In a previous post I made mention of Secondary Attention as an aspect of mind that focuses more on the spiritual, inner world as opposed to the more common mind that focuses on external realities. We certainly need that outer focus and the aspect of mind that facilitates it, but that is not all of who we are and it is not what may be most needed at this juncture in time as we are being challenged to evolve, stretch our limits and create a new world that works for all of humanity’s support, nurture and survival.
First Attention
Our five senses draw our attention to the outer physical world. When we have an outer directed focus we look for our inner needs to be filled through material sources. This is usually a short lived and unsatisfying solution. You may have experienced this at some time in your life! Interestingly (and painfully!), this orientation tends to lead to blame, criticism, judgments, and compulsivity (repetitive behaviors expecting a different outcome).
From a spiritual perspective being outwardly directed tends to produce reliance on a spiritual being external to ourselves. We beseech this Great Being to bestow favors upon us –and we continue to define ourselves through the physical, roles and material possessions–a limited consciousness that has limited results. In addition, it a mindset that begins and ends in fear—never particularly useful! Such a mindset, or perspective, leaves us up one day down the next as there is no real inner center to hold on to. Like it or not, change is inextricably woven into the fabric of life and a consciousness that is deeply focused on and attached to the outer world does not help you to move gracefully through cycles of change. AND such a focus certainly does not help to increase your capacity to function in the world in a meaningful way that leads to peace, joy & happiness!
Second Attention
Second Attention can be likened to your intuition, gut feeling, inner knowing or sixth sense. This sense is about an inner awareness that can assist you to resolve issues, release struggle and longing and receive the true fulfillment of your deepest desires.
Developing this aspect of self is an inner path allows you to (1) examine thoughts, feelings and beliefs that lead to problems and root them out at the core which is far more effective than struggling against the consequences of living with an unexamined mind, (2) open the way to more creative problem solving, (3) expand your consciousness beyond the physical and material world and awaken you to who you truly are, (4) help you to transcend limitations, expand creative ability, and step into your true power. And in the process you can also gain increased tolerance, ease of being, happiness, understanding and vitality!
Expansion of Second Attention
Proper alignment and attunement of the energies of body, mind and spirit goes to the core of developing second attention through a clear and present awareness. This awareness allows you to know what is good for you, and helps to attract to you those things that assist you to be happy and healthy. You also become more conscious of what robs you of your natural healthy state and eliminate the sources of your struggles.
Developing your inner awareness and learning how to manage your energy involves learning to listen to your body and mind in a new way that helps you to create health and happiness from the inside out! It is also about bringing balance to your life, fulfilling a basic need for purpose and meaning, as well as opening to the wisdom available to you. Educating yourself about how to work with energy can also aid you in riding the waves of life more gracefully. We all have an innate capacity for joy, pleasure, harmony and a balanced spiritual toughness (resiliency) that goes largely untapped. These inner capabilities can help us to find pleasure in everyday life.
As a culture we are grappling with yearning for deeper connections within ourselves, with each other, and the world around us. We also are facing challenges that go beyond the capacity of the common mind to rise to and move beyond. We need a higher perspective and more highly creative solutions to birth a sustainable new world. A new human has been posited to be a part of creating that new world as well as being an inhabitant of it. Inner development is needed to fulfill those realities. Learning to develop our mind and its abilities, to masterfully navigate our mind-body systems, and work with personal and universal energy we can accomplish these tasks.
Skill Building: Develop your Second Attention
1. Do you ever get exhausted after spending time with certain people?
People who lack energy look outside themselves to “recharge their batteries.” When you are with them, they can take your energy to replenish theirs.
2. Have you ever felt someone staring at you?
We emit large amounts of energy from our eyes. When someone is staring at you, you are literally feeling their energy.
3. Have you ever felt an instant dislike for someone?
We are always “reading” other people’s energy fields to see how compatible they are with ours. Just as some substances – like oil and water – don’t mix well, when you feel an instant dislike for someone, your energy field isn’t mixing well with theirs.
4. Do some people excite and energize you more than others?
People who have energy reserves tend to extend and exchange their energy with others. When you’re with someone who excites you, or whose energy mixes well with yours your energy level is boosted, you feel more energized.
5. Do you ever know how someone is feeling before they tell you?
People emit information about themselves through their energy fields. When you can sense how someone feels, you are picking up and decoding this information.
6. Do you ever experience different feelings in different rooms in your home, or in other people’s homes?
Environments have an energetic” blueprint,” just as people do. Often this is a result of the emotional exchanges that have gone on in that space. When you get a feeling from a place, you are picking up on this residual energy.
7. Have you ever had an initial impression that you talked yourself out of, only to find later that you were correct?
We pick up on energy and register impressions/information unconsciously. When you don’t act on a hunch, it’s because your unconscious mind picks up on the energy associated with the hunch, but, because your conscious mind can’t see or measure your thoughts, it rationalizes it away.
The above are all examples of knowing that emerges from Second Attention.
You may want to play with sensing how the different places you inhabit in a day feel when you get out of your mind and settle down inside to simply directly experience them.
Be aware of how your sense impressions feel when you quiet your mind and just allow yourself to ‘be present’ with them.
We would love to hear about your experience in the comment section!