Self-Directed Attention is very, very hard in the beginning. It can seem almost impossible to do.
If Self-Directed Attention is causing you too much distress, try doing the following meditation for a while instead.
mindfulness
The Difference Between Self-Directed Attention and Mindfulness Meditation
Today I’m going to make one more attempt to answer questions about the similarity between what we call Self-Directed Attention and Buddhist Mindfulness Meditation. I can understand why there would be some confusion about the apparent similarity of the two practices, but they are actually diametrically opposite to each other.
When I speak of Mindfulness Meditation, I am referring to the practice that originated from Tibetan Buddhism. What I say here may apply to other versions of Buddhism, but I have personal experience with Tibetan Buddhism and I understand the outlook and the purpose of their practices, so that’s what I can speak about.
I am going to try to state as clearly as I can what the purpose of Tibetan Buddhist Mindfulness Meditation is, and then compare that purpose with the purpose of the practice that we call Self-Directed Attention. And from now on, I’m going to say just Buddhism.
Podcast Episode 7: Self-Directed Attention and Mindfulness
In today’s episode, John Sherman explains the difference between mindfulness meditation and the self-directed attention that he urges all to practice.
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The Power of Attention
Last weekend we conducted a webinar on the practice of self-directed attention which we teach to provide critical support when the results of the act of the inward looking begin to unfold in your mind.
In the opening of that webinar, I tried to convey insights and understandings that I felt would be useful.
I started out by answering five common questions about the looking and its results: