Want More Love? Take 5 At Sunrise.
Attention is the most basic form of love. Through it, we bless and are blessed.
—John Tarrant
Did you know that conscious attention can actually change your brain and your whole life experience?
You see, your thoughts create patterns and images in your mind that directly influence your body and vice versa. It’s all a matter of where you put your attention. For instance, you might look at the horizon or the feel of the ground beneath your feet, is going to produce a completely different chemical reaction, and inspire a different physical stance then if you focus on what you lack or what is wrong.
Everyone has an inner dialogue that runs day and night— signaling what to do, what to say, and how to feel. Most of the time, people just go through the day unaware of the impact their inner thoughts have on their everyday behavior. Many of these subconscious stirrings are often habitual and nearly all of them are directly related to the stance or posture we take in that moment. According to Dr. Daniel Amen’s research at the Amen Clinics, you and I probably experience about 60,000 thoughts a day. But here is the beauty of it of it all—the mind and body are not separate but part of a whole, so you change one thing and you change it all. So remember, it all begins with just one thing.
The general practice is to become aware of the present moment—by giving attention to sounds, your experience of your breath, the sensations in your body, or your thoughts or feelings—and to observe without judgment and without trying to change what you notice. Over time this practice can change the very structure of your brain. But today, it can provide you with the ability to become aware of when you are in the habit of ‘negative thinking’ and gives you access to changing that experience by shifting your attention to other familiar, and more pleasant, sensations. Now, can’t you just feel the LOVE!
Before you get out of bed, before you even open your eyes, try this nifty little exercise:
Take 5 at Sunrise
Resting on your back and take support from the surface below you.
Place one hand on your heart and the other on your abdomen. Begin to attend to yourself lovingly. Feel the breath moving beneath your hands. Sense how the breath moves forwards, backward, up and down, and in all directions. Feel how the rib basket, gently cradles your heart with the breath of life and how your belly rises and falls.
Do not intentionally change your breath. Rather allow the quality of your attention to be to explore what is and to discover for yourself what your breath is like in this moment. What areas of yourself move first? What areas move next? Where is your breath most alive to you? Are there areas that seem to be outside your awareness?
If you find unnecessary effort or holding, let it go.
Do this for 3-4 minutes and then simply notice how giving this gentle attention changes your experience of your breath and the changes in the act of breathing itself.
As you move through your day take a little time to return to loving yourself by tuning into your breath. It can be as simple as pausing for a moment when you sit down at your desk, just before you walk out your door, or answer the phone.
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