Awareness: What It Is, How It Arises, and How It Can Change Your Life Every Day

Awareness: What It Is, How It Arises, and How It Can Change Your Life Every Day

What Awareness Is Compared to Observation

We have already spoken about Awareness in our previous articles, “Inner Alchemy” and “Have You Ever Asked Yourself Who You Are?”, although without mentioning it directly.

There, we referred to a basic activity that comes before it, called Observation. We introduced it in a preliminary way, but already presented it as an essential practice for anyone seeking a good level of autonomy, self-mastery, and control in managing everyday life.

And not only that.

Observation is also fundamental for those who wish to become conscious creators of their own destiny, in harmony with their natural inclinations and predispositions, rather than remaining at the mercy of the unconscious mind, which in this respect often acts as a silent saboteur.

The two terms, Observation and Awareness, are often confused, but they are not entirely synonymous.

Observation is the ability to direct our attention toward something that is happening to us, either internally or externally. It is an inner act. It is the moment in which we begin to see.

According to Osho, observation does not properly belong to the mind, but transcends it. The moment we stop to observe our inner processes, mental activity inevitably changes and may eventually become quiet. If we are thinking about something, we stop identifying completely with that thought. If we are experiencing a sensation, whether pleasant or painful, observation creates a distance between ourselves and what we perceive, also changing the perception itself, which may take on a different quality.

To give just one of many possible examples: if we are experiencing an inner sensation — pain, anger, or sadness — we may notice that we initially perceive it in a particular area of the body and that, through observation, it may move, diminish, or change. Feelings associated with an emotional state are often experienced around the solar plexus, but also in the heart or throat area.

If, on the other hand, we do not use observation, then without even realizing it, immediately after an unpleasant event occurs, the ordinary mind — or lower mental body — begins its constant activity of judgments, complaints, and interpretations, creating both within and around us a field of negative vibrations that pulls us downward and dissipates our energy.

Awareness, instead, is the state of consciousness reached through this attentive observation. It is a higher level than that of the ordinary mind and, although at first it may seem like a Herculean task, it can be developed through training, much like physical exercise.

At first, it seems almost impossible to stop and observe an emotion before it takes over. Usually, we react first and only afterward observe our inner state while reflecting on what has happened. As we continue practicing observation, however, we progress until we become able to intercept and inhibit the mechanical reaction before it manifests outwardly.

At first, we react and only afterward observe. Then we begin to observe while we are reacting. Finally, at least in some cases, we become able to perceive the reaction as it arises.

This is where true transformation begins.

Over time, we develop an increasingly greater degree of detachment, and the level we have reached is never completely lost, even though we may sometimes feel that we have regressed or, particularly in the beginning, find ourselves falling back into unconscious and mechanical behaviors before returning to “that state.”

When this happens, we should not reproach or blame ourselves, but forgive and accept ourselves for the level of mastery we currently possess and begin practicing again, with perseverance.

What Happens When We Become Aware

Through attentive observation, Awareness allows us, while an event is taking place, to maintain our attention both inwardly and outwardly, creating the distance that enables us to recognize and experience our inner processes — mental, emotional, and physical — as well as external events — an argument, an accident, a perceived injustice, a bereavement, but also a joy, whether expected or unexpected — as manifestations of a single, deeply interconnected reality.

[Inference] From an inner and energetic perspective on experience, we may consider that what we live through is not entirely separate from our state of consciousness, but that there may be a resonance between our emotional and mental state and the kinds of situations, people, and events we tend to encounter.

Naturally, the occurrence of these situations, whether pleasant or unpleasant, generates inner processes within us which, when expressed reactively and unconsciously through outward behavior, have consequences. These may range from minor and trivial consequences arising from an ordinary outburst of anger to far more dramatic ones, as well as less immediate effects on ourselves, our inner life, and our relationships with others.

[Inference] In spiritual traditions, these dynamics are also interpreted in karmic terms.

