aspiration to notice your mind, whether in general or in relation to a particular angle that you are working with. Here are some possibilities:
--a few times a week, reading a paragraph of a related book that inspires you
--if you work at a computer, setting a pop-up reminder on your computer that comes up every few hours to suggest that you ‘notice what’s going on in your mind’
--if you’re in a setting where you hear a phone ring a few times a day, that can be a reminder to notice your mind too
Or, you can just go at your own pace and notice what you notice, with no extra reminders at all. If you don’t notice your mind even once for days – that’s fine – that’s how it was for me and occasionally still is! Over the months and years, though, the noticing still adds up to something transformative.
Physical Sensations
Exploration: Speaking from the Body
Awareness Within a Group
Exploration: Why Am I Speaking?
List Consciousness
The Las Vegas of the Mind
Exploration: The Five Whys
Opening and Vulnerability
Anxiety and Control
Exploration: Noticing Directing, Suggesting, Controlling
Fear and Courage
Exploration: And That Means...
Pain and Suffering
Slowing Down
Ambiguity and Uncertainty
Exporation: Multiple Threads
More on Meditation
Exploration: Top Ten Tunes
Insight from Others