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Please continue to record your observations in your journal. Set aside a meaningful period of time each day to practice these exercises.

Exercise Number One - Mindfulness of the Body

Select a particular activity during your daily routine that requires walking and bodily movement, such as going to your car at the end of the day or taking out the trash. Be mindful first of your intention to move, then each movement that follows. For example, be aware of the intention to leave your workplace at the end of the day; be aware of your body sitting in your chair, the intention to stand, and the touch sensations of the various muscles as they extend and contract in coordination as you get up from your chair; be aware of your body standing; observe the intention arising to turn your body towards the door and the bodily movements that respond to that intention: the feet moving as you step forward, the arm, then the hand, reaching out for the door knob to open the door. Continue this mindfulness practice of observing the body until you reach your car, open the door, and sit down.

Exercise Number Two - Mindfulness of Feelings

During the day, choose a particular sense organ and focus solely on experiencing the feelings that are associated with the objects that come through that sense door, taking note of their quality (pleasant, etc.) and characteristics (impermanent, etc.).

• Eye and forms
• Ear and sounds
• Nose and odors; tongue and flavors (Can be taken together since they are so related)
• Body and touches
• Mind and mind objects

During your sitting meditation, follow the breath as the primary object of meditation. See it rise and fall. When the mind strays, instead of observing the rise and fall of the distraction and then going back to the breath, notice that a distracted state of consciousness is present and precisely identify what state of mind arose when the mind wandered. The most important distinction at the beginning is knowing with immediacy the presence of wholesome and unwholesome states of mind, i.e., those rooted in generosity, loving-friendliness/compassion, and/or clarity (wholesome states) or those rooted in greed, hatred and/or delusion (unwholesome states).

In a second way of practicing, consciousness itself is taken as the primary object of attention. Watch whatever state of mind arises without labeling which state has arisen. [Making mental notes keeps us from the direct experience of both the state of consciousness and its characteristics. The mental note becomes the object of awareness instead of the mental state that we wish to experience.]

Exercise Number Four - Mindfulness of Mind Objects

Distinguish the different aggregates that comprise the personality:

• When material form arises (e.g., the breath, a visual object, etc.) know that it is material form and do not identify the specific kind of material form that has arisen. Just recognize that the material form belongs to the materiality aggregate.
• When feelings arise (the effective tone of the experience as being pleasant, unpleasant or neither pleasant nor unpleasant), know that feeling is present and do not identify what kind of feeling has arisen. Just recognize that the feeling that has arisen belongs to the feeling aggregate.
• The same process applies to the other aggregates: perceptions, mental formations (volitions), and consciousness (states of mind).
• When you have concluded this practice of noticing each of the aggregates that comprise your experience, ask yourself this question: "Who is [walking, standing, thinking, etc.]?"