Awareness and the Eyes

This Easter weekend, I went to a hot-springs resort in Zhuhai with the extended family. I had an interesting experience with my son one afternoon there. He was feeling a bit restless, but clearly tired (when kids get into that “nagging” mood). I tried to put him to sleep, but he wouldn’t settle. His mind was fairly active and he started playing with different things while lying on the bed.

To help him with concentration at school, I have a little game I play with him which we call the “focusing exercise” in which we stare deeply into each others eyes and stay like that for a period of time. It is sort of an awareness exercise in that as one brings their full awareness and attention to something, thoughts cease. As one goes deep into awareness, and quiets their mind, the other will either follow or become distracted. Blinking is OK and I generally go into a “mindfulness meditative” state.

I started a “focusing exercise” with him and we sat looking at each other. What was interesting was that after a few minutes he started swaying, blinking for long periods of time, and then just he just passed out. It is interesting how much energy simply “being aware” takes. By focusing on nothing or everything seems to take “control” from the mind and bring it back to the body. If your body is tired, sleep comes naturally (students in class generally experience this when the lectures don’t give the mind “enough” to keep active). But your attention and awareness are at the mercy of your mind. It’s also interesting how when your mind gets occupied with things, thoughts can continue to perpetuate themselves (e.g., try surfing the Internet).

I’ve always been a proponent for meditation vs. watching TV for those with insomnia…