of your experience; there is no end to how attentive you can be but it can only happen right now.I've already mentioned the Actualism technique of asking yourself "HAIETMOBA?" and recognizing emotional states, but it's possible to use a variety of techniques to improve your practice of attentiveness.- Thich Nhat Hanh talks about mindfully doing the dishes in one of his books; how you're doing them just to be doing them (being attentive to what's happening right now), not purely to get them done (being otherwise focused on some future event). This sort of everyday activity is ideal for practicing attentiveness, exploring the complex interplay of sensations, this "dance of creation" that is sensate experience means that there's never any reason to be bored; there is always something to be aware of and this is where we can begin practicing properly.- Taking a cue from my personal favourite, the batshit mental but never dull, Aleister Crowley, choose a word, for example "I", and try to delete it from your speech for a predefined period of time; should you transgress this self-imposed limitation, Uncle Al would have you cut yourself with a razor, however Bob Wilson suggests the less masochistic, but equally effective, biting your thumb. While this practice is aimed more at mindfulness of speech, the basic technique can be used as a ‘goad' for attentiveness in general. My own preference was to use an elastic band to "ping" my wrist . It's discreet enough to be unnoticeable, but it hurts enough to get you back to being attentive.- Gurdjieff would have people notice their entire experience when they did things like walking through a doorway, and in fact it was this particular technique which allowed me to understand what the guy was talking about. He called it "self-observation" but the practice of it, in my experience, is phenomenologically the same as being mindful or attentive within other models.[0] Using external objects as triggers for becoming attentive is incredibly useful, they're always available and can be changed to suit wherever you are; anything which allows you to simply remind yourself to notice your experience will work. Some examples from my own practice include: Noticing when going through doorways, setting an alarm to go off every five minutes or some other period of time, writing down the word "notice" on my notepad in work and remembering to do so each time I see it, noticing every time I check my phone...the list goes on, it all comes down to what works for you and reminds you to be attentive right now.- When you're sitting on the train or bus and listening to music, notice all the different elements of the sounds you hear. Look at how you can hear all the different instrumentation, the pitch and tone of sounds, how long each lasts and how attention seems to move between each part; feel the vibration of the air as it makes contact with the eardrum, it's subtle but discernible; look at your emotional reaction to the sounds, how feelings and thinking can change based on, for example, the lyrics, key or tempo of the music. Don't get involved in the content, just observe how things are at that moment and how they change. This can be applied in a similar way to things like watching movies, reading books, or engaging in any sort of entertainment whatsoever as long as it leads you to be mindful, attentive or aware of your immediate experience via the "sense doors".- Be actively engaged in your experience, aware and full of wonder, enthusiastically enjoying what you're doing. This practice is truly enjoyable in it's beginning, middle and end...Hopefully this brief breakdown and analysis of attentiveness will allow people to improve their practice, understand what attentiveness "is" and how it works in real terms. I'll make it clear again that this is simply a reflection of my current understanding and is subject to change at any time, these are my attempts at describing the basics of the practice itself without reference to any particular conceptual map of the territory involved. Just real-life, phenomenological details from my own experience which may be of use to others.Any suggestions, alterations, improvements or requests for clarification should be posted as I would like some feedback from others on this. If there's any way I can improve the clarity of these descriptions or if there's anything you've noticed in your own experience which may prove useful then please say so. (This article will be used on my new blog, 