Awareness: The art of seeing life in its true sense.

We walk up every morning, go to work, talk to people, use our phones, think and go to sleep at night. From the outside. Life seems to move continuously. Bit are we truly aware in every moment?.

Often we are physically present, yet our mind are elsewhere.We might be listening to something.But our attention is caught up in our thoughts.

Frequently, we act upon our emotions, fear, anger and desires without truly understanding them.We consider this state normal, it it is form of subconscious living.

Awareness is a ability to clearly see what is happening in every moment, not just observing what is occurring externally, but also understanding what is unfolding internally.

Awareness helps us not to separate ourselves from our thoughts, but to recognize them clearly.

What is Awareness?

Simply put, awareness is state of being fully conscious in the present moment. Morely having one’s eyes open is not awareness.

True awareness arises when we observe our thoughts, emotions, bodily sensations and surroundings without any prejudice and haste. For example you are drinking tea

If you are busy in your phone and finish your tea and you drunk tea and you did not experience it.

If you experience taste, aroma and the warmth of tea, and moment itself that is awareness. Awareness means living by experiencing every moment, rather than living it on autopilot.

Why do we live most of our lives on autopilot?

Our brain’s primary goal is to conserve energy. That is why it form habits for repetitive tasks.

Think about it :

Take the same route every day.

Sometimes you reach your destination without even remembering what you saw along the way.

The difference between awareness and attention

Many people consider awareness and attention to be the same, but they are different.

Attention means focus on specific object. Awareness mean experience the entire experience.

When you are reading book, your attention is one the words, yet you are simultaneously aware that you are sitting, that are sounds in the room, and that your mind is trying to wander. This is Awareness

Attention is like torchlight, whereas awareness is like the light of the entire sky.

The importance of awareness in understanding emotions :

We often say “I got angry.” But the awareness says “I am experience feeling of anger.” There is significant difference between these two sentences.

In the first sentence, we have identified ourselves with the anger. In the second sentence we see anger merely as an experience. This small shift helps us make more balanced decision.

Can awareness be increased?

Yes.

Awareness is not sometime determined at birth. It is a skill that can be developed trough continuous practices. Some simple ways :

1. Observe your thoughts :

• Sit quietly for few minutes during the day.
• Do not try to stop your thoughts.
• Simply observe where the mind wanders.

2. Cultivate the habit of asking question :

• Before accepting any belief, ask is it true?
• What is evidence for it?
• Why do I believe this?

3. Stay in the present moment :

• When eating, simply eat.
• When walking, experience the act pf walking.
• When talking, truly listen to the person you are speaking with.