What does being aware mean to you?' @tribesteemup biweekly question

Being aware is multifaceted. There are so many kinds of awareness that relate to ourselves as well as the world around us. For some, awareness also extends beyond this world and incorporates the entire universe and our connections to the cosmos.

To me, being aware starts with self awareness. This means knowing who I am, and then having an understanding of my internal world which is made up of my thoughts, feelings, and emotions. Being aware of our internal world is an ongoing process and can take ever deeper and refined levels. To know ourselves is one of the great challenges in life, and being aware means being receptive to our internal world without judgement.

Our awareness of the external world is brought about by our five senses, and for some a sixth sense. We need our senses to understand our environment and to become aware of the look, feel, taste, smell, and size of it. In doing so we can relate to the world from our inner world, and that relationship is often one of comparing one to the other. We can only relate to the world by comparing it to ourselves. Something is only small or big in comparison to us. Likewise, something is only hot or cold in relation to our body temperature. So in this way, awareness is a very relative thing, and it is that comparison that brings us our view of the world. From that we experience and learn who we are and what our place is in this world.

To be aware means to be very quiet! We can not listen whilst we are talking, because we need silence to hear what there is beyond us. Just like the ripples in a pond disturb the reflection, it is only when the pond is very still that we can see with clarity. Therefore being aware is a very passive process, and requires great ability to overcome our mind, our thoughts our preconceptions, our ideas, our feelings, our emotions, and to just be still and silent. Only then can we really become aware, and that skill is one that may take many lifetimes to really perfect.

There are many ways to enhance our awareness, and they are practised today by everyone to some degree. Some require great dedication such as meditation, yoga, and many healing arts. Talking a walk in nature and being present is a very simple way to enhance our awareness, and can bring many unexpected and quite beneficial benefits. By expanding our awareness we also expand our consciousness and can impart great wisdom just by being aware. Awareness is the wisdom that speaks in silence, to those who have the ears to hear it and the eyes to see it. At its most glorious, awareness can bring about the greatest gift of life, which is enlightenment.. the point that we suddenly know who it is we Really are!