Just Be and It Is

Exercise: Become Aware of Your Awareness

Sit comfortably, with your back upright yet relaxed, and your eyes closed. Spend a moment listening to the sounds in the room. Then, bring your awareness into your own body. Notice how your body feels sitting in your posture. Become aware of the sensation of your thighs meeting the seat you're sitting on, of how the air feels against your skin, how the clothes feel against your body. Notice whether your body is warm, or cool. Now feel the sensations in your inner body. Perhaps you are aware of your stomach rumbling. Perhaps you notice sensations of contraction or relaxation in your muscles.

Become aware of your breath—the sensation of the breath entering the nostrils, the slight coolness as it comes in, the slight warmth as it goes out.

Become aware of what is going on in your mind. Observe the thoughts and images that move across your inner screen. Notice the deeper feelings the emotions, any mental static that arises. You are not trying to change any of this. Simply hold it in your awareness.

Now turn your attention to Awareness itself. Become aware of your own Awareness, the knowingness that lets you perceive all this, the inner spaciousness that holds together all the sensations, feelings, and thoughts that make up your experience in this moment. Focus your attention on your own Awareness, as if you were paying attention to attention itself. Let yourself be that Awareness.