Mindfulness and Self-awareness
Mindfulness is paying attention to and being aware of what is happening every moment while Self-awareness is being aware of what we really Are by paying attention to the silence within!
''To what is happening'', refers
to the sensory inputs or impressions (including the body, since it is also an
object of perception) and our psychological processes and expressions (vital,
emotional, mental, intellectual).
''Self-awareness'' refers to the awareness
of our true Self, the silent space of Consciousness which is our essential nature
and our true identity!
To be mindful to what we
perceive, what we do and what is manifesting in our heart and mind is fundamental
to free ourselves from the psychological conditioning.
However, mindfulness is not the
end but a stepping stone that enables us live consciously aware of our true
Self. To experience the eternal freedom, fullness, peace and bliss we Are.
By paying fully attention to what
we are not, that is to sensory inputs and our psychological formations we can
get in touch with our divine essence which is the always silent present
substratum of all our experiences.
By being attentive we can
gradually be more and more aware of the psychological expressions and the processes
of identification, projection and superimposition and acquire a distance from
them. The more we become able avoid identifying
with the mental and emotional expressions the more they lose power over us and
the more apparent becomes the silent space of Consciousness. As a consequence,
it becomes easier for us to be aware of the silence within and prevent identifying
with the subconscious patterns and programming. It is a virtues cycle which
becomes stronger and stronger by practice.
However, we can directly become
aware of the silent presence of Self (Consciousness) by directly focusing our
attention on it utilizing a method such as Self-enquiry or the meditation 'I
am'.
By being aware of the silence
within we can be mindful to what is happening and by being mindful we can get
and maintain consciously contact with the silent presence of the Self.
To live free from ego's
conditioning and the peace and fullness of our essence we must diligently practice mindfulness and Self-awareness moment to moment throughout the day.