Attention & orientation

Attention & Orientation concerns our ability to locate ourselves in experience. Before we can make a decision, understand an emotion, set a boundary or imagine something new, we need enough contact with the present to notice what is actually occurring.

Attention gives you somewhere to begin: what is happening here, rather than only what you expect to happen. The glossary distinguishes grounding from sensory attention, so you can explore both the orientation and the noticing involved.

The five capacities

Presence

Presence is the capacity to remain in contact with what is happening now, both inside and around us.

Grounding

Grounding is the capacity to reconnect awareness with bodily sensation, physical support and the immediate environment.

Focus

Focus is the capacity to select something as relevant, stay with it and redirect attention when necessary.

Patience

Patience is the capacity to remain in relationship with processes that cannot or should not be rushed.

Balance

Balance is the capacity to continually negotiate competing demands without expecting life to settle into perfect equilibrium.

How these capacities work together

The relationships matter as much as the individual capacities. Follow any connection below to see how these abilities support, regulate or complicate one another.

Person reading an I AWAKE book

Not sure where to begin?