Just Notice

[Karmoh]

Michael David on another thread mentioned noticing and I thought how wonderfully liberating noticing is. So thank you Michael for inspiring this post.

Notice that you are living in a mystery which we call life.

Notice that life is an opus of sights, sounds, smells, sensations, thoughts, feelings, states, and experiences.

Notice how beautiful and big, and yet how empty, the space around you is when you go outside. It never ends. It encompasses you. Notice that this space is who you are. It is within you. It is you.

Notice your hands move to your mouth while you are eating, and then back to the plate. Feel the sensations of eating.

Notice the feeling of water rushing over your hands as you wash the dishes.

Notice your fingers moving as you type words onto your computer, and notice the space around the fingers.

Notice the beauty of an old, dead tree stump. It is simply dissolving into the mystery which gave birth to it.

Notice that when you really listen to music with your whole body instead of just your ears or your mind, it feels as if it is emanating from deep within you.

Notice that you are the instrument through which life is living itself.

Notice the smile on your kids face, and the scowl of an upset neighbour

Notice the smells all around you, whether it is the smell of flowers, a cake baking in the oven, or something you trod in.

Notice the warmth in the air, a breeze blowing by.

Notice the cold wind. And notice that when you believe you are separate from that cold, it feels colder. Embrace the cold wind and the wind seems to warm up.

Notice that life is like a stream rushing by and through you. It is constantly moving, yet there is a deeply silent, immovable awareness in you watching the whole thing.

Notice that there is quietness under each sound, and that sound arises out of and falls back into that quietness.

Notice your breath coming in and out. Life is breathing you. How ordinary, yet how magnificent!

Notice the feel of the ground beneath your feet as you walk, and the clouds moving through the unchanging sky above.

After reading please read again, this time have this quote in mind.

As you are reading, notice any energy that leads you to think or feel that you should be getting something from these words. These words cannot give you what you already are. You are already whole. The most these words can do is remind you of this.

Peace

[Michael David]

Originally Posted by Karmoh

Notice that you are living in a mystery which we call life.

Notice that life is an opus of sights, sounds, smells, sensations, thoughts, feelings, states, and experiences.


Notice the feeling of water rushing over your hands as you wash the dishes.

As you are reading, notice any energy that leads you to think or feel that you should be getting something from these words. These words cannot give you what you already are. You are already whole. The most these words can do is remind you of this.

Peace

Hi Karmoh

The words of your post were with me this morning; tagging along as I walked.

A thought came up and I noticed a sense of being happy which upon further review divided into the components of approval, acknowledgement and recognition. Each of the components having a slightly different feeling and taken together making up the sense of being happy.

Like the color blue which has many shades such as aqua marine, sky blue, navy blue or teal blue emotions or feelings are also made up of their components.

I think Karmoh is asking us to become aware at least of the surface of what is before us. He is asking us to notice to focus in on whatever it is that we are interacting with; in as many moments as we can.

Why do this?

Notice the water that touches your hands when you do the dishes. Is it hot or cold? How fast is the water running? Where did the water come from where is it going? How did the water get to you, how many people were involved in getting that water? For most of us it comes through pipes and then goes out through pipes. We see a little bit of it between the faucet and the drain in the sink. It came from a chemical plant and goes through another chemical plant. From a resevoir, a river, a water source from some place and it goes back to a large body of water. It evaporates and goes up into the sky and comes down again as rain. It flows down the mountain flows through the rivers and resevoirs and some goes back into the ocean and some we use.

Each of the steps of the journey of the water is connected to the one before it and the one after it. These steps are the components of the water we use in washing the dishes like those that make up the colors or emotions we have. As we become aware by noticing more and more of the details of what is around us we become more connected. Along with this connecting is a slowing down a shifting to becoming more mindful. We can actually slow down to the speed of now and join its flow.

For me I feel that as a happy emotion.

Karmoh might say just notice the emotion.
Giles might say just meet this moment.

What is it like for you to slow down to the speed of now?

Michael

[olmate]

Each of the steps of the journey of the water is connected to the one before it and the one after it.

Steps - I view the meditation practice as another step. Another step deeper into the present moment, another step into the eternal now.

However in the context of noticing, it seems that we can only become fully present to the now of this moment if we can leave the past behind. In my own practice, what I have noticed is the desire to set up observation points along every stage of my growth. I noticed that I was loathed to let go of any part of myself in favour of a new stage of growth. That was painful. But the realisation dawned that it was not part of myself that I was leaving behind but in fact my whole self. Somehow this realisation made it easier to let go.

So for each step, I needed to leave ALL of myself behind in order to go forward, becoming an ever new creation. So another step for me on this path is when I sit down to meditate. Everything I have done until that moment is simply abandoned. The more fully the past is abandoned, the more fully renewed I am as I return to the present day.

But as Karmoh rightly points out, noticing is critical to see what we are holding on to and critical to help see this moment in its full majesty.

Olmate

[MetaCognition]

Originally Posted by olmate

Steps - I view the meditation practice as another step. Another step deeper into the present moment, another step into the eternal now.

However in the context of noticing, it seems that we can only become fully present to the now of this moment if we can leave the past behind. In my own practice, what I have noticed is the desire to set up observation points along every stage of my growth. I noticed that I was loathed to let go of any part of myself in favour of a new stage of growth. That was painful. But the realisation dawned that it was not part of myself that I was leaving behind but in fact my whole self. Somehow this realisation made it easier to let go.

So for each step, I needed to leave ALL of myself behind in order to go forward, becoming an ever new creation. So another step for me on this path is when I sit down to meditate. Everything I have done until that moment is simply abandoned. The more fully the past is abandoned, the more fully renewed I am as I return to the present day.

But as Karmoh rightly points out, noticing is critical to see what we are holding on to and critical to help see this moment in its full majesty.

Olmate

I really enjoy the image of letting the whole self go in order to fully move forward. I have definitely struggled with this, trying to cling on to parts of the past that I felt were “me“ and then trying to avoid other parts that I felt were not “me.“ I will definitely keep your words in mind as I continue to change for the better and grow.

[Karmoh]

Originally Posted by olmate

Steps - I view the meditation practice as another step. Another step deeper into the present moment, another step into the eternal now.

However in the context of noticing, it seems that we can only become fully present to the now of this moment if we can leave the past behind. In my own practice, what I have noticed is the desire to set up observation points along every stage of my growth. I noticed that I was loathed to let go of any part of myself in favour of a new stage of growth. That was painful. But the realisation dawned that it was not part of myself that I was leaving behind but in fact my whole self. Somehow this realisation made it easier to let go.

So for each step, I needed to leave ALL of myself behind in order to go forward, becoming an ever new creation. So another step for me on this path is when I sit down to meditate. Everything I have done until that moment is simply abandoned. The more fully the past is abandoned, the more fully renewed I am as I return to the present day.

But as Karmoh rightly points out, noticing is critical to see what we are holding on to and critical to help see this moment in its full majesty.

Olmate

Hi Olmate,
In this noticing, you see life the way that it really is. Fresh and new in each moment. You see it through the innocence of a child, with pure wonder, all without the veil of the past. You see that life is extraordinary and sacred. Yet it is ordinary, simple, and unremarkable.

Peace

[GilesC]

Originally Posted by Michael David

Giles might say just meet this moment.

Or "be present"
or, as I was given in my practical philosophy class... "connect with the working surface".



Hugs

Giles