True awareness is more than just realizing you are- and that you are alive. True awareness is a component of stillness. A place inside your consciousness that allows you to see the you, the moment, thoughts and feelings as something separate. You're no longer surfing the wave. Instead, you are that perception that sees the horizon, feels the ocean splashing on your face, hears the breath as it passes from your lips and even notices the minute muscular changes that prevents this other you from falling off the board. Awareness, this type of awareness that I speak of, "sees" and "feels" the experiences from a vantage point of silence...

Awareness is that part of you that does not side with you, your best friend, lover or comrade, it sides with justice. It is impartial, neutral and if you really tune in, you notice how very, very odd it is from anything about you that you have noticed, felt or realized before.

Here's an example of what awareness can do for you. Years ago I used to smoke cigarettes. I never liked the habit, not really. I smoked, it seemed to me, for the same reasons everyone else smoked. I was hooked. But when my life style changed and I began going to the gym, I began to really dislike smoking. It began to nag and bother me. How can I jog at the gym, breathing in all that fresh air into lungs polluted by those nasty cigarettes? I tried to stop, but it didn't work. And then one day it occurred to me to notice when I smoked. What happened in that moment between pure contentment and discontentment and thus the desire for a cigarette? In other words, what changed that contentment and sprouted the urge to reach for a cigarette? It didn't take me long to notice what that "thing" was that occurred between serenity and addiction. It was a sense of anxiety that came from nothing in particular. There wasn't necessarily any stress that had occurred that day, or in that moment before I felt the urge to smoke. I gave it a name and labeled it, "an underlying state of anxiety". It was something like white noise that simply hummed in the background until it rose to the surface and along with it, came the desire to smoke.

I made a decision during that realization that transformed me from being a smoker to a nonsmoker. I decided to, instead of taking a smoke, simply take a deep breath and relax. When I did that my state of mind became altered and I forgot about the urge. Hours later, another urge reared its head, and again I took a deep breath. The next day another urge came along, but again, I took a deep breath and soon, soon I no longer thought about cigarettes. My transformation sprang from this place called awareness. It sees more, and it sees differently. It helps you to recognize thinking you never dreamt was part of you. It reveals emotions too, emotions you never realized were there, like that underlying state of anxiety that plagued me.

So here's your assignment: Begin to notice your life. Maybe you can start with the concept of money since it is what breaks up more families and marriages than any other circumstance. It causes us to loose homes and is the cause of our hearts skipping a beat every time the phone rings and we think it may be a bill collector. So ask yourself what does money mean to you? Is money your safety, does a certain amount of money made each week, or saved each month give you a sense of comfort? Is money your heart, is it something you give away to show people or the world that you care? Or is money your ego, something that you use to buy those things that cause you to feel special, important or powerful? What does love mean to you? What do you feel about yourself deep down inside your core? Do you feel like that scared child that was abandoned or ignored. Do you feel not enough, dirty and unworthy?  You ask yourselves these questions, and then you become still inside and out and just pay attention.  Pay attention to the nothingness that is everything and don't worry if in the beginning, it is so subtle that it escapes your notice.

The next time you're upset, get quiet and instead of responding or reacting ask yourself what it is really that troubles you? Eckhart Tolle, in his book A New Earth, Awakening to Your Life's Purpose, says, "That there is the inner space... Consciousness is diverted away from thought... The frequency and durations of those spaces determine your ability to enjoy life..." Sometimes you will find that though you are upset, you have everything you need in that moment, you may find that it really is okay for that person to exercise their right to be whatever it is they are choosing, even though it does seem troubling. Sometimes you discover that you feel upset simply because somehow for some reason, you've been conditioned to give situations or people power that really doesn't apply to that moment. Yes. Sometimes you find that your thinking is merely misaligned, and once you touch base with your inner compass and align your thinking- the situation vanishes into thin air.

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