Hello and welcome to Mindfulness Plus. My name is Thomas McConkey. I'm your host. So if you haven't

tuned in, or I should say downloaded Mindfulness Plus before,

if you haven't heard our show, I'll give you a little bit of a feel for it here. At Mindfulness Plus,

we're working with this question, this practice of paying attention to how we pay attention. Every day, every moment,

even into the dream world, we're paying attention to something. But we're not always paying

attention to how we pay attention. And it turns out paying attention takes practice. As you pay

attention more, you notice a different quality in your

experience. You notice a different quality in life when you get more skilled at paying attention

how you want to. You amplify aspects of your life that you want more of. You minimize aspects of your life that aren't serving you.

It's a practice of transformation.

In the traditions, it's been called a practice of waking up.

So that's a little bit about it.

I've been in the practice a little over 20 years now

and just love to share it with people who are curious about it. I've been in the practice a little over 20 years now and just love to share it with people

who are curious about it. And I often do that by telling some stories. I've got a story for you

today. Once a year, sometimes twice a year, sometimes several times a year, depending on the year,

I do what is sometimes called a solitary

retreat where I'll be alone and I'll find a place where I can stay alone for, it's usually

seven days or so, and I'll just spend long hours meditating. For those of you who have fasted

before, I haven't gotten way into fasting, but you know everybody

probably knows a person who's gotten way into fasting.

And they're doing, you know, like drinking concoctions of water and vinegar and lemon and maple

...