Awareness is the key

Remember meditation is simply present moment awareness. Nothing more and nothing less.

Yes it is beneficial to have a regular and strong formal sitting practice. The operative word here though is “practice”! This is practice in 2 senses of the word. Firstly it is practice in terms of getting familiar with the actual formal sitting meditation. Leaning to create the habit of sitting regularly and learning to observe whilst sitting. Secondly and more pertinently it is practice for when you are NOT in formal meditation. Practising being aware.

Because it’s off the chair or cushion that the rubber really hits the road. This is where we can really start to test our ability to be present, aware, non-judgemental. It is relatively easy to be relaxed and at peace when we are sitting undistracted in formal meditation. There are no people around and although it may be a war going on in our heads, there is the relief of now external distractions. Primarily there are no people to interact with!What are we like though when we sit up form the meditation and start to interact again with the world? In particular what are we like when we interact with people, especially people or circumstances which we might find challenging, tense or stressful? What goes on for us then? The beauty of the practice is that it actually doesn’t matter what is going on. Just like in sitting practice the key is to observe, to notice and feel. Observe your thoughts, notice any reactions, feel any emotions and your body.

So what does “being aware” in these situations mean? There is absolutely no to fix things, changes things, act differently. You are just being aware and observing,

Through this observation you start to see the ways you engage with the world and others. You start to see those things that may lead to suffering and pain for yourself and/or other people. The (previously) unconscious dynamics that are causing the suffering, discomfort and tension start to be seen. You see when you are defensive, what that is like and the impact of that. You see what happens when you are tense or worried and what the impact of that is.

Equally you also observe what happens when you are relaxed and open and the impact of that. In this way quite naturally, the way we interact starts to be transformed.

As your meditation practice develops, you may notice that you are better able to deal with (what would have previously been) stressful or difficult situations. You may notice that your personal relationships start to improve, that people start confiding in you more, there is less tension and arguments. All these tend to start to emerge when we naturally become more mindful of our interactions. And the best thing is, we don’t actually need to ‘do it’. The transformation happens automatically.

There is no ‘doing’ required. as we wake up and become more aware, we naturally gravitate towards those states and ways of being that a) feel good and b) tend to generate positive results. Inevitably these are states where we are relaxed and open.

We naturally start to live in a more peaceful, wise and responsive manner. And it feels REALLY good. But – as always don’t take my word for it, rely on your own experience. See what happens and is happening for you.

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