Refining awareness

This is an old book in my library. I read it again and suddenly it makes sense to me. I am introducing a few chapters which I like to share these ideas. I hope can help to ease some pain in our fast-moving society.
The titlle is Emotional Alchemy How the mind can heal the heart
 by Tara Bennett -Goleman

Physics tell us what happens when moisture builds up and clouds develop into a dense so thick that, at first, the lights of the sun can't penetrate them to evaporate the moisture. Initially the light literally bounces off the droplets of water, each a little spherical mirror, scattering the light in all directions. But as the sun's steady presence warms the water droplets that make up the cloud, the moisture slowly starts to evaporate . Eventually, the clouds dissipate.
This parallels emotional alchemy_transformation from a confusing, dense emotional state to clarity and lightness of being. Mindfulness, a refine awareness, is the fire in this inner alchemy. Again, this doesn't mean that the mental fog will lift every time we become mindful of it. But what  can shift is how we perceive and relate to the various mental states that we encounter.
Mindfulness is a meditative awareness that cultivates the capacity to see things just as they are from moment to moment. Ordinarily our attention swings rather wildly, carried here and  there by random thoughts.  Fleeting memories, captivating fantasies, snatches of things seen, heard or otherwise perceived . By contrast, mindfulness is a distraction resistant, sustained attention to the movements of the mind itself.  Instead of being swept away and captured by a though or feeling, mindfulness steadily observes those thoughts and feelings as they come and go.

Essentially, mindfulness entails a new way of paying attention, a way to expand the scope of awareness while refining its precision. In this training of the mind we learn to let go of the thoughts and feelings that pull us out of the present moment, and to steady our awareness on our immediate experience. If distractedness breeds emotional turmoil, the ability to sustain our gaze to keep looking, can bring greater clarity and insight.
Mindfulness has its roots in an ancient system of Buddhist psychology, little known in the west, that even today offers a sophisticated understanding of the painful emotions that sabotage our happiness.  This psychology offers a scientific approach to inner work, a theory of mind that anyone, Buddhist or not, can draw insights and benefit from. When we apply this approach, the emphasis is not so much on the problems in our lives as on connection with the clarity and health of mind itself.  If we can do this, our problems become more workable, opportunities to learn rather than threats to avoid.
Buddhist psychology holds a refreshingly positive view of human nature: our emotional problems are seen as temporary and superficial.  The emphasis is on what is right with us, an antidote to the fixation of Western psychology on what's wrong with us.  Buddhist psychology acknowledges our disturbing emotions but sees them as covering our essential goodness like clouds covering the sun. In this sense. In darker moments and most upsetting feelings are an opportunity for uncovering our natural wisdom, if we choose to use them that way.
Mindful attention allows us to delve deeper into the moment, to perceive finer subtlety, than does ordinary attention. In this sense, mindfulness crates a "wise" attention, a space of clarity that emerges when we quiet the mind.  It makes us more receptive to the whispers of our innate intuitive wisdom.

By Tara Bennett- Goleman ( Emotional Alchemy)