Morning, 8/2/07

Since my tendency is to fall asleep when meditating with my eyes closed, I decided to try to meditate with my eyes open today. I have also been trying to get more sleep. Starting in, I feel the difference in meditating with eyes open. My attention tends to be directed outward instead of inward. I notice things that are going on in the space around me: the pattern of the tapestry cloth on the altar, the drooping flowers, the shadow of the ivy shivering in the wind outside the window, the large fly buzzing around the room. I hear also, this loud buzzing, hear and feel the beating of my heart and get a mental picture of an oil derrick rhythmically and mechanically pumping oil from its underground lake. I do not experience the physical slumping and falling into sleep that I did when my eyes were closed. When mind begins to wander, the natural response is to take a deep wakening breath. It is only toward the end of the session that I consciously soften my focus and relax the muscles of my face around my eyes so that vision, that most evocative sense, ceases to become a distraction. To take into my day: How does vision become a distraction as I go about my day?