Why We React Automatically: What Happens in the Brain

Let us examine more precisely what happens by using a concrete example: someone insults us and we become furious. Our heart rate increases, our breathing becomes faster, our muscles tense, our fists clench, and we begin shouting back at the person we perceive as a threat.

We believe we are responding from a sense of justice, but in reality our reaction begins long before reason can fully enter the process. It originates in automatic defense mechanisms deeply rooted in our neurobiological structure and connected to survival responses.

When we perceive danger or an offense, the older and faster areas of the brain, particularly those involved in emotional processing and defense, become activated before the areas responsible for reflection, evaluation, and conscious regulation. This is why we react so quickly: the body and brain immediately mobilize the organism for action.

This mechanical reaction prevents us from seeing reality as it is because it is activated extremely rapidly, before the more evolved regulatory systems can fully come into play. The brain structures involved in alarm and defense responses are closely connected with fear, vigilance, and impulsivity. The more evolved cortical areas, on the other hand, make a more refined, reflective, and regulated response possible.

Studies of somatic responses to emotions have shown that even on the face of someone with considerable self-mastery and emotional control, an initial trace of the primary emotion often appears, even when the behavioral response is subsequently managed perfectly. This happens precisely because of the slight time gap during which the more automatic circuits activate before the more evolved ones can modulate the response.

Observing an Emotion Instead of Reacting

If, instead of reacting, we simply acknowledge what is happening both within and around us, observing without repressing but also without automatically expressing outwardly the emotion we are experiencing, even when it is painful, we begin to re-cognize — that is, to know again — that ancient sensation passing through us.

[Inference] In some approaches to inner work, every emotion may be regarded as a kind of portal: a vibration or experiential core that tends to reappear until it has been fully recognized and brought into awareness.

This recognition, arising from a state of attentive presence, may free us from the burden of energy that perpetuates similar events, reactions, and conditions that cause us suffering.

We may also come to perceive that what happens does not happen to us, but within us.

 

The Weight of Repetitive Thoughts and Mental Images

As if the initial reaction were not enough, the process does not end when the event itself is over. Once we return home, and even afterward, we may find ourselves thinking about what happened again and again, reliving it in our minds and imagining scenes of revenge, retaliation, or regret — “I could have said… I could have done…” — none of which serves any useful purpose, much less restores our equilibrium. On the contrary, these thoughts can reactivate the same bodily and emotional dynamics that feed our suffering.

In these moments too, it is helpful to consciously observe the emotions we feel and the thoughts that arise from them, continuing to practice observation.

At a psychological and neuroscientific level, we know that the brain, to some extent, also responds to imagined representations, not only to events that have actually occurred. For this reason, when we continually replay a scene in our minds, our body and emotional system may become activated again, reinforcing the cycle of suffering.

Repeatedly imagining aggression, revenge, or negative scenarios is therefore far from neutral: it leaves traces in our psychophysical state, reinforces certain inner patterns, and may influence the way we feel, think, and act.

[Inference] From a spiritual perspective, thoughts too possess their own energetic quality and produce consequences that are not only immediate, but may also be deeper and longer-lasting.

True Joy Beyond Pleasure and Pain

It may seem strange to observe our emotions with detachment because, whether pleasant or painful, they give color and flavor to our lives. At the level at which we experience them, they make us feel that we “exist,” that we are “alive.”

Yet when we enter a higher state of consciousness and become able to observe them, we experience how transient, changeable, and, to a certain extent, illusory they are. We then discover that true joy and the deepest experience of life lie beyond pleasure and pain, in a more profound state of presence and freedom.

Developing Awareness constitutes our liberation. It belongs to the higher mind, also known as the “causal body” in certain esoteric maps, and to still higher levels of being. It is the dimension that allows abstract understanding, a broader vision, and the possibility of no longer being enslaved by immediate reaction.

[Inference] In spiritual language, we might say that it lies beyond duality, integrates opposites, and makes their transcendence possible, transmitting to the ordinary mind the intuition required for appropriate, constructive, and creative action.

