attention Archives - Bhavana Learning Group

The Possibility of Being Ordinary

I am ordinary, average. Or maybe I should say that I fear I am average—not unique, not extraordinary. Just ordinary.

In Western society, the pressure to be more than ordinary is pervasive and constant. Everyone wants to be recognized as special.

Honoring the Ordinary

Yet, this past week in the U.S., we honored 20 years since 9/11 and marked 18 months of living with the pandemic. We honored the ordinary: people showing up to work, saving lives, caring for others, and even giving their own lives.

Honoring the ordinary requires a “special” appreciation.

Twenty years ago, in New York City, firefighters and police DOWNLOAD PDF

These 3 Conditions Will Cultivate Our Attention

Space. Silence. Stillness. Three conditions that seem most valuable yet fleeting today.

As counterintuitive as it sounds, coping in a fast-paced and complex world of change requires doses of the inverse to recover our attention and sustain any equilibrium:

Space to counter an abundance of complexity and saturation of information.
Silence to counter the uncertainty (exterior) and ambiguity (interior) that result from changing realities that challenge our self-perception.
Stillness to cultivate openness and expand perceptions to be with the unpredictable.

Demands of Our Affective Life

Simply maintaining any sense of equilibrium first requires DOWNLOAD PDF