This is an AI-generated transcript from auto-generated subtitles for the video Medt'n: Letting It Be; Practice Off the Cushion, On Purpose (1/5): Curating our Attention ~ Diana C. It likely contains inaccuracies.

Medt'n: Letting It Be; Practice Off the Cushion, On Purpose (1/5): Curating our Attention ~ Diana C

The following talk was given by Diana Clark at Insight Meditation Center in Redwood City, CA on October 27, 2025. Please visit the website www.audiodharma.org for more information.

Introduction

Good morning, good afternoon, good evening. Welcome, welcome. So happy to be joining you this morning. For me, it's morning, but for those of us on the left side of this continent, this morning. How are you guys this morning? I see the weather forecast. The weather is dark.

Oh, it's nice. Those of you that are saying it's nice to see me. Thank you. Thank you. It's lovely to be here. And don't tell Gil, but I kind of forgot that I was supposed to, or actually, it wasn't on my calendar for some reason that I'm teaching this week. And so I just got notified. It's fantastic. I just said, "Okay, well, no problem. Here we go." So, I'm looking forward to spending this week with you all.

When I teach in other places, when I teach retreats or doing daylongs or something like this, it's very common for people to say, "Oh, I saw you on those 7 a.m.s." And that's very nice. And I'm often telling people, "Go do Gil's 7 a.m." So there's a movement happening, we might say.

This week, I've titled this "Practicing Off the Cushion, On Purpose," just to be a little bit cute, you know, using this off and on thing. But I want to highlight that practice isn't only about taking meditation posture, sitting quietly with one's eyes closed, or following items in a list. This, of course, is a big part of practice—meditating regularly and all these beautiful lists that the Buddha left for us. But it's a trap if we think that that's only what practice is.

And so I want to expand this idea of practice to include this idea that it's really about our relationship to experience and how we meet each moment. In some ways, we could say that's why we meditate or that's why we follow these lists—to help us meet each moment with as much ease, with as much presence as we can. And it's with meeting moments with ease and presence that allows the insights to occur, which allows the great transformation to occur.

But not only that, if we're meeting each moment, whether it's about all the small tasks, these ordinary events, these things that we do all day, every day—driving, email, waiting at stoplights, or waiting for an email in response, or how we are with our relationships—there's a way in which if we can fold that into practice and meet those moments with ease and presence, then our life starts to unfold in a different way than if we meet them with some agitation or impatience or something like that. So, not only does our practice in daily life support our practice on the cushion, but frankly, it's how we spend the most of our time, and it's a way just to make our life unfold in a way that brings more ease.

So, this is about choosing presence on purpose, intentionally. And for this series, we'll keep it simple. Each day, introducing another way in which we can support mindfulness and concentration, another way in which we can bring presence to the fullness of our lives, to the completeness of our lives, right in the midst of our life, right in the midst of our days, whatever our day holds, without being on a meditation cushion, letting awareness meet the world without agitation, without strain.

So with that as an introduction, after talking about the importance of practicing in daily life, now I'm going to talk about practicing it on a cushion. I do recognize kind of the irony there. But there's a way in which they support each other, right? Daily life supports the cushion, the cushion supports daily life.

Guided Meditation: Letting Things Be (link)

So maybe allowing a big exhale as we arrive and finding a posture that's steady and kind. So upright but not stiff or stilted. Letting the hands rest where they can be forgotten, in a way that implies comfort and ease.

And just feel the simple fact of being here. Contact with a cushion or chair. Feeling the support of the contact with the cushion or the chair or sofa or bed, wherever you are.

Letting the breath come and go on its own. Arising, passing, inhaling, exhaling.

There's nothing to fix right now, nothing to improve. We're just with the body breathing. Trusting that the body knows how to breathe.

Hearing sounds. Some of them might be arising and passing. Some of them might be a steady hum. For me, I'm now hearing rain in the gutter, the drain pipe that's right outside the window here. The rain must have started.

Whatever you're hearing, can it be present? Can it be allowed to be here? It is here already. Can we allow it?

If thoughts appear, that's also part of the field known and allowed. We just simply return to the sensations of breathing or sounds.

Sensing if there's any extra tension or effort, sometimes felt as tension in the jaw or shoulders or belly. Can we just let a little of that drain away?

And resting attention with our anchor, whether that's the sensations of breathing or sounds. And let the anchor be enough for these next few moments.

