June 2023: Feeling Tone
Taking mindfulness further: feeling tone helps us enjoy more and reveals our mental landscape .
Friend, neighbour,
Coffee, Facebook,
Birds, rain.
Like, Dislike?
watching the gauge
Here’s some ‘advanced’ mindfulness (aka: vedanā).
‘Feeling tone’ refers to sensing subtle shifts in feeling whilst noticing. It provides a way to access and work with what is typically subconscious.
The idea is that, as we notice, we also check-in with our reaction. The traditional way to do this is to ask ‘do I find this pleasant/ unpleasant/ neutral?’
I confess that I prefer a more direct formula, and simply ask if I am feeling ‘like or dislike?’ Note that we are not judging anything, we are aware of our reactions.
The immediate benefit is to recognise there is often so much around us we like, or could choose to like. The process also helps us recognise mental associations. These can be surprising. We notice attraction and anxiety, strong reactions, deep pleasures. The landscape of our brain emerges, how we are wired, our emotional connections.
Recognising feeling tone opens up possibilities. Recognising what gives us calm, energy or pleasure invites a habit of engaging with these more often. Noticing anxiety invites a project to understand and re-wire our connections through fresh understanding.
take 5 …
Look around, look out of the window, have a slow wander. For every object, or person, sense:
‘do I like, or dislike?’
Take a moment afterwards to notice how you feel, and recognise any reactions that surprised you.
… and an experiment!
As part of a regular time for mindfulness (e.g. the journey to work / walking the dog / on a bench at lunchtime) schedule time for feeling tone.
Afterwards journal, about what you like/ dislike. Reflect on why.
quotes …
Self–awareness – recognizing a feeling as it happens – is the keystone of emotional intelligence ~ Daniel Goleman
Everything that arises in the mind is accompanied by sensation ~ The Buddha
Mindfulness of feeling tone is one of the master keys that both reveals and unlocks the deepest patterns of our conditioning ~ Joseph Goldstein
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