Week 23 Day 7

Medi object choiceless awareness
Intention to observe raw sensations, to observe boredom

Morning all! Today after zzzzz practice I am now very alert! Haha. I am practising on awakening. It seems that if I practise within an hour of getting up I maintain alertness more easily.

Metta today was only a mini battle between medi object and thoughts. Each time the thoughts arose I pushed them to the periphery by refocusing on my object. The feeling of loving kindness was maintained on and off through the 5 mins.

For noting I started watching the breathing then pretty soon a string of thought trains came into my mind one after the other. They were relevant thoughts about activities of the past day, some scenes from the film I watched last night, some memories of yesterday's tasks. I observed as they progressed one after the other with neutrality and these were interspersed with other sensations. I noted a spray of coloured dots like stars moving forward for a split  second then felt warmth on my knees as the scenes moves in and out of focus. Towards the end of practice I heard a song in the background.

A pain in my left lower back was predominant throughout and even though I noted it and then noted my intention to adjust posture, the pain was not completely relieved.

Noises from upstairs and a quick buzz from my Pebble watch also popped up. I wondered what that was for but resisted the urge to look.

Last night I had knocked the bedside table and a memory of a back round stone cane into my mind as I wondered where it was. I opened my eyes momentarily but it was not on the table...

I noted that I seemed to be searching or listening out for sensations, trying to spot the quick ones - the flashes in front of my eyes, the tiny creaks and sounds of the house.

The ringing in my ears was a persistent background noise. Some thoughts were interspersed with breathing. ..that is they swapped focus from time to time.

I pondered why so many thoughts were in my head but as no sensation is a distraction I did not reject them nor feel irritated by them.

At 30 mins I noticed the faintest of drifting, a miniscule nod so I decided to finish at 35 mins with the 2 bell sound.

Hedonic tone was mainly positive for most  with my back pain being negative. Yep the boring became interesting when I am not drowsy or not attentive. In fact the drowsier I get the more hard work it seems.. so note to self, it's time to change the life schedule to get the practice in early. Seems like it's a more fruitful session when my mind has not already spent effort on sound and planning stuff. However some do two practices morning and evening..would be interesting to see the different content and tone for each time of day.

Have to dash to my next love - golf.

Have a great day and practice!

23/7