Managing Your Attention. Part 5. Adding a Wish

Wishing While Remaining Attentive

Now if you've gotten this far and feel you're ready for the next step, you can add wishing to the equation. Obviously when we lie down, we want to be aware, but we also want to ask for certain things to happen, and to generate energy for things to happen.

While noticing that your head is resting on the books and your back on the floor, see to it that you're not stiffening your neck or arching your back so that your head can go away from your trunk and your back can lengthen and widen.

You are no longer simply being aware but actually wishing for things to happen -- for the neck muscles to release, for the head to go out of the back, for the back to lengthen and widen, and for the knees to release away from the hips. You are not trying to make these things happen, but you do want changes to happen.

If you're doing this while remaining aware of your surroundings and sticking to this general framework, you're doing very well, because now you're attentive and aware of yourself and, in addition to that, you're directing in an organized, constructive way, and if you stick to this process, things will start to happen.