INTRODUCTION

willbemanymore.
Whenever you notice that some form of negativity has
arisenwithinyou,lookonitnotasafailure,butasahelpful
signal that is telling you: "Wake up. Get out of your mind.
Bepresent."
There is a novel by Aldous Huxley called Island,
written inhislateryearswhenhe became very interestedin
spiritualteachings.Ittellsthestoryofamanshipwreckedon
aremoteislandcutofffromtherestoftheworld.Thisisland
contains a unique civilization. Theunusual thingabout it is
thatits inhabitants,unlikethoseof therest oftheworld,are
actually sane. The first thing that the man notices are the
colorful parrots perched in the trees, and they seem to be
constantly croaking the words "Attention. Here and Now.
Attention. Here andNow." Welater learn that the islanders
taught them these words in order to be reminded
continuouslytostaypresent.
So whenever you feel negativity arising within you,
whether caused by an external factor, a thought, or even
nothing in particular that you are aware of, look on it as a
voicesaying"Attention.HereandNow.Wakeup."Eventhe
slightest irritation is significant and needs to be
acknowledged and looked at; otherwise, there will be a
cumulative build-up of unobserved reactions. As I said
before,youmaybeabletojustdropit onceyourealize that
youdon'twanttohavethisenergyfieldinsideyouandthatit
serves no purpose. But then make sure that you drop it
completely.If you cannot drop it,just accept that itis there
and take your attention into the feeling, as I pointed out
earlier.
As an alternative to dropping a negative reaction, you
can make it disappear by imagining yourself becoming
transparent to the external cause of the reaction. I
recommendthatyoupracticeitwithlittle,eventrivial,things
first.Let’ssaythatyouaresittingquietlyathome.Suddenly,
thereis thepenetratingsoundofacaralarmfromacrossthe
street.Irritationarises.Whatisthe purposeofthe irritation?