I have found the book "Aware" by Daniel J. Siegel, MD interesting and valuable. Dr. Siegel conceives of good meditation as working a circle. He believes that as we use our minds to check with parts of ourselves, those parts benefit while at the same time, we develop better awareness of what is going on in and around us.
He envisions a circle divided into four quarters. The center of the circle is our mind and our attention. We can direct our attention to various points on the circle while the center represents our ability to be aware and to be aware that we are aware. That "aware of being aware" is the conscious human mind that knows itself to be alive and thinking.
My last two posts have been about directing attention to our sensory perceptions of sight, hearing, touch, smell and taste and then about checking with all sensations available from inside the body. The third quadrant is our minds, our mental activity, including thoughts, emotions and feelings, and memories. Basic one-point mind training is usually explained as keeping one's attention on an object or on one's breath and returning attention to that target when one notices that the jumpy mind has slipped off the focus. Our minds are built to wander, to reflect, to anticipate danger or discomfort, to recall pleasures and anticipate further experiences. Basic one-point meditation uses a target and returns to that target after wandering is noticed. The return to the target is the valuable moment of training.
The teacher and writer Eckhart Tolle uses a handy approach to the mind, especially when, as in this third quadrant, we are using the mind to look at the mnd. Tolle advises asking, "What is my next thought going to be?" Staying alert for one's next thought can be fun. Sometimes, I have a thought without recognizing as a thought. I might form a mental picture of myself sitting alert and ready to receive my next thought. That mental picture is a thought! It is not important to pounce on a thought immediately nor to recognize it as such instantly. The point is to observe what enters my mind and to be aware of it when possible.
Books about meditation and being aware of where the mind is going also explain how some meditators simply watch the mind as it rolls out thought, thought, feeling, memory, feeling and so on. Doing that can be fun, amusing and interesting but the danger is that once you think of needing an oil change or being out of milk or calling the office, you will immediately stop practicing and go complete an errand. The helpful book by Harvey Aronson "Buddhist Practice on Western Ground" explains one tool that might keep the thoughts flowing while being noticed. The psychotherapist Ira Progoff recommended observing the mind with pen and paper at hand to jot down interesting mental experiences that pop up.
Other practitioners simply learn to observe the mind while staying aware that thoughts are only just that: thoughts. Seeing those mental bits that come up without getting caught up or distracted by them is possible and valuable.
