15 May Attention and Intention – May 16 2019
To pay attention, this is our endless and proper work.
Mary Oliver
The Veda speaks of itself as being the science of consciousness. It says that consciousness is all there is. Everything in the universe, and beyond, is nothing but consciousness.
Therefore if we wish to change our experience of life, we must change our consciousness.
Not our thoughts. Our consciousness.
We have very little control over our thoughts. They come and go, with or without our permission.
But our experience of consciousness offers us two ways by which we affect our experience of the world; two things we can change at any moment: our attention and our intention.
What we attend to grows. So we put our attention on what is good in our life, and what is good in our fellows. We attend to what we wish to grow.
And our intention determines the way in which it will grow. The direction of its growth. Our intention as humans living a life of spirit is to uplift, always. To offer life and light and love to all those around us. And when we find that impossible, at least not to offer negativity.
What we attend to grows.
Today I will insist on seeing what is right in my world, rather than what is wrong. I will note, with loving attention, what I have, rather than what I lack. I will notice in each of my fellows the one thing admirable, rather than the fifteen judgments that my ego will use to separate me from them. And I will set my intention in each encounter to be loving and kind, compassionate and strong, looking always for what I might give rather than what I might receive.