If attention wanders, notice that kindly and gently return to the anchor. Returning is part of this practice.

And noticing if anything feels a little easeful or steady. A soft exhale. A patch of calm. The simple rhythm of sound. Let it register for a few extra breaths. Not clinging, but just allowing the system to know ease is here. Calm is here.

And it's perfectly fine if it's not easeful or calm. Maybe you can easefully know agitation. And we savor many supportive experiences, including savoring the knowing of unsupportive or agitative experiences.

Okay. Bringing some movement to the fingers and toes. Opening the eyes. I'm not ringing a bell this week. But thank you. Thank you for practice. Such a beautiful thing to do, practice together. Thank you.

Dharmette: Practicing Off the Cushion, On Purpose (1/5): Curating Our Attention (link)

So this week, I'm doing "Practice Off the Cushion, On Purpose," and maybe I'm trying too hard there with the off and on business. I wanted it to be a little bit playful, a little bit fun, and you know, not feel dry and burdensome or something like this. Part of what encouraged me to do this series is I recently taught a retreat. When I'm teaching a retreat, at the end, after spending seven days in silence at a retreat center, people often ask, "Oh, this was really great, but how can I bring this into my life? I want to have what I experienced here in my life. This was such a contrived, unique experience to be on a silent meditation retreat at a retreat center, and how can I bring what I discovered or experienced with me when I leave the retreat?" Or maybe sometimes people, before they go on retreat, ask, "Well, how can I prepare for the retreat in my daily life? How can I prepare for what we might experience on retreat?"

And so this series, "Practicing Off the Cushion, On Purpose," is one way to address this. It's also a way in which I want to highlight that we can augment some of the teachings that we hear from Gil on 7 a.m. about meditation. He's done these beautiful long series on different practices that are on the cushion, with the lists. And I want to, maybe in the same way that that's kind of like being on a retreat, explore how we can bring some of what we are learning and practicing into other areas.

So, "Practicing Off the Cushion, On Purpose" is my way of saying the practice isn't only about taking a meditation posture, but it's how we meet what's actually here amidst the emails, the spaces between activities, the conversations that we have—just all the "stuff" of our daily life. With this series, each morning we'll explore one simple, practical activity that could be done in the midst of your day, maybe even throughout your day. Not to be perfect, but to support mindfulness, support concentration, support these other practices that we're doing in a way that we can be a little steadier, a little less reactive, right where we are, whatever is happening.

And this morning, I'd like to start with curating our attention. I'm defining attention here... I was thinking, in my mind, I have this memory, or maybe I made it up, of being told, "Pay attention." Imagining this is what happens in school or from parents. So this idea of intentionally turning towards some particular experience, I'm using "attention" in that way. And curating our attention is, we could say, the art of meeting our experience—sights, sounds, tastes, thoughts, sensations—with a kind discernment.

For example, imagine that you are a curator of a small, luminous gallery: the gallery of your own heart and mind. What would you like to hang on the walls of this beautiful, luminous gallery of your heart and mind? Curation is about choosing what to feature on the walls, so to speak, of this beautiful gallery, so that our inner space stays spacious, gentle, clear, and supportive for the life that we want to live.

So, we're choosing sense inputs, sense experiences that nourish steadiness, that nourish ease, that nourish presence, and letting the rest happily go by. We're being intentional about what sense inputs we're receiving throughout the day. In this way, we might say we're tuning the signal so that the mind isn't flooded with sense inputs that are agitating. This curating our attention, it's not about saying no to life and to experiences. It's more about saying a wise "yes" to what supports ease and well-being and the life we want to live, what supports mindfulness, what supports some settledness, some ease, and some concentration.

I recently went to a book art exhibition where artists reinterpret books and make books in just beautiful and unique ways. I really love this. I like books, I like to read books, but it's also to consider that books, of course, are objects and they can be art as well. There were some works at this exhibition that were so inspiring. I just felt really touched by them, where every element of the book—the paper, the binding, the cover, the shape, everything, the texture—contributed to a sense of balance and harmony. The creativity and the thoughtfulness that went into them gave me this uplift in my heart. I could feel the care and the intention that the artist had put into what some would say is an ordinary object. So there was this sense of ease that showed up.

