Hello Mauricio,

" Is Conscious Visualization possible without loosing that awareness of the present moment? "

It is an interesting question, let's look at it intellectualy.

If we take out our vision of the five senses to consciously reproduce an image of the past we would not be able to see that which is infront of us. Thus we would be less aware of the present moment. However, there could still be a certain level of awareness with other senses and centers.

And maybe, the more a person practice it, the more he/she is able to retain a very sharp awarenss without sight of the present suroundings. Althought it seems impossible now, we can only find out if we try hard enough and see for our selves.

While being aware of the unknown, this whole question remains a mystery.

Hey Mauricio,

I know exactly what you mean! I remember back in 2006 at a retreat, someone had brought this issue up in discussion. Until that point, I'd never considered these images coming up in my mind's eye as potential problems in being aware.

But upon looking deeper, I saw that when the images came up, I lost the visual awareness of my surroundings and hence I wasn't really aware. This made it a lot easier to get lost in thought and for sneaky emotional egos to get in.

There certainly are times when we may need to have those images. If someone asks me for directions I sometimes have to "see the directions" and figure out what direction one needs to go, etc. And while I'm writing this I'm recalling certain memories.

Perhaps this is a situation where having a solar mental body would be nice. Then we could separate ourselves from our thoughts so we could presumably be aware and simultaneously have these images come up when needed.

I otherwise find it's nice to really try to listen and speak through the heart and let the consciousness act. I find often in those situations, I'm able to pick up on a lot more - intuitively feel what I should say or how to react, perceive how the person I'm with is feeling internally, etc.

All the best!

Mike

thanks..
Yes indeed, practice will tell. Right now looking into this kind of situations, I think we really discover how little still is our capacity for consciousness, and how much there is to improve and learn. I wouldn't know now how having developed solar bodies feel like but I agree, by practicing with our present capacity we learn to make the awareness work better each time.
I like the idea of "speaking with the heart" Mike. With me I think it gets boring how I'm so used to speak with the mind most of the time. Thinking too much can make conversations even get slow and confusing. I guess intuitive conversations are much more enjoyable, natural, spontaneous and with real common sense.
There is so much of the 'unknown' in such a simple activity. This issue moves me to better consider every single conversation as a great oportunity to learn and practice.

good luck!

Hi Mauricio,

What Mike said about "speaking with the heart" works very well for me when I face a new situation, a new person, etc.
Interesting experiment can be investigating how to speak from the mind and then how to speak from the heart in front of a mirror, or taping yourself, etc. and then seeing, if there is a difference.

What is hard for me, is to speak from the heart when there is already certain mental image corresponding to the situation, in other words, when egos had taken over my mental center and had convinced me that I have to think what to say next, should remember my previous related experiences, present myself in the certain way, etc.
Finally, those thoughts make awareness to be impossible and take all the aliveness from the contact for the sake of judgement if I am aware, should I respond to somebody's else egos or not, etc.

Perhaps, the solution is just to practice awareness in all stages of all conversations, treating all of them like a great opportunities to learn and practice.

If I have to think during a conversation, the one solution for me was to wait for the pause in interaction and then to think; or, if I have to think immediately, say something like: "Give me a sec. Let me remember it." and then to think.

Good luck for everyone!

Yeah i got the same problem,even when i read something inside my head it keeps repeating it self!!

The hardest problem i got is checking if i locked the door twice because alot of time while locking the door i think about something and lose all the awarness i got :p

Hi Kosta,

Yes, for me I also find reading in awareness to be tricky. The voice in my head repeating what I read is rather annoying. And similar to the talking and listening, images and other thoughts can come up - both those related to what I'm reading and those which are completely irrelevant.

I find for doing tasks like reading, it helps a lot to concentrate. At least this way I can keep focused on the material and if I get distracted then I again try to focus on reading.

Best wishes,

Mike

Hi Kosta,

That's a good example of how egos work with the door,
thanks for sharing!

Well, what you have mentioned with the door can be used as the anchor point to remind you about awareness!

That's what does work for me personally, to look for a moments during a day when it's very hard for me to be aware.

Then, if I am able to see some recurring patterns like "I am never aware when I drive, eat, wait for a bus, elevator, go shopping, etc., I can decide to choose a few of those activities as the practices for awareness.

It can look like this, because I always modify planning in order to keep it fun.

AWARENESS GOALS FOR TOMORROW

1) waiting for the bus (2 times, to the work and back)
2) eating (3 times)
3) shopping, in the evening (1 time)

Vadim