Conscious Awareness: Bringing you Back to the Only Moment That Exists...

There’s a quiet stillness that lives underneath everything we experience. It's like a calm, flowing river. It’s not our thoughts. It’s not our emotions it's not our physical body, It’s the deepest, unchanging part of us that notices. This part of us is conscious awareness. And the more we strengthen it, and connect to it, the more our life begins to shift.

The Mind Without Awareness

If we let the mind run wild, it has a tendency to loop. Over and over and over. It replays old conversations. It reopens wounds that 'should'  have been healed already. It tells stories about who you are, based on other people's opinions of you, and moments that are long gone.

You might notice thoughts like this cruisin around in your mind:

• “I always mess things up.”
• “I’m not good enough.”
• “That shouldn’t have happened.”
• “What if this goes wrong?”
• "That will never happen for me......" Blah Blah Blardy Blah.....

These are not truths. They are patterns that have made well worn dirt tracks in our brain called neural pathways that have been shaped by our past experiences. Without awareness, we don’t question them. We become them. Because we think these thoughts are a part of us. 

Awareness Breaks the shitty loops. The moment you become aware of a thought… you are no longer inside it, you are witnessing that thought.

That simple shift in perspective changes everything! Instead of I’m not good enough, It becomes, I’m noticing the thought that I’m not good enough. And in that space, something powerful happens. You are no longer controlled by the thought, you have a choice. This is where healing begins.

I remember when I was in India and my meditation teacher, (Balendu), first shared this concept with me. I would meditate in an underground cave for an hour with nothing but a candle and some matches. (The same cave he had spent 3 years meditating in to transcend the mind) Yep...3 years!!! His family would take food down to him with no contact. 

My first day of this meditation journey for me was complete torture! Fear thoughts flooded my entire being to the point of severe anxiety. When I exited the cave, Balendu smiling at me said: "How was it my dear?" My response: "Horrible!" I explained how I just felt scared shitless the whole time, and all I felt was fear and anxiety! It was then he explained to me that "You are not your thoughts, you are the awareness being aware of those thoughts.... Next time the fear thoughts come, laugh at them." 

How am I supposed to laugh at them when the thoughts feel so real to me? Wtf?! 

Meditation is your Training Ground for Awareness

Meditation isn’t about stopping your thoughts. It’s about seeing them clearly. Every time you sit, close your eyes, and bring your attention to your breath, you’re strengthening your ability to notice. You’ll see thoughts pulling you into the past, stories trying to define who you are, emotions rising and falling like waves. And instead of getting swept away into an anxious, disheveled mess, you notice it, feel what's present in your emotional body and acknowledge the memories and thoughts that are attached to these feelings. Then, practice returning. Returning to the breath, and the inner stillness within. The unchanging eternal part of us. Conscious awareness. Notice, acknowledge, feel, then return..... Again. And again. And again. And again. 

That return is the practice. (And it may happen 556 times in a 10min meditation) BUT, the more you keep showing up, eventually, the gap between the thoughts will get bigger, and voila, you may get 1min, or 5mins, and beyond, of thoughtless breath. You will enter the quiet stillness that lives underneath everything.

There's three places the mind travels. Through meditation, you begin to recognise your mind’s favourite places to go:

1. The Past — “It shouldn’t have happened like that”

The mind revisits shitty moments, often carrying regret, guilt, anger or grief. You re-live horrible past events that you wish you could forget, conversations that were hard or traumatic. You replay outcomes. You reopen emotional loops. You dwell on things that caused (and may still cause) deep, emotional pain. 

Awareness allows you to gently say, That moment has passed. I’m here now. I am ok. 

2. The Future — “What if this goes wrong?”

The mind projects into uncertainty, creating anxiety, worry and stress. It tries to control what hasn’t happened yet. Because sometimes, if past events have caused emotional pain, maybe it could happen again. Awareness reminds you, The future doesn’t exist yet. Right now, I am safe, I am loved, and I am protected. The only thing that is in our control, is how we respond to life. 

My favourite thing to always come back to is something my Nan had hanging on her wall. When she passed, I decided to get it tattooed on my leg. (As you do) The Serenity Prayer

3. The Present — The Only Moment That Exists

This is where your breath is. This is where your body is. This is where life is actually happening. Reality. And meditation anchors you here. The past is gone, the future doesn't exist yet, all we have is this moment, right now. As you're reading this, feel your breath, feel your heartbeat, feel your big toe... You are a living breathing human being. You can feel yourself feeling yourself. How cool is that?! 😂🕺🏼 

Cultivating conscious awareness isn’t something you switch on overnight. It’s something you practice, Every. Single. Day... Here’s how to start:

Your meditation practice isn’t about becoming someone new. It’s about coming home to who you already are, the truth of who you really are, the essence of your true nature. Beneath the thoughts, beneath the stories, beneath the noise.

Right here. Right now. This moment is all there is. And in this moment, you are already whole and perfect.