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Meditators and contemplatives know that detaching from the story telling of one’s life and then dropping into an awareness of life as it is being lived opens up a large array of experiences and options for living not normally available to the cognitive process.
just noticing
awareness tools for contemplative practice
Most journaling techniques encourage reflection, insight and understanding in the belief that growth and health occur when one reflects reasonably on life events, and then makes behavioral choices based on those understandings and insights. This process generally strengthens the ego (the sense of “I”) and restores a feeling of self-control. While this is a reasonable approach, it may have effects on only a portion of one’s life experiences. Most often, reflective journaling relies on attachment to a focused sense of self. Awareness journaling relies on
n non-attachment to self and ego by opening to an enlarged field of awareness, oneness, non-separation and the wisdom inherent in all beings.
What is awareness journaling?
Awareness journaling is a set of mindfulness and writing
exercises to help the contemplative practitioner break
the habits of insight and understanding and develop habits
of attentiveness and receptivity. While most meditation
practices develop these qualities, the act of writing awarenesses brings awareness to consciousness without attachment, analysis, diagnosis, storied insight or understanding. Awareness noticing relies on short written observations that are simply put aside in the act of turning to the next awareness that arises. In this sense, awareness “journaling” is a form of un-journaling, a habit of just noticing subtle awareness in a developing practice of expanding consciousness.
Here are a few quotes from recent “just noticing” attendees:
“I’d be one of the do-ers of the world. To me life is about action – what’s going on, what happens next? Where should I go? What should I do? I always saw this action in the physical world of things as the “stuff” of life. Until … “just noticing” intimately introduced me to the luscious “space” between the stuff -- and the subtle vibrancy and aliveness that lives there -- as full of action as I could ever imagine. Paul’s gentle, insightful way of being guided me into a personal pause that allowed me to rest – ever so gently – in a new-found friend, awareness.” MM, Colorado
“This "noticing" allows me to stop the thought, then let it go without being pulled back into the story. This opportunity to notice will continue to return until I DO notice and am willing to let it go. Paul's workshop taught me more about setting aside judgment, realizing how little I needed it, listening in a new and truer way and discovering how much more there is to comprehend and understand once I let it go. He led me to a greater trust in the unconscious and its awareness that can inform at a much deeper level.” JG, Nebraska
Who should attend?
Attendees should have a meditation or contemplative practice of prayer or awareness and a desire to make aspects of that practice tangible. The retreat will include times of silent meditation practice, so it would be most beneficial for an attendee to have an established daily meditation practice of at least 6 months. Attendees should also have a sense that making their growing contemplative practice tangible through written note taking would be helpful to their spiritual and psychological growth. Awareness “journaling” focuses on writing short entries, so do not expect to do a lot of diary writing in the traditional sense.
A guideline for awareness “journaling” is that our focus is not on what you write but on what you notice. In this sense, people who do a lot of journal writing may have a more difficult time at this workshop than those new to journaling given that many people write for insight rather than raw awareness. During the retreat attendees will regularly be advised to notice the difference between reflective journaling and awareness noticing and discretely choose the type of journaling that best suits their needs and goals in the present moment. Paul Ilecki is a teacher of the Ira Progoff Intensive Journal® Program (the pre-eminent reflective journaling process) and believes that reflective journaling practices can be extremely helpful for both contemplatives and non-contemplatives. None of the Intensive Journal practices are taught during a just noticing retreat. Just noticing is not a program of Contemplative Outreach.
What will I get from this retreat?
After attending the just noticing retreat workshop you will have a set of awareness writing practices that you can use to (1) return your attention to your life and its energy events and (2) gather in writing short records of those events that can help make concrete the process of deepening awareness and mindfulness. While avoiding attachment to notions of progress or spiritual attainment, awareness journaling can give you a sense that subtle awarenesses are powerful and real, that they can be trusted, and that your inner horizons can expand. As an inner sense of “no boundaries” becomes more real and reliable, you can live a life that is more peaceful, less driven and more receptive. Awareness journaling techniques learned at the just noticing retreat workshop can then be incorporated into more traditional reflective journaling practices.
What should I bring to the retreat?
You should bring (1) your meditation and contemplative practices, (2) an open mind to experiencing subtle energies and recording them, (3) a willingness to temporarily let go of previously appreciated reflection journaling practices, and (4) a sense of humor. I recommend that you not bring your favorite journaling tools or workbooks. In keeping with one of the tenets of awareness journaling: - nothing is special; everything is significant.