Tracking the Movement of Attention

Tracking the Movement of Attention

In every moment that we are awake (and perhaps when we are sleeping...) our attention is placed somewhere. Much of the time we aren't aware of where it is placed. In the language of neuroscience, this is often referred to as the default mode network. In this state, often we are ruminating, running repetitive or habitual thoughts about ourselves. Part of the movement toward greater awareness is to become more conscious of where our attention is pointed in the present moment. In this exercise, we'll use our tracking skills to monitor the movement of attention across 8 channels of experience. When you start doing this exercise, it can be useful to engage in it with a partner, and trade off monitoring one another. As you become more adept at it, you can simply track it internally. Part of what this exercise begins to show us is how we using our attention in our lives. As you become more practiced with this exercise, you may begin to notice that the shape of attention and its movement changes based on autonomic state (connection, play, intimacy, fawning, fighting, fleeing, freezing, shutting down), as well as context, environment, activity, who we are with, etc.