Awareness as a tool to enlightenment

The first step to meditation is to sit down and to become aware.

Usually we are so caught up in our stream of thought that we are not aware of our body and of what is around us. Most of the time we think we ARE our stream of thoughts.

The philosopher Decartes stated: cogito ergo sum. I think therefor I am.

The meditator rejects this statement. If the meditator would have to formulate a statement it would be: Behind the stream of thinking, I am. I would like it if someone could put that into Latin for me.
Google Translate says: Post flumine cogitandi, ego sum

Every meditation session starts with becoming aware. This becoming aware of the sensations in the body and the stimuli from the outside can be seen as taking the ores to row to the other shore; awareness is a tool, not a goal.

Awareness creates the first gap between thoughts because one cannot be aware and caught up in the stream of thought at the same time.

The laugh of a child, the touch on the skin of a breeze, the passing of a car, the weight of the body on the pillow, a slight pain in the knee, the smell of dust… there is so much going on around us all the time that is blocked out by our stream of thoughts, that inner chatter.

By becoming aware we dim the inner chatter. It is the first step to a clear mind; the first pull on the oars.