In contrast, quite a few years ago, I went to an action movie in the movie theaters that included a lot of foul language. I remember walking out of this movie theater and then talking with my friend, and I couldn't believe how many curse words came out of my mouth. It was amazing. So just this recognition of, oh, you have this full-on sound and visual experience that includes a lot of curse words, and you're more likely to say a lot of curse words after that.

This curating our attention is about just recognizing the truth of this: that what we experience, what we surround ourselves with, impacts us. So what are some examples of curating our attention?

Maybe during meditation, this might mean choosing not to let the mind finish its thought train. When we wake up in the midst of a thought train, instead of following it, just choosing to gently return to the breath, gently return to a body sensation, gently return to sounds. This interrupts the agitating spinning that the mind can do. So much of our suffering is about spinning in thoughts. So curating our attention can be, when we wake up in the midst of being lost in thought, intentionally choosing a neutral, grounding experience in meditation or even off of meditation.

Another way we can curate our attention is to spend time in nature. There's something wonderful about being outside with trees or in the rain. Or if you can't go outside, just looking out the window or tending to a house plant, or maybe looking at a beautiful coffee table book that you have, one of these beautiful books that have beautiful photographs or art in them. So spending time visually seeing things that are easeful and restful.

Curating our attention can also mean dropping unnecessary, agitating media. I saw a statistic just recently that said that if there's a trigger warning on articles or videos, it will get more clicks than if there isn't a trigger warning. What does this say about us, that we like this? "Oh, I want to be agitated." It's kind of like the excitement or something about this. So there are many ways in which we can avoid unnecessary agitating media. We know which articles are likely to support outrage or agitation within us. So each of us gets to decide for ourselves which media we want to consume. And I'm just offering an invitation to be intentional about this and choose media that supports the life you want to live. I'm not saying we have to avoid things; I'm just saying be intentional about this.

Curating our sense experiences, curating our attention, is also about savoring nourishing experiences. We could say that the nervous system learns by repetition and resonance. If we want ease, non-agitation, mindfulness, settledness, and concentration in our life, and if we want it to become familiar in a way in which the mind can just easily return to it again and again, we can let an experience land.

Savoring can feel small. It just means maybe taking three breaths longer when we notice there's a moment of gratitude. Or maybe it's reading an inspiring line or something that feels uplifting for us and giving it a few seconds before reading the next line. Maybe it's, on a podcast, doing the 10-second rewind and hearing it again if it feels like there's some uplift. Or maybe it's something like finishing a task, whether it's simple—doing the dishes, doing the laundry, driving somewhere with some traffic, for example—but finishing a task and then naming that finish so the mind can close the loop. "Oh, nice. That's finished."

So, using this gallery metaphor again, we could say that curating our attention is kind of like clearing the walls of what's not helpful, as best we can, and choosing what to put on the walls of our beautiful, luminous inner gallery. And then savoring, we could say, is the light that we put on what we put on the walls.

Curation of attention is not avoidance. There's a way we can say a warm "no" because we're committed to a deeper "yes." It's not self-policing. It's not about purity. It's about fit. Does this sense input fit with the steadiness and the ease you want to cultivate in your life?

And this curation, it isn't joyless. Maybe it's an aesthetic. It's arranging items on an altar so it's pleasing and uplifting. It's choosing which theme to use on our desktop and emails and things like this. It's literally choosing what's on our walls or which plates to use for a special gathering and placemats or something like this. We do this ordinary aesthetic all the time. Maybe it's kind of fun to think about doing this for our minds as well.

So this curating our attention is hospitality for the wholesome. It's providing the ground for wholesome, helpful qualities to grow so that the life that we want to live becomes easier and easier.

And the Buddha points to this. He knew this, and he said that this curating our attention, which is how I'm translating what often gets translated as sense restraint¹, creates the condition for undiluted happiness. Keeping the mind away from unnecessary agitation—agitation is going to happen in our life, but can we choose some non-agitating things? Keeping the mind away from things that are unhelpful.

I am not saying this is going to be perfect. I am not saying that we have to put blinders on. I'm just talking about curating, to bring some intention, some thoughtfulness to the sense inputs that we are receiving. So it's not about shrinking life and isolating ourselves. It's about making space for what supports our having the life we want.

So today, let it register—something that's uplifting or supports some ease or some presence. Let it register and maybe linger with gratitude, or saying no to that polemic blog that we sometimes like to read. Curate our attention as a way to practice off the cushion, on purpose.

Thank you.