By practicing awareness, we can choose the response that is most appropriate to a situation rather than reacting unconsciously on the basis of past experiences stored in our unconscious mind and influencing us from there.

This is because such practice engages and strengthens the functions of the brain’s more evolved areas: those associated with attention, emotional regulation, reflection, inhibition of automatic responses, and the ability to place an experience within a broader and less impulsive framework.

How to Transmute a Significant Emotional Experience

Let us now consider how a significant experience can be managed. We return to the previous example, in which someone insulted us and our anger exploded through all the dynamics we have described. At that point, the most appropriate response for bringing about a transmutation is to remain with the emotion, neither escaping from it nor being overwhelmed by it, but observing it, “entering into it,” experiencing it in all its intensity, and welcoming it without judgment.

We may not always succeed in transmuting the energetic charge of an emotion on the first attempt. Yet by practicing observation, each time we learn to withstand its intensity, to know it, and gradually develop a new ability to feel it completely, until one day the unconscious mechanism breaks in a flash of awareness, bringing a sense of liberation and renewed, reintegrated vitality.

In other words, the energy previously trapped within the emotion is released and begins to flow again.

With time and good introspection, we may come to discover our underlying inner condition: the emotional, mental, or existential matrix from which the mechanism originates.

Naturally, especially at first, we are more concerned with dealing with the external situation, so we literally “forget” to remain present to the inner dynamic and to include it in the process. But with commitment and determination, we can certainly achieve results.

We should nevertheless forgive ourselves when we are unable to avoid becoming involved in an argument, conflict, or emotional outburst. What matters is maintaining our commitment to ourselves, persevering, and trying again.

Through the practice of attentive presence, we also learn to perceive how our body responds to emotion, becoming better able to manage it for the benefit of our health. With sufficient perseverance, we also learn not to allow our mind to indiscriminately generate crude thoughts of complaint, judgment, victimhood, blame, condemnation, and negativity.

In this way, we can avoid creating negative thought-forms and/or engaging in destructive actions. We become masters of our behavior.

The most significant result is this: we learn not to react, but to act consciously.

And there is more.

By practicing self-observation — also referred to by those who practice it as inner work or work on oneself — we begin moving toward a higher level of consciousness.

Awareness on the Spiritual Path

In truth, an authentic spiritual path consists essentially of this. If we look carefully at spiritual practices, mantras, and prayers, we see that they are valuable tools through which each person can choose what is most suitable for them and find a way to rise inwardly and connect with higher levels.

But even these tools, in order to be effective, must be practiced with a certain degree of awareness and presence. Otherwise, they lose much of their effectiveness and, when used mechanically, may even contribute to our “sleep,” taking us farther from our goals and perhaps giving us little more than a pleasant feeling of relaxation.

[Speculation] Some spiritual traditions also hypothesize that, through unconscious practices, people may connect not so much with the living and transcendent reality of great Spiritual Figures or Divinities, but rather with collective energetic fields generated by shared thought-forms, sometimes referred to as “egregores.”

Those who have reached such levels — a Buddha, a Jesus, a Krishnamurti — were able to experience true Awakening and, consequently, perceive that human beings ordinarily live in a state of profound sleep, completely identified with the contents of their minds, which they continuously and unconsciously project onto the external world, thereby contributing to the construction of their lived reality.

[Inference] From this perspective, what is called “illusion” does not necessarily mean that the world does not exist, but rather that our ordinary experience of it is profoundly distorted by mental, emotional, and unconscious conditioning.

By continuing to react unconsciously, human beings do nothing but feed that collective field of lower thoughts, emotions, and dynamics in which they fail to realize they are immersed, perpetuating the cycle endlessly.

Awareness, Psychotherapy, and Everyday Practices

Psychotherapy, when genuinely necessary, may also be supported by the practice of awareness, especially when the therapeutic or analytical path proves particularly difficult or prolonged. In these cases, attentive presence can become a valuable support in developing greater contact with oneself, emotional regulation, and the capacity for inner observation.

