Why It Takes More Effort to Stay Consciously Aware: The Path to Inner Peace

Psychologically, staying consciously aware of your thoughts is more demanding than allowing your mind to drift into a passive state. Our natural inclination is towards automatic thought patterns, making it easier for us to let our minds wander. But there's a profound difference between awareness and mere thoughts. Awareness is always present, but can we hold our attention in that state, remaining detached from whatever thoughts may arise?

Breaking the Habit of Identification

Before we can truly be aware, we must break the habitual identification with thoughts. We often identify with the thoughts and the personality that seems to have these thoughts. By letting go of this identification, we can realize that we are not our thoughts or our personality. This subtle realization often comes from a desire to find inner peace and stillness.

The Effort to Achieve Effortlessness

But this realization comes with a challenge. At first, it requires effort to hold our attention in a state of awareness, rather than allowing it to be captured by the constant movement of thoughts. We must learn to be present with whatever arises, without becoming hooked by memories of the past or fantasies of the future.

As we become more adept at remaining present, the effort gradually diminishes. We begin to see our thoughts as mere disruptions in the calm pool of being, and eventually, as these thoughts lose their power to attract us, we find a state of effortless presence.

The Analogy of Training a Dog

The process of training a dog to follow you on a leash is a good analogy for this journey. At first, the dog requires a lot of energy to surrender to walking at your pace, rather than following its own whims. But once the dog learns its role, the effort required to stay with you becomes effortless. Similarly, staying present requires more initial effort than getting lost in thoughts, because that's what we habitually do.

In the beginning, you must consciously resist the pull of your thoughts and remain present. Over time, you will recognize your thoughts as noise and learn to let them pass without engaging. The realization will come that the effort you put into your thoughts was unnecessary, as being requires no energy. Thoughts are a source of tension, while being is a state of ease.

A Continuous Journey of Self-Discovery

This process of breaking free from automatic thought patterns and finding inner peace is not an overnight transformation. It is a continuous journey of self-discovery, much like unpeeling the layers of an onion. Eventually, you will find the emptiness at the heart of everything, a state of pure awareness and stillness.

So, just as a dog can learn to walk with its master on a leash, so too can you learn to stay consciously aware and find inner peace. Embrace the effort required in the beginning, and let it lead you to a place of effortless peace.

Keywords: conscious awareness, mental effort, inner peace