The Serenity Solution: How to Use Quiet Contemplation to Solve Life's Problems (8 page)

Identifying the central factor insures we avoid getting blocked by this otherwise hidden obstacle. For instance, by stopping arguments with our spouse and acknowledging our insecurity at work, we begin to get out from under the influence of this more influential factor.

We will learn more how to identify the central factor as well as look at our life situations more broadly in the broadening exercises that follow this chapter. For now, we look at another advantage to broadening awareness and that is opening insight from inner mind.

Opening Access to Broader Information

Another common feature of broadening awareness is defocusing, or opening awareness to greater information. Recall that our focus works like a camera lens. A camera lens may defocus to take in a wider vistas; and likewise, mental defocusing may let in a larger number of thoughts from background areas of mind. Through a calm inner focus, we may observe a greater number of thoughts, deeper thoughts, and more original thoughts about a problem.

We all have within us enough information to solve life problems.

We just need to take the time to access it. When we do, we often find the solutions we have been looking for. In fact, neuroscience provides much evidence that most of our thinking occurs outside our normal state of consciousness. Outside our focal awareness lies a larger, background awareness that not only holds knowledge of our body and its processes
Broadening Awareness (The Detached Observer Mode) 49

but knowledge of our deepest thoughts and insights. Many of the early pioneers of the mind believed this, including the Swiss psychiatrist, Carl Jung. He stated in his book, Psychology and Religion:
“The unconscious
mind is capable at times of assuming an intelligence and purposiveness which are
superior to actual conscious insight.”

We usually aren’t aware of this greater information because of our typical filter that blocks out all but our immediate concerns and familiar and habitual thoughts. As a result, we tend to operate most of the time in a relatively narrow range of awareness called our focal awareness.

However, at times though, when we relax, we may experience a de-

focusing and a release of background information. Thoughts may come into focal awareness suddenly and clearly as a flash of insight or slowly and subtly as a hunch or intuition. For example, we may strive in vain to recall a tune only to have it pop into our heads later when showering or driving down the highway. The tune was there all along it is just that we did not have access to it until we relaxed.

Or, we might suddenly get the thought that a friend is about to call right before the phone rings.

To understand the relationship between our conscious mind or focal awareness and larger areas of mind consider the analogy of a spotlight illustrated below. In the center of the spotlight, we see a small, bright circle; this area represents our focal awareness, which provides access to our immediate thoughts and our conscious awareness. Adjacent to this bright inner circle are darker surrounding areas that represent access to our preconscious and subconscious thoughts, respectively.

Now, just as light level decreases as we move out from the bright center of a spotlight, we also experience a decreasing ease of access to broader areas of mind as we move from conscious thoughts to subconscious

thoughts. As we move to outer darker areas, we find a more extended and diffuse awareness as well as a need for calmer, deeper focus. We will discuss these deeper, broader areas of mind in a later chapter.