Awareness is like a fire that burns away every illusion. It is the path toward self-mastery and mastery itself. According to the most enlightened Masters throughout the ages, it represents our highest degree of freedom.

Masters such as Osho and the Buddha, but also Jesus in certain Gospel passages, repeatedly recommended that we “keep watch” or avoid “falling asleep,” as, for example, in the episode of Gethsemane.

However, in order to develop a good level of awareness that becomes stable on a higher plane of consciousness, it may be preferable to practice exercises of presence at specific times of the day rather than trying to remain constantly vigilant when nothing in particular is happening.

It appears to be more effective to practice for a few minutes every day, consistently and regularly, perhaps at the same time, during activities that do not completely absorb our attention, such as looking at shop windows or tidying the house. Some schools of inner work also propose regular, ritualized practices specifically to strengthen the stability of presence.

Alternatively, we can pay attention to what passes through our mind every time we walk through a doorway, while eating, or while getting dressed.

We can try to remain present while bringing the fork to our mouth and tasting the food. If our mind wanders, we bring it back to the action we are performing, immersing ourselves in it completely, “becoming” that action and leaving room for nothing else.

We can practice slow walking while observing each individual step, or focus on our breathing, in all cases preventing the mind from wandering and attempting to prolong our presence in the “here and now.”

There are many exercises. The important thing is to choose the one that works best for us, both in terms of timing and type of activity.

How Awareness Changes Everyday Life

Beyond specific exercises, however, the real skill lies in learning to keep uncontrolled fantasies and the mind’s constant jumping from one thought to another under control. These shifts arise through continuous associations triggered by a smell, a sound, a memory, or any external or internal stimulus, forming chains of images, thoughts, sensations, and emotions that often escape our control entirely.

As we become increasingly aware and more capable of managing our thoughts and emotions, we develop greater concentration, efficiency, and discernment. We also become increasingly aware that our inner state profoundly influences the way we live, interpret, and even construct our experience of the world.

We learn to use awareness when discerningly choosing the thoughts, words, emotions, and actions that uplift us and promote well-being and loving-kindness, both for ourselves and for those around us, including nature, animals, and plants.

We become increasingly aware of how deeply interconnected we are and of the responsibility we carry as human beings.

We learn to bring awareness to our choice of partner, work, hobbies, and everything else that gives direction to our lives.

Through this process, we also develop our creativity, because by listening to ourselves and paying attention to the external world, we learn empathy and the ability to place ourselves in another’s experience. As a result, when making choices, we increasingly take into account the long-term consequences of what we do and seek to become conscious creators of whatever is most beautiful, true, and just in service of the common good.

The Ultimate Purpose of Awareness

The ultimate purpose of our inner work is, in fact, precisely this: to heal the sense of separation and foster unity while respecting the uniqueness and unrepeatable nature of each individual.

Awareness makes all of this possible.

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Frequently Asked Questions

1. What is awareness?
Awareness is the capacity to consciously recognize what is happening within and around us, including thoughts, emotions, bodily sensations, and external events. It allows us to observe our experience without immediately identifying with it or reacting automatically.

2. What is the difference between observation and awareness?
Observation is the act of directing attention toward what is happening, while awareness is the broader state of consciousness that can develop through sustained and attentive observation. Observation is the practice; awareness is the state that gradually emerges from it.

3. Why do we react automatically to certain situations?
Automatic reactions arise because the brain can activate emotional and defensive responses very quickly, often before reflective and regulatory processes are fully engaged. This is why anger, fear, tension, or impulsive behavior can appear before we have consciously evaluated what is happening.

4. Can awareness help us manage emotions better?
Yes. Awareness can help us notice an emotion as it arises, experience it without immediately suppressing or expressing it, and create more space between the feeling itself and our behavioral response. Over time, this can support greater emotional regulation and conscious choice.

5. Why are repetitive thoughts and rumination so powerful?
The brain and body can react not only to real events but also to imagined or repeatedly recalled experiences. Replaying an upsetting situation in the mind may therefore reactivate emotional and bodily responses and reinforce patterns of distress.

