Awareness, Like Water

Awareness is like water. It dissolves everything it touches, immediately or in time.

People often refer to this quality as being like a fire, or a furnace, burning up all our illusions. And sometimes it is dramatic like that, painful like that, intense and hot like that.

Other times, it’s just like like slow rain. Dissolving stone, dissolving dirt, dissolving me.

By awareness, I mean that noticing that notices and observes, without commentary or judgement.

A very simple example of how this works is seen in the first meditation technique usually taught to beginners: focus on your breath (or something or other), and when thoughts come by, simply notice them, and label them, “thinking.”

If you haven’t tried this before, give it a go. Follow the breath for 3 rounds of inhaling and exhaling. Thoughts popping up? Notice. Try to notice each thought the moment it appears. Label it, “thinking.” Now where did it go? It’s gone. Oh! There it is. It’s back. Now gone again. Ah, there’s a new thought. “Thinking.”

Bam. That’s called meditating. It’s also called awareness, that dissolving ever-present presence, of which I’m so often unaware.

Because we tend to get so caught up in the thoughts, emotions, and fantasies we’re experiencing at any moment that they become our reality. We forget that they are just passing through; they’re just visitors.

I had the opportunity to work with this recently with one of my least favorite emotions: fear. There were many thoughts that accompanied it, which spun frightening tales in darkness, and which spoke with such authority that they seemed to be…just the way it is. They told me there is nowhere I’m safe; they told me I’m crazy. I prayed to find a way to work with these thoughts and emotions and then…hallelujah, I remembered!

These are just passing thoughts and feelings. There it is again: fear. And without fighting it, without pushing it away, without proving the thoughts wrong, by simply noticing: there it went.

I noticed the absence the way you might notice the first moment of relief from a splitting headache. And I was grateful. This was one of those instant-dissolution experiences. If only they were all like that.

Sometimes it seems to be as slow as water carving through granite. Other times, the dissolution is instant, only for what was dissolved to be resurrected in the next moment. Hello, fear. Goodbye, fear. Why, hello again. Long time no see.

Stay tuned for my next post on one of my favorite mindfulness hacks, taken from Mindfulness Cognitive Therapy. I use it with clients all the time, and with myself even more. Yes, I really did call it a “hack.” I think the term fits. 😉

***

What are some of your experiences with the dissolving or burning power of awareness? Share in the comments below!