how to turn on mindfulness and why it matters

Once I opened Osho’s Mindfulness book, and it began with these words:

“One of the most important things to understand about a person is that the person is asleep. He doesn’t wake up even when he thinks he’s awake. His awakening is very fragile; its awakening is so tiny that it should not be taken into account at all … You sleep at night, you sleep during the day – from birth to death you continue to move from one sleep pattern to another, but you never really wake up. “

How to understand this? Are we sleeping with you now? When I write about this, when do you read it? What is this nonsense: in the morning we open our eyes, but we continue to be in a dream … Is it really so? At first I was very surprised, but now I know: yes, it is. Let’s figure out why. And most importantly: how, in this case, to awaken and live truly, consciously?

Osho, a well-known Indian religious and spiritual leader, mystic, and philosopher, will help us in this.

Living without awareness is like a dream

So, let’s fix the main thesis: a person who is not in awareness is asleep. Why? First, let’s understand what awareness is. Mindfulness is continuous tracking of current experiences, being in the moment “here and now”.

In other words, mindfulness is when you are not drinking coffee on the run, pulling on the shoe with your other hand. And when you, holding the cup in your hands, feel how the ceramics begins to heat up. How the space around is filled with the aroma of coffee. How your mouth tastes the scalding taste of a drink. You are fully included in the process. Understand what is happening around you, catch yourself in the moment “here and now.” You fix how thoughts come and go, replace one another. Then you can be sure that you have woken up, but it will become clear that way.

But without awareness, a person lives “on the machine”. He doesn’t notice how time passes. Does something while thinking in a completely different place. And this is largely our mind’s fault.

You might be interested in: “My life is meaningful and valuable!” – 5 changes that happen to people who think consciously

“The mind is one of the most beautiful mechanisms”, but it must be stopped

The mind is either in the past or in the future, but it is not in the present. This is the law. What is the mind in Osho’s understanding? This is our thinking. You can think about the past, and then it is part of the memory. You can think ahead, then it will be dreams or plans.

The mind is dynamic and it needs movement, it can move infinitely back into the past or forward, but in the present moment there is no space for thinking.

Important! Don’t try to stop your mind, it is impossible. Thinking stops by itself.

Descartes also wisely noted that a person is not free in 2 things: he cannot start and finish a thought on his own. Therefore, all we can do is observe, be aware. And then the mind will give place to no-mind – a spiritual state.

Osho says:

“The present is the dividing line, that’s all. There is no space in it. It separates the past and the future – just a dividing line. You can be in the present, but you cannot think; you need a place to think. “

For spiritual growth, it is important to remember that thoughts are very subtle manifestations of the material, but not spiritual. The spiritual begins exactly where thoughts are absent. Therefore, you should not treat the mind as an enemy due to the fact that it does not allow it to awaken with its thoughts. This is the wrong approach. Here’s what Osho has to say about this:

“The mind is one of the most beautiful mechanisms. Science has not yet been able to create anything parallel to the mind. The mind is still an unsurpassed masterpiece, so complex, so immensely powerful, with such diverse potential. Watch it! Enjoy it! And don’t watch as the enemy, because if you look at the mind as at the enemy, you cannot watch. Watching the mind means looking with deep love, deep respect, respectful – this is a gift that God has brought to you. “

Read also: 8 steps to happiness through mindfulness

How to awaken in life?

Well, you and I have already made a terrible discovery for ourselves and now we very much wish to awaken. Congratulations, the first step towards awareness has been taken! Osho says:

“The first thing that must penetrate deeply into your hearts is that you are asleep, sound asleep …”

To get out of the dream state, Osho suggests taking 4 steps to awareness:

1. Become very attentive to your body

At this stage, you need to learn to listen and understand your body. One must try to be vigilant in every movement. Then the body becomes relaxed, a deep peace reigns in it, subtle energy similar to music begins to pulsate through the body.

2. Become attentive to your thoughts

The same is worth learning to do with your thoughts. Osho says:

“If you write down everything that happens in you at any moment, a great surprise awaits you … Do not interpret this, do not change, do not edit. Just put it on paper, naked, exactly as it is. In ten minutes read it – and you will see a mad mind inside! “

The more often you observe your own thoughts, the sooner they will cease to be chaotic. Then you can find harmony, attunement of thoughts, curb them like wild horses.

3. Become attentive to your feelings, emotions, mood

The harmony obtained in the previous step will greatly help at this stage. The emotional, mental layer is the thinnest, therefore it is the most difficult to catch, “grab” it. But if you follow the steps sequentially, then this task will be within your power. Awareness of all 3 previous layers will lead to their unification into one phenomenon. At this stage, a person will be able to feel the vibration of 3 attuned layers as the most harmonious music.

4. Realize your own awareness and become a Buddha

Becoming a Buddha is a tempting prospect, right? At the 4th step, a person can have access to the ultimate awareness, which will allow him to awaken, for the first time to feel the fullness of life. Osho says that only upon awakening is a person able to know true bliss: “Bliss is the goal, awareness is the path to it”…

Finally, one more recommendation from the sage:

“Whatever you do, keep constantly doing one thing inside: be aware that you are doing this. You eat – be aware of yourself. You go – be aware of yourself. You listen, you say – be aware of yourself. When you are angry, realize that you are angry. “