Circumstances for learning this attention exercise
Taking a break
Riding a bus, subway, or in the back seat of an Uber
Transitioning into your evening
Feeling alert in the middle of the night
Mastering the art of savoring comfortable sensations is a skill anyone can develop.
It enriches comfortable moments and strengthens the transferable attentional skill of equanimity, allowing time to pass sometimes without mentally micromanaging it.
When we cultivate equanimity with uncomfortable sensations, we learn to avoid escalating physical or emotional pain into full-blown misery. This is a long game that requires a lot of practice.
We lay the groundwork for this liberating skill by learning to savor pleasant and neutral sensations. This is much easier and can be a delicious exploration.
It's easy to miss comfortable moments by habitually focusing on unresolved problems instead. However, when we learn to observe the presence of sensations that will never demand our close attention, we get better at savoring them on purpose in any circumstance.
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