The Mind Illuminated: A Complete Meditation Guide Integrating Buddhist Wisdom and Brain Science for Greater Mindfulness

This sequence is so important it’s worth committing to memory—the untrained mind produces distractions that lead to forgetting, which results in mind-wandering

The condition in which the mind “stands back” to observe its own state and activities is called metacognitive introspective awareness.13 Attention, on the other hand, can’t observe activities of the mind because its movements and abstracting of information from awareness are activities of the mind. In other words, we can’t attend to attention.

Repeating simple tasks with a clear intention can reprogram unconscious mental processes. This can completely transform who you are as a person.

Another factor that affects your progress is the problem of compartmentalization. We have a common tendency to separate meditation practice from the rest of our life. If the skills and insights we learn on the cushion don’t infuse our daily life, progress will be quite slow. It’s like filling a leaky bucket. This may be one reason why some people c

Meditation Factors:1 Directed Attention, Sustained Attention, Meditative Joy, Pleasure/Happiness, and Unification of Mind.

Stable attention is the ability to intentionally direct and sustain the focus of attention, as well as to control the scope of attention.

It doesn’t matter that your mind wandered. What’s important is that you realized it. To become annoyed or self-critical in the “aha!” moment will slow down your progress. You can’t scold the mind into changing,

you won’t be able to focus exclusively (“single-pointedly”) on the breath. In fact, trying to do so will only cause your mind to wander more. So expect to be aware of many other things as you’re watching the breath.

Emotional stress causes the same thing to happen—we have so many worries and concerns competing for attention that we lose perspective. And, of course, dullness also robs us of the conscious power necessary for mindfulness. On the other hand, when we’re in a relaxed state, awareness tends to open and the intensity of attention dissipates. Relax eve