Focus, Locus, and Lens

The central feature of each of these practices is that they move us ever closer to the core of who we are. They connect us more and more to our essential Self. As we come to know ourselves we discover a set of choices we each make which constructs who we are . These choices are the focus of our attention, the locus of our identity, and the lens or perspective through which we observe our experience.

The focus of our attention is the conflict which is arising for us. We have noticed that this circumstance has been bothering us as we complete our Bothers Me Log, and we have been feeling the emotions which arise from it when we do our Anger Workout. We may have even received some Critical Feedback from others about the circumstance. We have been paying attention.

We have been using the tools of the Mindfulness Disciplines as ways of focusing our attention on the conflict and now we are ready to use the tools of the Practical Disciplines to figure out what to do. We are ready to use the lens of the discipline as a framework with which to address the conflict.

What is the locus of our identity? Ideally we are coming from the highest Order of Self we have available to us. If this is a persistent conflict in a significant relationship we are going to have to bring the best we have to this problem. We want to be sure we have available to us the highest qualities of the Self.