Most of us think we are fully aware of ourselves and our surroundings. "How could I live if I weren't aware?" some may ask. In all likelihood, much of our lives are on autopilot, and worst of all, most of our thoughts are, too.
One of the easiest illustrations of not being aware is to remember the last time you drove on a long stretch of highway. If you don't drive, think about the last time you stared out of a car window. The white lines and endless asphalt whiz by around you and effectively hypnotize you into a state of unconsciousness. When I say "unconsciousness", I don't mean being asleep or sedated, I mean that the mind is not aware of its own thoughts. Reactions become automatic, and persistent thoughts, often negative, run amok uncontested. Road rage can flare, sometimes even in people that are normally calm and composed. Trying to remember what happened in the last 20 minutes, all you can think of is the road and maybe a vehicle you've been following. What happened during those minutes? How many such minutes of your life have been lost in similar ways?
While the highway example demonstrates one particular case, for many people, that same unconsciousness is the reality for the majority of all things that they do. When you see a plate of cookies at a buffet, do you grab just one, or several? Do you really want five cookies, or did that temptation take hold of you in the moment? Think about it this way: if yesterday you knew there would be free cookies today, you probably wouldn't have told yourself ahead of time to eat five cookies. When you actually pause to consider what you ought to do, you know that eating in excess is unnecessary and counter to your physical health goals. But, in the moment, you convince yourself that your temptations are fine to follow. There is no pause. Perhaps you feel a twinge of rebelliousness, and maybe that feels good too. In the end, your urges prevail over your true values. That is unconsciousness in one of its many forms.
To be unconscious is to be vulnerable. It is to be detached from everything you want to be, and everything you could be. One could even argue that living a mostly unconscious life isn't much of a life at all, rather it is an illusion of life. The only way to break free from the delusion that you are your mind, your incessant stream of thoughts, is to experience the thoughtless present moment. What is it like to be aware right now? Pause, and open yourself up to the silence around you. If you are in a loud environment, this may be more difficult to at first. With practice, you will be able to feel an inner stillness everywhere you go. You will likely have plenty of intrusive thoughts that try to stop you from experiencing peace, but try not to hang onto to any one of them. Let them pass through your mind, ignored and forgotten by the next moment.
Trying to still your chatty mind can feel incredibly frustrating, because your darn thoughts just won't leave you alone. They clutter your mind from the time you wake up to the time you go to bed, and most of the time you probably aren't even aware that this is happening. Being aware of the endless tumult of thinking activity can even cause some discomfort because you get a glimpse of just how persistently your mind bugs you with counterproductive thoughts. Don't fight the discomfort. Like every skill, you have to be willing to practice this awareness for it to come more naturally and feel more familiar. You have to want to improve yourself, to be in control of your mind, instead of being controlled by it.
If all this sounds like complete BS, you are not alone. Many people dismiss meditation and mindful awareness as a bunch of magical thinking and pseudo-religious nonsense. Luckily, neuroscience has caught up to the millennia of spiritual wisdom, and has discovered the default mode network (DMN) of the human brain. I will be writing an article about this soon, but suffice it to say that the default mode network is a group of neurons that is active when you are not outwardly attentive. You can call this region the "ego", and it is this brain network that is constantly feeding you thoughts when you aren't focused on a particular task. If your mind is drifting while reading this, the DMN may even be reminding you to check your phone for the millionth time today. However, learning to pay attention, to be aware of the present, literally shuts off this network so that you can be at peace within yourself. No more mind clutter, no more worries, just the present moment.
Take a deep breath.
See if you can silence your DMN, even for just a second. You will improve with time; what matters is that you start and that you keep trying. Soon, you'll be able to still your mind on command. This way, the next time you are feeling anxious about something coming up, or you are stuck with negative thoughts, take a step back and see if you can ignore those thoughts. Let them pass out of your mind as a leaf floats by along a creek. Don't let the leaf get stuck in a whirlpool, just let it ride along with the current, and forget it as it drifts out of sight.
