Dropping Attention

[benos]

How many times have you dropped something, just as you were picking it up? We also miss shots and don't call the miss. The same mistake is behind both. At the critical moment, your attention raced ahead of the action.

be

[AikiDale]

What I find really annoying about this is we so often can direct our attention elsewhere and trust our unconscious mind to take care of the details and every so often this happens to remind us we constantly need to refine the balance between the aware mind and the conscious mind.

[Blackglock19]

Not sure how relevant this is; but I was training this A.M. and there were a few shots that were dead on - on a 3" target at 10-20 yds and I really believe that I called and saw and shot those shots. I have been trying to understand what is meant (fully) by calling one's shots. I think I experienced this a few times today. Maybe I am getting closer to some understanding and actuation thereof. Still Fumbling Though!

[Flexmoney]

... we constantly need to refine the balance between the aware mind and the conscious mind.

In theory at least, I've ditched the idea of duality. (Brian, you asked my once why I got rid of my old ying/yang avatar. I found it limiting. For me it had become a symbol of duality.)

Even so, I'm not sure that the the aware mind and the conscious mind would fit that model in the first place?

[JThompson]

What I find really annoying about this is we so often can direct our attention elsewhere and trust our unconscious mind to take care of the details and every so often this happens to remind us we constantly need to refine the balance between the aware mind and the conscious mind.

We all do it... how many times have you drove home and don't remember the drive? I'm not talking drunk either. Ever look into the rearview to check the color of the light you just went through?

[JThompson]

Not sure how relevant this is; but I was training this A.M. and there were a few shots that were dead on - on a 3" target at 10-20 yds and I really believe that I called and saw and shot those shots. I have been trying to understand what is meant (fully) by calling one's shots. I think I experienced this a few times today. Maybe I am getting closer to some understanding and actuation thereof. Still Fumbling Though!

My moment of clarity on calling shots was when I loaded 2 in the mag and after I broke the second shot I sat there in follow through. Not just for a second, but for almost a full ten seconds just looking at the dot that returned right to the very hole I just put a round through. It all clicked at that point and I understood follow through and calling shots.... right at that moment when the hammer was over an empty chamber and there was nothing left to "do." If that makes sense.....

Edited May 26, 2007 by JThompson

[AikiDale]

... we constantly need to refine the balance between the aware mind and the conscious mind.

In theory at least, I've ditched the idea of duality. (Brian, you asked my once why I got rid of my old ying/yang avatar. I found it limiting. For me it had become a symbol of duality.)

Even so, I'm not sure that the the aware mind and the conscious mind would fit that model in the first place?

You are right I think to ditch duality. The aware and the conscious mind are the same mind. But how else to write about it? Brian wrote about moving one's attention from the target to the sight picture to the trigger. At each step one's attention shifts and yet the program remains running to keep the target and the sight picture from 'dropping.' We seem to have a level of awareness which functions just below our perception, or dare I say, awareness of awareness. Yet let it drop too far and we instantly become aware of our lack of awareness.

Okay, I'm going to bed now and hope that doesn't sound too weird tomorrow after the steel match.

'

[Flexmoney]

I'll have to think on that. (Knowing me...I'll pop back on here in 3 months, after churning it around in the brian box.)

[IronEqualizer]

How many times have you dropped something, just as you were picking it up? We also miss shots and don't call the miss. The same mistake is behind both. At the critical moment, your attention raced ahead of the action.

be

How many times......especially when running late and trying to get dressed in a hurry.....do you fumble everyday actions you normally would not.....dropping toothbrush, fumbling buttons on a shirt, dropping your keys? It seems in the end rushing actually takes you more time than it would if you just did the same actions you do everyday smoothly. Brian, somehow your statement made me realize the analogy between rushing in shooting and rushing in anything.

[carinab]

Brian wrote about moving one's attention from the target to the sight picture to the trigger. At each step one's attention shifts and yet the program remains running to keep the target and the sight picture from 'dropping.' We seem to have a level of awareness which functions just below our perception, or dare I say, awareness of awareness. Yet let it drop too far and we instantly become aware of our lack of awareness. Okay, I'm going to bed now and hope that doesn't sound too weird tomorrow after the steel match.

That made sense Dale! Really! For me I call this state "global" awareness. You aren't consciously following each thing; the target, the sight picture, the trigger. Yet you are aware of each of them as they happen while still observing the other elements. As soon as you drill down and tune in on one element, the risk of losing the other pieces increases. Then if your attention wanders from that one element real time, broken maybe by anticipation of what is next or judgment about what just happened, then >whammo< the miss or the mistake will occur.

It amazes me how the subconscious has the ability to gather just the right amount of data and influence a reaction and do it so very quickly. I just finished re-reading Blink by Malcolm Gladwell who addresses this idea of thinking without thinking.

[benos]

Language is based in duality: this vs. that; black or white; space or form. So if we ditch duality then we cannot communicate. Dualism is at the root of all human experience, or personal reality, in the form of me, and, everything else. (As I re-read that, I realized a new meaning for "we": "me and everything else" is also "we"; as opposed to the normal "we," meaning, everyone reading this.) But through training, if we study dualistic reality sufficiently, we can break though its limitations. The "breaking through" is felt more as a magical feeling rather than an experience you can describe or explain, and the experience often keeps you "coming back for more."

