When awareness is handled skillfully through meditation, and you learn to access inner calm especially with eyes open in midst of your family and career responsibilities, then your heart remains in balance with your mind. Deep calmness prevails. Love, compassion and gratitude are spontaneously experienced. Wisdom and insight are ongoing features of life. Conscious connection with spirit is forever maintained.
Meditation helps to settle the mind and nervous system, and to directly experience inner calm.
Meditation trains the mind to be quietly content rather than continually operating in its constant chatter mode. The formal practice of meditation is initially essential to reorient the active mind to not lose awareness of silence during focussed activity. Yet this structured meditation practice evolves over time. As you become well acquainted with inner calm through meditation practice, eventually formal practice is no longer required. At this point, meditation IS conscious abidance in stillness whether eyes are open or closed.