The Gift Of Awareness
Are you aware of how you are sitting? Are you aware of the feeling of the mouse buttons beneath your fingers? Are you aware of the quality of your breathing? And what of your thoughts?
Yes, there sure is a lot of be aware of. These simple questions can be a real eye-opener to anyone who has never given this kind of analysis a thought. What use is awareness?
You are about to cross a busy road, you’d want to be aware of the dangers you face, wouldn’t you? If a car catches you unaware, it might be your death. But is the car really the danger, or is it your lack of awareness?
In any moment, we make a choice of whether to be aware or not. This choice is largely happening without our knowledge of it, as we identify with what thoughts we are having and that becomes our focus and reality. We might have enjoyable daydreams, letting our mind wander into fantasy as we imagine being on a beach somewhere, or play out a scenario where we save the one we love and they fall in love with us. This can be fun, and fulfill a need, but where is Now? If we are off daydreaming, who is overseeing us as we drive our cars, navigating streets, hazards, and making decisions on our way to work? If we are off somewhere else in our minds, what are we missing?
To the Zen master, awareness is key. What should I do? Be attentive. And after that? Be attentive. Yes, yes, but what else? Be attentive.
Yes, every moment we have that chance to be attentive, to feel the movement of our bodies, the textures on the ground, the weight of something in our hands. We can feel the wind in our hair, the waves at our feet, the sun on our face. We can hear birds singing, alarms ringing, traffic humming, bees buzzing. But that’s a lot to take in at once. Yes, it is. But without doing so, how can you be present in this moment, if you are filtering so much of it out?
In my title, I said that awareness brings with it a gift. This gift is not easy to conceive of, but it is easy to have a small taste of it. Drop whatever it is you are doing, you are thinking about, stop reading this and simply breathe. You’ve been doing this all your life, you’ve not had to force it, or pay attention to it, it just happens for you. Breathe. Slowly, deeply, in and out. Feel how the air goes in, either through your nose or mouth, and fills your lungs, expanding your belly, your chest, your ribcage. And then out it goes again. The body releases, lets the air out, contracts ever so slightly, creating the momentum to breathe in again. How does that feel, just to breathe, and to be aware of breathing?
It feels Real. That is the gift of awareness. And it is always available to you, in every moment.