What are you aware of?

“We all can become virtuosos in the art of living.”

– Tsoknyi Rinpoche

Here we explore the elegantly simple, yet not always easy practice of present-moment awareness.  Each of us likely can think of moments when we were not present to our thoughts, feelings and bodily sensations and perhaps we acted in haste, spoke harshly or causes internal struggle for not giving that moment its due recognition.  What’s also true is that each of us has the power to ground into present-moment awareness and change the course of each of our little moments, which become our days, and in so doing, our entire lives.

Awareness builds presence and presence is freedom.  The freedom to choose your thoughts, words and actions.  By practicing present-moment awareness, in moments of relative calm, we build our ability to get into a frame of mind to notice what is going on within.  Then, in moments that are not calm, we can both notice and have influence on the moment at hand.  We can choose to balance our thoughts and feelings all while listening to our bodies.

As a practice in grounding into awareness, I invite you to take some intentional breaths.  You might find you can center better if you do this with your eyes closed.  Notice for yourself, as you continue to breathe deeply and naturally, what’s going on for you in this moment:  What are you thinking?   How are you feeling?  What’s going on in your body?

Now that you have some present moment surfacings to work with, let’s explore these three components of awareness a little more deeply.

First, thinking.  Our thoughts are not who we are. They are not even what we most need to focus on, at least not all of the time.  By noticing what we are thinking, we can choose to bookmark it for later and let it go for now.  Our thoughts are like clouds in the sky.  If we let them, they pass on by.

Second, bodily sensations.  Each of us regularly has physical reactions to thoughts, feelings and even other people, even if we are not aware that we do.  When we are able to track awareness via bodily sensations, we are deepening our emotional intelligence.

Third, emotions.  For some, feelings identification is a less important area of focus, as it can be seen as not as relevant as the experience of the mind or the body.  In truth, however, this is a practice most of us would benefit from honing as it allows for a deeper understanding of our reactions to the experiences that are arising in our day to day lives.

Considering these three aspects of awareness – thoughts, bodily sensations, and emotions, what of these aspects comes most naturally for you and what might that be about?

After you have reflected on what’s surfaced about what comes easiest, you may already be noticing where you might like to strengthen within another aspect of awareness.  What are you taking away as something to reflect on further?

You can build this skill, resource and practice of present-moment awareness in a variety of ways that fit within your life.  You can do this when you first wake.  You can do this when you feel distracted or stressed.  You can do this prior to going to sleep.  Once you build the practice, you can rely upon it in all of these circumstances and more.

Do you find that many times your thoughts swim around in work responsibilities?  Is it common to notice a feeling of distraction or apathy?  Is your body tense or sore?  All of this is good information and will inform the decisions you make each day and in each moment about how you truly wish to live.  As you continue to notice and be mindful of your thoughts, your emotions and your bodily sensations, you become more and more capable of making decisions that will influence all of these aspects of awareness and ultimately, your experience of this life.