This is the beginning of a new way of life.
One of the easiest illustrations of not being aware is to remember the last time you drove on a long stretch of highway. If you don't drive, think about the last time you stared out of a car window. The white lines and endless asphalt whiz by around you and effectively hypnotize you into a state of unconsciousness. When I say "unconsciousness", I don't mean being asleep or sedated, I mean that the mind is not aware of its own thoughts. Reactions become automatic, and persistent thoughts, often negative, run amok uncontested. Road rage can flare, sometimes even in people that are normally calm and composed. Trying to remember what happened in the last 20 minutes, all you can think of is the road and maybe a vehicle you've been following. What happened during those minutes? How many such minutes of your life have been lost in similar ways?
While the highway example demonstrates one particular case, for many people, that same unconsciousness is the reality for the majority of all things that they do. When you see a plate of cookies at a buffet, do you grab just one, or several? Do you really want five cookies, or did that temptation take hold of you in the moment? Think about it this way: if yesterday you knew there would be free cookies today, you probably wouldn't have told yourself ahead of time to eat five cookies. When you actually pause to consider what you ought to do, you know that eating in excess is unnecessary and counter to your physical health goals. But, in the moment, you convince yourself that your temptations are fine to follow. There is no pause. Perhaps you feel a twinge of rebelliousness, and maybe that feels good too. In the end, your urges prevail over your true values. That is unconsciousness in one of its many forms.
To be unconscious is to be vulnerable. It is to be detached from everything you want to be, and everything you could be. One could even argue that living a mostly unconscious life isn't much of a life at all, rather it is an illusion of life. The only way to break free from the delusion that you are your mind, your incessant stream of thoughts, is to experience the thoughtless present moment. What is it like to be aware right now? Pause, and open yourself up to the silence around you. If you are in a loud environment, this may be more difficult to at first. With practice, you will be able to feel an inner stillness everywhere you go. You will likely have plenty of intrusive thoughts that try to stop you from experiencing peace, but try not to hang onto to any one of them. Let them pass through your mind, ignored and forgotten by the next moment.
Trying to still your chatty mind can feel incredibly frustrating, because your darn thoughts just won't leave you alone. They clutter your mind from the time you wake up to the time you go to bed, and most of the time you probably aren't even aware that this is happening. Being aware of the endless tumult of thinking activity can even cause some discomfort because you get a glimpse of just how persistently your mind bugs you with counterproductive thoughts. Don't fight the discomfort. Like every skill, you have to be willing to practice this awareness for it to come more naturally and feel more familiar. You have to want to improve yourself, to be in control of your mind, instead of being controlled by it.
If all this sounds like complete BS, you are not alone. Many people dismiss meditation and mindful awareness as a bunch of magical thinking and pseudo-religious nonsense. Luckily, neuroscience has caught up to the millennia of spiritual wisdom, and has discovered the default mode network (DMN) of the human brain. I will be writing an article about this soon, but suffice it to say that the default mode network is a group of neurons that is active when you are not outwardly attentive. You can call this region the "ego", and it is this brain network that is constantly feeding you thoughts when you aren't focused on a particular task. If your mind is drifting while reading this, the DMN may even be reminding you to check your phone for the millionth time today. However, learning to pay attention, to be aware of the present, literally shuts off this network so that you can be at peace within yourself. No more mind clutter, no more worries, just the present moment.
Take a deep breath.
See if you can silence your DMN, even for just a second. You will improve with time; what matters is that you start and that you keep trying. Soon, you'll be able to still your mind on command. This way, the next time you are feeling anxious about something coming up, or you are stuck with negative thoughts, take a step back and see if you can ignore those thoughts. Let them pass out of your mind as a leaf floats by along a creek. Don't let the leaf get stuck in a whirlpool, just let it ride along with the current, and forget it as it drifts out of sight.
This is the beginning of a new way of life.
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