There's a signal-and-noise aspect to all focus-building exercises that doesn't get enough attention.
The most common mindfulness exercise oversimplifies the objective and implies that, with enough practice, distractions will become less problematic.
Notice the sensations related to breathing
When your attention wanders from them, gently bring it back
However, distractions only become less problematic when you clarify the challenge and adjust your expectations accordingly.
Whenever you select a focus object, you simultaneously decide to ignore all the other options. This is a special kind of ignoring, but it’s as essential as the focusing.
Be clear about the signal
In a breath awareness exercise, the physical sensations related to inhaling and exhaling are the signal.
It can be helpful to make this signal as specific as possible. While no option is universally correct, it can help pick one.
You don’t have to make the same choice every time.
Options include the sensations involved in the rise and fall of the shoulders, the expansion and contraction of your abdomen, or the feeling of air brushing against your nostrils.
Accept the assistance created by the noise
Any perception or sensation that is not the signal is considered noise. For example, when breath-related sensations are your chosen signal, body sensations unrelated to breathing, sounds, thoughts, and emotional feelings are considered noise.
Framing focus-building exercises this way eventually reveals that noise will always exist. Learning to respond to its inevitability is as important as attending to the selected signal.
The noise isn't bad. It's not your enemy. It's just not the signal.
You can use the contrast to sharpen your awareness of the signal.
This means that thoughts and feelings are no more the enemy of mindful awareness than sounds or uncomfortable body sensations.
Any perception can be the signal or the noise, depending on the exercise.
If verbal thoughts are the signal, then sights, sounds, mental images, and body sensations are considered noise.
If visual thoughts are the signal, then sights, sounds, mental chatter, and body sensations are the noise.
If emotional feelings in the body are the signal, then sights, sounds, thoughts, and emotionally neutral sensations are the noise.
More signals, less noise
Increasing the number of perceptions you're exploring in a focus-building exercise reduces what qualifies as noise.
Noticing auditory experience allows sounds and verbal thoughts to both count as signals. Working with visual experience means what you see with your eyes and on your mental screen are both fodder for building focus.
Focusing on the restful qualities of visual, auditory, and bodily perceptions gives you a lot to work with and decreases the scope of inevitable distraction. It also sets the stage for restful sensations in one sensory domain to trigger the opposite of a vicious cycle of resistance and reaction: a soothing cycle of absorption.
Today’s attention exercise explores this theme.
