Let’s talk awareness

What is awareness and what does it have to do with meditation?

Awareness is a word that is thrown about a lot in the mindfulness and meditation world but what is it? I like to think of it in the same way as watching a movie (or even a bingeable series!). Now, I’m not talking about any old movie or series, here I’m talking about a thriller, drama, a twisting, turning who-dun-it that has you on the edge of your seat. You are alone, you’ve got the lights off. You are engrossed in it (Harlen Coben does this beautifully for me!). These are the ones where you forget where you are because you are so drawn into the twists. Time seems to stop, you don’t even notice if it’s gotten dark or if you’re even hungry. Your emotions are totally tied into what you are watching. Then BOOM - it reaches its climax and you realise that you’ve been holding your breath. Now, this time it’s a little different. You are with someone as you are watching it, you’ve got the lights on, you can see that you are sat on your sofa (perhaps with some snacks) and you are still gripped by the story but you aren’t hijacked by it. You are still having thoughts and your emotions will still be heightened but you’ve got a bit of perspective. Another thing that becomes interesting is your relationship to the thoughts that you have as you watch something gripping will very much depend on the filter that you’ve got. This filter is made up from your past, your childhood, your culture, the important people around you and so on.

The reason that this is important is because awareness, the type of awareness that we are aiming to carefully nourish and cultivate during meditation is that in which we become aware of our thoughts. More importantly we begin to notice that we are even thinking! The thoughts come, they go. We notice the quality of the thoughts, are they angry buzzing thoughts or are they calm, smooth encouraging thoughts? The awareness then goes a little further and we start to understand that the thoughts have a physical and behavioural impact and that we have the ability to notice them, to understand that though they may feel real, they aren’t true. This goes for the high and low vibe thoughts. Our practice that allows our awareness to expand and grow gives us a moment to pause, to stand back and see things a little clearer. We move from being consumed by thoughts, feelings and emotions to feeling a little lighter, more balanced and we feel differently about places, people and experiences. This is the shift and it’s one that has happened softly, gently and every so slightly that I’ve almost not been aware of it, until you realise that you are. That’s the awareness.