Knowing Yourself

Really knowing yourself has nothing to do with whatever ideas are floating around in your mind. Fundamentally you are not your name, your body, your possessions, your affiliations, or your ideas. Rather than taking new ideas- even spiritual ones- and adding them to your idea of who you are in order to define yourself, instead turn your attention toward full present moment awareness of the Now. Even if you cannot sense it at this moment, your awareness itself- your consciousness- transcends the forms that it is currently beholding and identifying with.

Personally experiencing that is a matter of gently but consistently shifting your momentum of focus away from thoughts and judgments towards a quiet and full awareness of the present moment itself. We call that process “meditation.” Yet, meditation is not an action- it is simply purposefully setting intention toward being present in the current moment without judgment. In doing so, your awareness very gradually and naturally becomes less beholden to the “datastream” of the current physical reality. That may sound strange, but getting to know your true self is not a foreign activity. It is rather a subtle yet joyful movement toward that which is “most you” and most comfortable to you: being aware is the most natural thing in the world. If you permit yourself to simply dwell with your awareness regularly, you will find that gaining familiarity with your true self is not only possible, but is one of the most rewarding and freeing pursuits available to you while you are here.