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This next practice, which I call the River of Thought, is a way to cultivate meta-awareness. In some sense, you’re actually really honing in, not on the flashlight so much, but the floodlight. Keeping your attention broad and receptive and really attuned to what is happening in this moment. Moment by moment. So what I’ll ask you to do is join me for a short visualization, and then we’re really going to keep our minds in this meta-aware mode, observing — not engaging — with the mental content that arises in our mind. What I ask you to do is take a comfortable seated posture. You want to be really relaxed, but not overly relaxed. Think upright, dignified, not uptight. We want our bodies to be with us as we engage our mind in this way. Next, I invite you to lower close your eyes, and we will begin by just noticing our bodies, breathing. Nothing special to do. Just noticing your body sitting and breathing.
Now, I want you to just paint a little picture in your mind’s eye for a moment as you breathe. And the image I want you to call upon is seeing yourself in a forest. Dense trees all around, and in the distance, you hear the sound of streaming water. You keep walking forward and you see a riverbank, a large boulder on the side of this bank. You decide to have a seat, to simply observe the natural beauty around you. As you sit, your gaze falls upon this river, streaming flowing, crisp, clear water. You may notice leaves in the river or fish, tumbling rocks below. But in this moment, you’re simply witnessing, observing all that’s happening. Not chasing the fish, not frolicking in the water, simply watching as the river flows.
Now, this visualization is a helpful guide on how we’re going to practice. Let it fade to the background and bring the flood light of your attention to this moment. Think of the streaming consciousness that you’re experiencing right now. Sensations, thoughts, maybe memories, emotions. All coming into your conscious experience, like the flowing river. And the stance you’ll take is just as you did sitting on that boulder, witnessing, allowing, observing all that appears and all that fades away. Nothing to do, nowhere to go, just here, steady, stable. If you noticed that a thought has gripped your mind and you’re pursuing it — like chasing a leaf down the river — simply let it go and return again to this broad receptive stance: letting it be, letting it move on. If an emotion arises or a memory appears that feels very strong and even hard to let go of, feel free to anchor on the breath for just a few breaths. Make that the target for your attention, just to steady yourself breathing in and out. And then returning back to this broad receptive stance, letting the conscious flow proceed in your mind: observing, noticing. And as we end this brief practice, feel free in the next moment or two to return attention to your body, to the space around you, and lift the gaze and open the eyes. Given the power of our attention, it’s really important that we know where it is. And really the only way we can know where it is, is by monitoring our attention itself. This is a process called meta-awareness, the awareness of the contents and processes that are active in our minds in a moment-by-moment fashion. And thankfully we can train to be better at being meta-aware.