A Simple Way To Building Up Your Awareness
In 1999 the long anticipated movie Star Wars -The Phantom Menace was released. In the movie we got to see the famous Jedi order in action. In one my favorite scenes Master Qui-Gon Jinn (played by Liam Neeson) tells his disciple Obi-Wan Kenobi (played by Ewan McGregor) to be mindful of the present. The scene goes as follows.
Obi-Wan Kenobi: I have a bad feeling about this.
Qui-Gon Jinn: I don’t sense anything.
Obi-Wan Kenobi: It’s not about the mission, Master. It’s something… elsewhere. Elusive.
Qui-Gon Jinn: Don’t center on your anxieties, Obi-Wan. Keep your concentration here and now, where it belongs.
Obi-Wan Kenobi: But Master Yoda says I should be mindful of the future.
Qui-Gon Jinn: But not at the expense of the moment. Be mindful of the living Force, my young Padawan.
The idea of being aware and mindful of the present is one that has been talked about and studied. Great teachers throughout history have echoed this wisdom and its benefits. So we won't focus on that today. However we will focus on a strategy to become mindful of the observer of your thoughts, the real you. That will in turn build your awareness.
You ever noticed the voice inside your head? It acts like a monkey. A thing about a monkey is that they hardly ever sit still. They’re jumping from branch to branch, just like your thoughts. They also have a tendency to copy other monkeys, just like you become like the people you're around most. Being mindful of your thoughts and the programs your’e living out is the first step to developing your awareness muscle. This is how author Michael Singer, from his book The Untethered Soul puts it.
“In case you haven't noticed, you have a mental dialogue going on inside your head that never stops. It keeps going and going. Have you ever wondered why it talks in there? How does it decide what to say and when to say it? How much of what it says turns out to be true? How much of what it says is even important? And if right now you are hearing , “I don't know what youre talking about. I don't have any voice inside my head?” — thats the voice were talking about. If you're smart, you'll take time to step back, examine this voice, and get to know it better. The problem is, you're too close to be objective. You have to step way back and watch it converse.”
“In fact, the only way to get your distance from this voice is to stop differentiating what it's saying. Stop feeling that one thing is says is you and the other thing is says is not you. If you're the one hearing it talk, it's obviously not you. You are the one who hears the voice. You are the one who notices that its talking.”
World renowned Guru from India Sadhguru has a mantra that repeats “I am not my body, I'm not even my mind.” This mantra expresses a truth. Think about it. Let's say you attend my funeral, (many, many, many years from now), you wouldn't say that’s David there. No, David is gone. The life energy that was David, is no longer here. Only the shell where David lived in still remains. So therefore we can't say that we are our bodies, or our minds, and this includes the voice inside our head.
So how do we develop mindfulness of thought and awareness?
We have to go within. There is an important question that takes us within. The question is, “I wonder what my next thought is going to be?” and listen.
“I wonder what my next thought is going to be?” Is a fundamental question that makes us aware of the voice and thoughts were creating all while separating from the identification of that thought.
Now, next time you find yourself lost within thoughts, go ahead and ask it a question, “I wonder what my next thought is going to be?” And come back to that place of peace and wisdom, of being the observer of your thoughts.
