Have you ever....

• felt stressed out?

• experienced brain fog?

• felt disconnected from what you're experiencing?

• been with people without really being present with them?

• yearned to connect to your Higher Power and hear Their voice?

 

This virtue will help.

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As you Hone Perception using the nine core principles below, you will learn to exist profoundly and joyfully in the present moment. Eckhart Tolle calls this Presence. Others call it mindfulness.

 

It is being fully aware of what your senses are telling you at this moment. Doing so helps you transcend the worry, paranoia, and stress of your train of thought and just be. It is quite blissful.

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And learning to exist this way is key to allowing your body to surrender to profound spiritual experiences that will completely change how your see yourself, your purpose, and your connection to the Oneness of Everything.

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1. Increase the Sensativity of Your Senses:​

Your senses are a like a muscle. With practice, you can increase their sensativity.

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Give this a try: breathe. Focus on your breathing. Become very aware of what your see, hear, smell, or feel in this present moment.

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Now, choose to increase your sensativity by 10%. What more do you notice?

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Try this exercise one or more times each day, just for a few moments each day (or longer if you want). The sensativity of your senses will increase and you'll naturally find yourself being Present more and more often. It'll be so wonderful for you!

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> What did you experience as you tried this exercise?

> What other experiences have you had when you were very aware of what your senses were telling you in the present moment? What can you learn from those experiences that helps you now?

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2. Focus Your Senses with Patience:​

The comparison between our senses and our muscles yields another insight: resistance makes the muscles stronger. Your muscles need to push against weight to grow larger.

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As you practice increasing your perceptual sensativity, you're going to encounter distractions. This is great! As you choose to ignore those distractions, re-focus, and continue your practice, your sensativity will grow because of the resistance.

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This will require patience. You'll need to be patient with yourself as you notice the blocks in you that make this practice difficult. And you'll need to be patient with the process of focusing.

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Imagine suddenly entering a pitch black room. Your eyes need time to adjust to the darkness. But if you just patiently stay there, eventually your eyes will dilate and you'll be able to see. That's what it is like to focus your perceptions. It isn't something you force. It's something you patiently wait for with intention.

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> Why is it challenging to be patient?

> How can the dark room example help you learn patience?

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3. Use Multiple Senses:​

Let's return to the practice described in the first principle:

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Breathe. Focus on your breathing. Nothing exists but each breath.

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Become aware of the space you are in. Become aware of an object in that space. What does the object look like? Increase your sensative by 10%. What else do you notice about what the object looks like?

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Now, bring in another sense. How does it sound or smell? What does it feel like when you touch it? Increase your sensativity by 10%. What else do you notice?

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Try this with additional senses.

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Bringing in more senses helps us experience things more fully. This increases the joy and gratitude of our experience. It can also help us notice important details that can inform our understanding and actions.

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> What did you notice as you tried this exercise?

> Why do you have multiple senses? Why not just have one sense?

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4. Augment Your Senses:​

This just means using resources outside your body to aid your senses. Glasses, binoculars, hearing aids, and info-red goggles are examples of tools that can augment your senses.

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Other living things can also augment our senses such as with seeing eye dogs. Asking other people to tell you what they're sensing can help you notice details you wouldn't notice on your own.

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You don't need to experience life alone. There is joy in collaborating with others. Experience the joy of connecting with others and letting them enhance your perception.

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> When is a time when someone else's perspective changed your perspective?

> What tools or helpers could you use to augment your perception of the space you're in? When insights do you gain when you do so?

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The previous four principles were invitations to open your senses and simply experience whatever is without putting value judgments on everything. This practice will help you exist more profoundly.

 

But it doesn't mean it is virtuous to never apply judgment of everytime. Jesus stated, "Judge not" but then, on another occasion said to "judge righteous judgments" (Matthew 7:1; John 7:24). We can learn to accept each thing as it is and fully perceive and then discern which of those things to give greater attention to and which to ignore altogether. 

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There is where the next three principles come into play. After you read them, you might also check out the ten Core Principles of Discern Truth which provide greater insights about how to discern and respond to influences and ideas.

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5. Focus on What Helps:​

You tend to take on the nature of whatever you give extended attention to. In the book Peace is Every step, Thich Nhat Hanh talks about how, in the present moment, we become whatever we are giving our attention to in that moment. We take on its frequency. If we're watching a bad movie, we become a bad movie. If we're giving extensive attention to worried thoughts or messages, we become worry.