6. How can I practice awareness in everyday life?
Awareness can be practiced during simple daily activities such as eating, walking, breathing, getting dressed, or tidying the house. The key is to bring attention back to the present experience whenever the mind begins to wander.

7. Does awareness mean suppressing emotions?
No. The purpose is not to repress emotions, but to observe and experience them without being automatically controlled by them. Awareness creates the possibility of responding consciously rather than reacting mechanically.

8. Can awareness support psychotherapy?
Awareness practices may complement psychotherapy by helping people develop greater contact with their inner experience, emotional regulation, and self-observation. They are not necessarily a substitute for professional psychological treatment when such treatment is needed.

9. Is awareness connected to spirituality?
Many spiritual traditions place strong emphasis on vigilance, presence, observation of the mind, and freedom from automatic identification with thoughts and emotions. In spiritual contexts, awareness is often understood as a path toward greater inner freedom and awakening.

10. How can awareness change everyday life?
With regular practice, awareness can support greater concentration, discernment, emotional balance, and conscious decision-making. It can also help us become more attentive to the long-term consequences of our thoughts, words, and actions.

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1. Scientific References (Neuroscience and Psychology)

Neuroscience, Mindfulness, the Brain, and Emotions

Judson Brewer – studies on mindfulness and the reduction of activity in the Default Mode Network, associated with automatic thinking and mental rumination.

Joseph LeDoux – research on the role of the amygdala in rapid defensive responses and automatic emotional processes.

Giacomo Rizzolatti – discovery of mirror neurons and their implications for understanding action, observation, and experiential resonance.

Antonio Damasio – studies on the relationship between emotions, the body, consciousness, and decision-making processes.

Richard Davidson – research on emotional regulation, brain plasticity, meditation, and well-being.

Jon Kabat-Zinn – creator of the MBSR (Mindfulness-Based Stress Reduction) program and a key reference in the dissemination of mindfulness in clinical and scientific settings.

Sara Lazar – neuroimaging studies on the effects of meditation and mindful practice on brain structure, particularly in areas related to attention and emotional regulation.

Psychological Popularization

Guidapsicologi.it – educational articles and summary materials relating to emotions, reactivity, mental automatisms, and psychological dynamics.

2. Integrated Mind-Body-Consciousness Approaches

Erica Francesca Poli – psychiatrist and psychotherapist; integrated approach combining neuroscience, psyche, body, emotions, and consciousness.

3. Philosophical and Spiritual References

Osho – observation, presence, transcendence of the mind, awareness as a state of consciousness.

Gautama Buddha – vigilance, observation of the mind, liberation from suffering, awakening.

Jesus Christ – the theme of vigilance, “not falling asleep,” and inner presence.

Jiddu Krishnamurti – observation without judgment, freedom from mental conditioning, pure attention.

4. Interpretative Perspectives and Inner Work

Salvatore Brizzi – inner transformation, personal responsibility, presence, awakening of consciousness.

Erica Francesca Poli – from an integrative perspective, interpretation of the relationship between inner states, lived experience, the body, and the evolution of consciousness.

5. Frameworks for Interpreting Experience

Resonance dynamics between inner state and lived experience.

Vibrational interpretation of emotions and inner processes.

[Inference] The view that what we experience is also influenced by our state of consciousness.

[Speculation] The concept of the egregore as a possible collective energetic field generated by shared thought-forms.

6. Educational Sources, Texts, and Reference Videos

Materials available online and educational content.

Texts, lectures, and video materials by:

Osho

Salvatore Brizzi

Erica Francesca Poli

Summaries and general references drawn from the web, including educational content from psychological and spiritual sources.

7. Final Note

The perspectives presented in this article integrate contributions from different fields — scientific, psychological, experiential, and spiritual. Where they are not explicitly supported by scientific evidence, some interpretations should be understood as symbolic frameworks or maps for inner exploration.