M - Hear Out - 2

This is part of my meditation journal. See the first post for additional details.

I read through Shinzen's "POSTURE-PEDIA" paper yesterday.  Actually, it was created by one of his staff members, so it's not technically Shinzen's, but close enough.

Anyway, it discussed some of the various postures which are used for meditation, and hinted at monks performing meditation while standing, and even while walking.  I'm no monk, but I decided to up my difficulty on my second attempt at the Hear Out method.

This time I sat in a place where there was guaranteed to be some random house noise.  I may have bitten off a little more than I could chew for this second attempt.  My house is a lot more noisy than I realized!  Clocks, refrigerators, DH units, AC, etc.

There were so many noises that it was difficult to really focus on any particular sound to hear when it stopped.  However, I am not sure if that is really a problem or not at this stage.  I've gotten the impression in the literature that Shinzen stresses equanimity, so I don't think I should worry too much about not being able to sharply focus on all sounds simultaneously.

Despite all of the noise, I could still hear some of the more faint sounds, a sure sign of an increased acuity.  I could hear one of my cats breathing from about seven feet away.  (She was sleeping, and, not quite snoring, but certainly breathing heavy.)  Even more significant was that I could hear the "noise" in my ears that I normally only hear when the world is silent around me.

This time I had a bit more chatter in my head than before.  I think it was because I had read something which stimulated my mind right before the session.