FOCUSED ATTENTION

TV party tonight

TV party tonight

TV party tonight

TV party tonight!

- Black Flag

Focused Attention meditation is a practice where you focus on your breath. The goal is to try to be fully present. It helps to start to build the attention muscle. Notice the thoughts that come up, return to your breath. Turns out, it’s not actually about shutting down thoughts and not having them at all. It’s being fully aware that you are having them. It’s almost like you are watching TV and there are little ads popping up. You are watching your “breath show.” Every once in a while, there will be a little ad that pops up in the corner. You notice that the ad popped up and turn your attention back to the breathing show. Some days, there will be very few ads. Other days, the ads will be big, prominent and in your face. They might even be interesting to you, or they might be frustrating. Regardless, the breath show is always on regardless of what the ads are doing. You just return to the show. The goal is simple. Watch the show. Return to the show when you notice you got distracted.