No part of this excerpt may be reproduced or reprinted without permission in writing from the publisher. The internal dialogue is always commenting and judging and planning. It contains a lot of thoughts of self, a lot of self-consciousness. Stephen Levine , A Gradual Awakening , Part 2 Also, because our breathing changes, the awareness must become very subtle to accommodate itself to it. Awareness watches the sensations that occur with the natural coming and going of the breath.
Awareness penetrates the subtle sensations that accompany each breath.
It contains a lot of thoughts of self, a lot of self-consciousness. For instance, if we watch the mind as though it were a film projected on a screen, as concentration deepens, it may go into a kind of slow motion and allow us to see more of what is happening. This then deepens our awareness and further allows us to observe the film almost frame by frame, to discover how one thought leads imperceptibly to the next. This perspective helps break our deep identification with the seeming solid reality of the movie of the mind. As we become less engrossed in the melodrama, we see it s just flow, and can watch it all as it passes.