Awareness funnels or flows into focused mindfulness
Mindfulness is focused or concentrated awareness
We are almost always aware of thoughts, feelings, perceptions or sensations. However most of the time we are most aware of the thoughts of liking or disliking what we are doing, thinking, saying or being with; sometimes we are neutral about it.
Mindfulness is the attention placed upon what we are feeling, the physical sensations, within our body while the thoughts and commentary about it are rushing by.
If we are eating ice cream or watching a sunset the first taste or first view may be a direct experience of tasting or seeing. However this purity of experience quickly diminishes into the thought of, “Oh, wow this tastes great or this view is magnificent.” And then further degrades into, “I wish I could share this with” name your favorite person of the moment.
Most often your thoughts then shift to wanting more ice cream or more sunset. You may start comparing this taste of ice cream or view of sunset to other times. Or you pull out your smart phone to take a picture or text. The moment of direct experience of being with that first bite or view shifts into the ego’s plan to have more of what it wants or less of what it does not want. The ego has crushed the sense of just being.
You might try a redo of the experience. Go back to your car and then back to the ice cream store or mountain top. Redo the doing of the experience with more mindfulness. Stretch out the first taste or view and take it in; flow into the experience. Use focused concentration to stay with the experience and not slide into thoughts of liking; just enjoy the moment. What does it feel like? What sensations accompany the experience? Be mindful of what is present.
Practice taking in the good experience and build up a reservoir of positive experiential energy. The more you create this groove of positive emotion the easier it is to slide back into it again.
Spiritual Gravity 