All Day Awareness Help

[fatalcubez]

I read a post on this forum written by Yoshi about ADA and it inspired me to try it out for myself. So far I've been taking it in small amounts doing short bursts throughout the day where I just focus on being aware. But, what I'm confused about is what am I supposed to be aware of? So far all I've been doing is narrating in my head my actions and feelings. I'll say to myself "I feel my feet tingling in my shoes.... I feel the pressure of my backpack on my shoulders.... I taste the fresh air from outside...." etc. Is there something more than just this? I can tell the difference between being aware and not being aware, but what should I really be aware of? Also, what's a good way of practicing ADA, as it can overwhelming to a beginner such as myself when first starting? Is it best to just force yourself to do it all day and accept that you'll zone out every once in a while? Or should you do shorter sessions where you strive to have perfect awareness with no slip ups?

[Raswalt]

remember the voice in your head is made of language and is often superficial. you can be aware of anything, its all about giving yourself to the present moment. you can be aware of being aware and so on..

[Hitokage]

I can share my approach that helped me to have LD. A few times during the day I just stopped and started to focus on each sense. sight - what do you see around you, not like the whole picture but focusing on details, as much as possible, you find out that the number of details is just infinite, try to focus on some of them and examine them as much as possible hearing - I was surprised how many different sounds can i distinguish, try to isolate each of them and determine what's the source, voices, natural sounds, machines taste - what do you feel inside your mouth, sometimes you can feel still some leftover from the last meal you had smell - again focus on each smell you can recognize, what does the smell reminds you? have you smelled this before? where? touch - touch EVERYTHING around! feel the texture of different materials around you, feel the changes After that I always say "Now this is reality! I am not dreaming now but I can say that this is not a dream." (some people suggest the difference, not to deny dream but somehow force yourself to imagine you are dreaming, for me the reality-no dream worked better) and just enjoy the moment of full awareness of yourself and your surroundings. Just feeling the life itself. Hope this helps

[Cara]

Totally agree! Short mediations (10 min) might be helpful to focus awareness.