Choosing Your Awareness With Selective Attention
Training the Mind to not notice things:
It seems strange that mindfulness would be used to not notice things. However, there’s a famous psychological experiment—one that’s only 1 minute and 21 seconds long—that has surprised people for years. I won’t spoil it for you, but if you haven’t seen it yet, watch it first and let me know how many times the ball was passed by the players wearing the white shirts:
If you’ve already seen it, then you know how it works. Did you miss the point of the experiment entirely? About 50% of the viewers miss it. But if you got the right number of passes and your concentration was high, then likely you missed what you were supposed to see. The human mind has selective attention, meaning it can focus so intently on one thing that it completely ignores something else—something big, obvious, and right in front of it.
The Mind Can Only Do One Thing at a Time
One of the things I love about Abhidhamma is that it emphasizes how the mind can only do one thing at a time. We see and hear at separate times but so very fast it appears that it happens at the same time. Many people will doubt that statement and perhaps I will write more. However, if you have been to an IMAX movie theater, know that the right eye is separately seeing a right view and at another time, and the left eye is seeing a left view at another time, separately. They alternate very fast, but that is how a three-dimensional image is processed and seen by the viewer (in the mind, not the eyes). That means that separately, the mind is also seeing the three-dimensional image in addition to the separate and right views.
Selective Attention and Mindfulness
If the mind can be trained to focus so strongly that it ignores something as obvious as a gorilla in the room, then it can also be trained to ignore unwholesome thoughts. The mind cannot be wholesome and unwholesome at the same time. Test it in your mind and you will see. By keeping the mind mindful, this is a wholesome state of consciousness. This is how one can suppress unwholesome states with pure mindfulness.
The Four Foundations of Mindfulness
Kāyānupassanā (Mindfulness of the Body)
- Observing bodily positions: sitting, standing, walking, lying down.
- Watching bodily sensations: the rise and fall of the abdomen, breath at the nostrils.
Vedanānupassanā (Mindfulness of Feelings)
- Observing pleasant, unpleasant, and neutral feelings.
- Seeing how feelings change over time.
Cittānupassanā (Mindfulness of Mind States)
- Observing if the mind is calm or restless, focused or distracted.
- Seeing thoughts as mere mental events without clinging.
Dhammānupassanā (Mindfulness of Mental Objects/Dhamma)
- Observing the arising and passing of mental formations.
- Seeing hindrances (craving, aversion, restlessness, sloth, and doubt) and letting them go.
Everyday Applications To Avoid Rumination:
- Dealing with anger: Instead of replaying an argument that happened in the past, focus entirely on the breath or a positive thought “may this person be happy.” The mind cannot hold both at once. It should be noted the Buddha said this in verse 5 of the Dhammapada:
Na hi verena verāni, sammantīdha kudācanaṃ; Averena ca sammanti, esa dhammo sanantano.
Hatred is never appeased by hatred in this world. It is appeased only by non-hatred. This is an eternal law.
Conclusion: What Will You Choose to See?
The lesson is simple: the mind can be trained. Attention is a tool, and you are the one who decides where to direct it. If you focus on the wholesome, the unwholesome fades away. If you train your mind well, you won’t just be missing a gorilla—you’ll be missing anger, stress, and distraction too.
Summary Poem
A focused mind, intense, in tune,
It missed the gorilla in the room.
Focused deep, we failed to see,
How thoughts arise, then cease to be.One thing at a time, the mind must choose,
Attention held, distractions snooze.
Breath and body, thoughts arise,
Watch them pass—be still, be wise.Sounds and sights, they come and go,
Yet mindful gates decide the flow.
Let not anger cloud the way,
But loving-kindness, let remain.Train the mind, be firm yet free,
Focus on what you want to see.
In every moment, the mind must choose,
Mindfulness wins, anger will lose.
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