A familiar example might be the often described "road to mastering a skill." Let's take pistol shooting for an example. When one first knows nothing about shooting a pistol, the mind is empty, clean, and full of inquiry. Although we may not be that good of a shot, we haven't polluted our brain with a lot of names, ideas, and opinions about shooting a pistol, yet. Then with training and practice, one learns grip, sight picture, and so on, and what it means to "call the shot," and then to do so repeatedly and at high speed. This is learning's dualistic phase. And it's pretty much where, as adults, we live our life. There's a lot of "doing this to get that" going on. Then, if you trained long enough and with the right approach, you might experience a entirely new way of shooting, in which there was no experience of anything specific, it was more like there was just a witnessing of activity. That was being done perfectly. Even if a "mistake" occurred, it was remedied instantaneously. You couldn't even say for sure "who" was doing the witnessing, but there was definitely something happening.

If you have "the experience," no matter what you were doing when it happened, you now know for the first time that it's the real deal. And, as they say in Buddhism, you make "ox herding" your main concern.

(Once you've seen the ox you make ox herding your main concern.

-Bodhidharma

Where "seeing the ox" is the magical merging of dualistic perception.)

But then typically that puts us right back into the trap of trying again. If you keep looking into the trying trap, you'll find it's really not possible to "herd the ox." So you learn to create favorable conditions, from whence the ox might return.

You can't know the circle if you see black and white.

be

[Jman]

I too will fumble. And drop things, both in business and sports. I try to be aware of everything, thinking that the awareness

enables my success. By awareness I mean the location of my next business prospect, in sports the next target or stage. This

approach failed me. Recently both my business and shooting have improved (mostly business ) exponentially. I attribute

this to a different awareness. The process. I may drop "it", lets say a dinner dish. Because I was thinking about where to

store it, instead of drying it adequately. This has been a steep hill for me but, process is overtaking outcome. This is good for

me at least.

Jim

Edited May 30, 2007 by JimmyM

[Blackglock19]

That was very beautiful and eloquent brian. Having studdied Zen Buddhism and practiced too for 1/2 of my 54 years at least this was so very accurate.

MAAK!!!

Edited May 30, 2007 by Blackglock19

[benos]

That was very beautiful and eloquent brian. Having studdied Zen Buddhism and practiced too for 1/2 of my 54 years at least this was so very accurate.

MAAK!!!

Thank you.

[ThreadDrift]

That's a beautiful avatar. What's it's story?

[/td]

[Blackglock19]

That was very beautiful and eloquent brian. Having studdied Zen Buddhism and practiced too for 1/2 of my 54 years at least this was so very accurate.

MAAK!!!

Thank you.

[ThreadDrift]

That's a beautiful avatar. What's it's story?

[/td]

Thank you too! Not really sure. I found it somewhere a year or so ago and saved it in my pics folder on my powerbook and I found it when I was trying to find one that might look nice on your site as opposed to a gold dot open flower round or some such thing.

Since everytime I send you an email you never get it for some spam filter reason just drag it from the forum and save it or use it. I thought it was very nice too by the way!

Norman

p.s. got the book last week too - so thank you again!

[Sam]

The egoic mind seeks to control everything, label everthing, capture everything. I really like the "herding the Ox" analogy.

Why would we rather take a picture of a sunset than just enjoy one?

When we catch a glimpse of enlightenment or grace, our minds snap us back very quickly. To the mind, loss of control is the same as death. Thus, time out of mind is a pretty rare treat. To maintain control, the mind judges, labels, comments, and reminds us, ad nauseum, that we cannot possible survive without our minds. The best we can hope for is to quiet our minds and let our Ox (spirits) lead us.

Shooting is best when when we just go "WOW", that was cool!

[Blackglock19]

Shooting is best when we just go!

:-)))

[benos]

The egoic mind seeks to control everything, label everthing, capture everything. I really like the "herding the Ox" analogy.

Why would we rather take a picture of a sunset than just enjoy one?

When we catch a glimpse of enlightenment or grace, our minds snap us back very quickly. To the mind, loss of control is the same as death. Thus, time out of mind is a pretty rare treat. To maintain control, the mind judges, labels, comments, and reminds us, ad nauseum, that we cannot possible survive without our minds. The best we can hope for is to quiet our minds and let our Ox (spirits) lead us.

Shooting is best when when we just go "WOW", that was cool!

Very nice.

be

[Blackglock19]

clarification: by "just go" I meant like 'Go with the flow' as in 'The Tao - wu-wei' Flow! FLUID!

[iweiny]

How many times......especially when running late and trying to get dressed in a hurry.....do you fumble everyday actions you normally would not.....dropping toothbrush, fumbling buttons on a shirt, dropping your keys? It seems in the end rushing actually takes you more time than it would if you just did the same actions you do everyday smoothly. Brian, somehow your statement made me realize the analogy between rushing in shooting and rushing in anything.

Someone said over dinner last night, "why do they call it rush hour when you are driving so slow". To which I responded, "rushing does not mean you are going fast..."

How many times have you dropped something, just as you were picking it up? We also miss shots and don't call the miss. The same mistake is behind both. At the critical moment, your attention raced ahead of the action.

be

This exact thing happened to me at Saturday practice. I was doing some 1 shot drills on steel. After missing one of the shots I realized what I saw as the shot broke. I saw the plate, not the sight. I was looking to see the plate fall not my sight lift. My attention shifted away, as Brian says, "at the critical moment". For a long time I have been fighting what I thought was a blinking problem, now I realized it could be an even bigger problem... But at least I experienced something and from that I can learn...

Ira