Listen With Your Toes

The Quality and Intensity of Consciousness

People talk about mindfulness; about “being conscious” and “being present.” These are often marketed as tools to free ourselves from distracting thoughts, desires, and emotional storms — but there is much, much more.

But let’s start with that.

Or rather, the inverse: the ability to bring the full extent of our capacity to bear on any given event is substantially impaired by the interference of this internal noise — the running commentary, the intrusive cravings, and…