1. goals for the third evening  to appreciate that our lives are largely constructed of what we pay attention to  to see that the fish-hooks approach can help disentangle us from unhelpful mind states  to be clear about the specific practice you are to work on for the rest of the week

2. limits of consciousness  at most 7 bits of information at once - eg. 7 different sounds, visual stimuli, nuances of emotion or thought  1/18 second chunks, so 126 bits/second we need to allocate about 40 bits/second to understand the words another person is saying  16 hours per day for a 70 year lifetime is equivalent to a total of 185 billion bits of information we are limited to:

3. attention, intentions & priorities  the 185 billion bits of information - or whatever our personal allocation - determines the content and the quality of our lives  information enters consciousness because of biological and social programming or because we focus attention on it  by revising our social programming and by deciding how to focus our attention we hugely influence the content and quality of our lives

4. how birds see the world Gary Larson our attitudes colour the world we see if a pickpocket meets a saint, all he sees are his pockets for the man who wears shoes, the whole world is covered with leather

5. four aspects of helpful inner focus reducing negative states nourishing positive states exploring & processing encouraging mindfulness

6. focus also involves mindfulness mindfulness fish hooks, metacognition flow, acceptance tolerance, mindfulness researchers in this area of “mindfulness” include Linehan (DBT), Wells (metacognition), Csikszentmihalyi (flow), Hayes (ACT), Kabat-Zinn (mindfulness), Teasdale (MBCT) applications have included depression, anxiety, personality problems, chronic pain, skin disorders, other physical symptoms, & general wellbeing

7. savouring, mindfulness & flow flow focus on the activity savouring focus on the positive mindfulness focus on the present deliberate, non- judgemental attention to what is happening in the present moment full immersion in what one is doing with loss of self- consciousness focus on positive experiences in past, present or future

8. eating a raisin  simple activities like eating, walking, hearing, seeing are often opportunities to “come to our senses”  try eating a raisin or other simple food slowly and awarely - wake up to what is often partly automatic this exercise is an lovely illustration of savouring, flow & mindfulness

9. gratitude, appreciation, & specials  these exercises helps remind us that “small is beautiful”  use the record sheet to jot down three “specials” you have been particularly grateful for and appreciated today  this is good for our mood & wellbeing  it is also a lovely way of getting snapshots of someone else’s day  try describing/exchanging “specials” with a partner, friends or family

10. attention & self: a two way street  attention shapes the self and is in turn shaped by it Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi  for out of the abundance of the heart the mouth speaketh Matthew 12;xxxiv  the flow of energy through a system serves to organize that system Buckminster Fuller