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If we give our extended attention to things which are joyful, loving, or grateful in nature, we become those attritubes.

 

You can only give your full attention to one thing at a time. We recommend giving it to whatever Fulfills Your Yearnity.

 

But this doesn't mean it is virtous to avoid giving attention to "negative emotions". If we give our extended attention to a sad friend, we become our friend and can empathize with them and help them.

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Giving our attention to our own sadness, anger, disgust, and fear allows those emotions to give us important messages that help us fulfill yearnity. The virtue of Processing Emotions can help you learn to give attention to any emotion in a way that helps.

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And it can be important to give attention to evil in order to notice it, understand it, and then respond appropriately to it. Just be honest with yourself about whether your are giving attention to evil and becoming it or giving attention to evil through a perceptual filter that allows you to fulfill yearnity. Again, we recommend referencing the virtue of Discerning Truth in order to learn how to do this.

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> What is something you'd like to give less attention to?

> What is something you'd like to give more attention to?

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6. Discern the Source:​

Every visual, sound, smell, etc. has a source. The light you see could be coming from a light bulb or the sun. That bad smell could be coming from your friend or yourself.

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Discerning the source of what you're sensing makes a big difference in how you interpret it. For example, if you feel someone suddenly grab your hand and then look to see who it is, you'll respond very differently if it is a complete stranger or your significant other.

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Until you've discerned the source of what you're sensing, you don't fully understand what's happening and you might not be ready to make a wise judgment. This can be especially important with spiritual sensations.

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> What is something you can sense right now? What is the source of that sensation? How does knowing the source affect your experience?

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7. Interpret What You Sense:​

Once you've patiently used all your senses and tools to fully perceive something; discerned how it could fulfill your yearnity, and discened its source, you're ready to interpret what you've experienced.

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This simply means making sense of it. Compare it to what you currently understand (i.e. your schema) and let what you've perceived adjust your understanding.

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> Give attention to something your senses are telling you in this present moment. How is your interpretation of that sensation informed by your understanding (schema)?

> When has something your senses told you altered your understanding (schema)?

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Then, you're ready to react to what you've perceived --

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8. React Intentionally to Your Senses:​

If you're walking down a sidewalk and you perceive a root that could trip you, you probably react by stepping longer and higher to avoid it.

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Likewise, once we've properly interpetted anything our senses are telling us, there is often an opportunity to react. And it is important to do so intentionally.

 

Sometimes, if you react too quickly without fully understanding what your senses tell you, you might regret your reaction. Be intentionally when you react. React in a way that fulfills yearnity.

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> When have you reacted too hastily to what your senses told you? What was the consequence?

> When have you reacted intentionally to what your sesnse told you? How did you demonstrate intention? What was the result?

> How can your senses help you know how to react lovingly to other people?

> How can you react intentionally even when the situation requires an immediate response?

> If you react poorly, how can you make things better?

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9. Master the Nuances of Perceptual Memory:​

Research on memory has shown that what humans remember seeing and hearing over time is not based on what our senses actually detected but rather on how we tell the story. If you tell a story over and over again and it changes with each telling, your vivid memory of what you saw and heard will actually change to reflect how you’re telling the story. 

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Thus, it is a good idea to record important perceptions right after they happen before your memory alters them. And be careful about assuming your vivid memory of an event is absolute truth. 

 

Being humble about how well your remember what happened can increase your open-mindedness, help you make wise judgments, and make it easier to get along with people during a disagreement.

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It is also valuable to realize that our bodies store perceptual memories along with emotions. If you perceive something in a threatening situation, your body will likely connect that perception with an emotion like anger, sadness, disgust, or fear. Then, when you perceive something similar in the future, it might call up those emotions. Understanding this interplay can help you as you Process Emotions.

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> Why is it important to understand the nuances of how your body stores memories of what you experience?

> How can you best apply these principles of perception memory?

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On Spirtual Perception:

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Every one of the principles listed above applies to both physical and spiritual perception. You may even find that the lines between physical and spiritual senses are more blurred than some people think.

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> In what ways do you usually perceive spirtual things?

> Are there times in your life when you have perceived spiritual things differently than what's normal for you? What was different about your circumstances, mindset, or actions when that happened?

> Re-read each of the nine Core Principles listed above while thinking of them in the context of your spiritual perception? Write down how you can apply each principle to your spiritual senses.

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You can also check out this livestream for additional insights about spiritual perception.