{"id":238,"date":"2011-02-09T08:16:30","date_gmt":"2011-02-09T08:16:30","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/blog.beliefnet.com\/mindfulnessmatters\/2011\/02\/it.html"},"modified":"2011-02-09T08:16:30","modified_gmt":"2011-02-09T08:16:30","slug":"it","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/mindfulnessmatters\/2011\/02\/it.html","title":{"rendered":"Wisdom Wednesday :: It’s 8:16 AM, Do You Know Where Your Attention Is?"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"BS13070.JPG\"In any given moment our attention can be in any one of ten places. Nine of them of can be visualized on a grid, like a tic-tac-toe board. There are three locations attention can be — future, past, and present (but here it is commentary about the present; that is, opinions, about what is happening now). And then there are three flavors for each of the locations — pleasant, unpleasant, and neutral.<\/p>\n

<\/div>\n
Our attention can therefore be future-pleasant (excitement), future-unpleasant (worry), future-neurtral (what comes next without emotional charge); past-plesant (reverie), past-unpleasant (regret), past-neutral (random recollections without emotional charge); present-pleasant (commentary that likes what is happening), present-unpleasant (commentary that doesn’t like what is happening), and present-neutral (simple narration without emotional charge). These are the nine places.<\/div>\n
<\/div>\n
The tenth, of course, is being in the present without commentary, simply being present to now in an experiential way versus all the ways mentioned above that rely on story and image.<\/div>\n
<\/div>\n
This tenth place has six components:<\/div>\n
\n
    \n
      \n
    1. What is happening now<\/li>\n
    2. What we see<\/li>\n
    3. What we hear<\/li>\n
    4. What we feel in the body<\/li>\n
    5. What we smell<\/li>\n
    6. What we taste<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n<\/ol>\n

      That’s about it for the present moment. Anything else moves us into the nine places described above. Perhaps this visual map is helpful for guiding your efforts at being mindful. When you notice yourself out of the present, you can stick a little label on what you notice “future-unpleasant” and then return your attention to one of the six features of now (what’s happening, sight, sound, touch, smell, taste). <\/div>\n

      <\/div>\n
      Repeat as necessary. <\/div>\n
      <\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

      In any given moment our attention can be in any one of ten places. Nine of them of can be visualized on a grid, like a tic-tac-toe board. There are three locations attention can be — future, past, and present (but here it is commentary about the present; that is, opinions, about what is happening…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":268,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[12,7,8,9],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-238","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-buddha-101","category-metaphors-for-mindfulness","category-mindful-living","category-mindfulnesss"],"yoast_head":"\nWisdom Wednesday :: It's 8:16 AM, Do You Know Where Your Attention Is? - Mindfulness Matters<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/mindfulnessmatters\/2011\/02\/it.html\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Wisdom Wednesday :: It's 8:16 AM, Do You Know Where Your Attention Is? - Mindfulness Matters\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"In any given moment our attention can be in any one of ten places. 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Dr. Kozak's ability to translate ancient healing traditions into pragmatic applications suitable for modern lifestyles through the use of metaphors have made him a strong voice in healthcare and business. Beginning with a journey to India in the 80\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s where he took the Bodhisattva vows from His Holiness the Dalai Lama, Arnie Dr. Kozak began his lifelong practice in mindfulness meditation. Intent on finding a way to bring the practical healing attributes of mindfulness he began incorporating these techniques in his private practice. In 2002 Dr. Kozak created Exquisite Mind in Burlington, Vermont as a vehicle that could expand his wisdom to larger audiences beyond individual psychotherapy to professionals and corporations, health care providers, public groups and, most recently with Exquisite Mind Golf, amateur and professional golfers. His award-winning new book, Wild Chickens and Petty Tyrants: 108 Metaphors for Mindfulness (Wisdom Publications, 2009) is a thoughtful, funny, and inspiring translation of mindfulness practice through the inventive use of metaphor applicable to our daily lives. In addition to his work with Exquisite Mind, Arnie Kozak, Ph.D., Licensed Psychologist\u00e2\u20ac\u201dDoctorate has been a Lecturer in Psychology at the University of Vermont and is a Clinical Instructor in Psychiatry and Medicine, University of Vermont College of Medicine. He has studied and practiced clinical psychology, meditation, and yoga for more than 25 years. He has studied with several meditation masters, including S. N. Goenka, Larry Rosenberg, Gurumayi Chidvilasananda, and His Holiness the Dalai Lama. After receiving his bachelors degree with honors from Tufts University, he was awarded a Presidential Fellowship to get his Ph.D. in clinical psychology from the University at Buffalo. He completed his training as a Psychological Fellow at the Harvard Medical School. Prior to founding the Exquisite Mind in 2002, Arnie worked ten years in the private sector for the PKC Corporation consulting on mental health content for this revolutionary software company.","sameAs":["http:\/\/exquisitemind.com"],"url":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/mindfulnessmatters\/author\/akozak"}]}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/mindfulnessmatters\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/238","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/mindfulnessmatters\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/mindfulnessmatters\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/mindfulnessmatters\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/268"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/mindfulnessmatters\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=238"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/mindfulnessmatters\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/238\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/mindfulnessmatters\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=238"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/mindfulnessmatters\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=238"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/mindfulnessmatters\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=238"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}