Be the Spectator of Your Life!

A weekday passes with work, social connections and it may often occur that the memories that remain from the day are not the most pleasant ones:

“My job was boring. I made a mistake at my workplace. I was not a patient enough partner and I did not care enough about my children. I got into an unnecessary quarrel with my neighbor.”

In some situations of life, we get caught in the webs of our thoughts, our emotions carry us away and when we recover from the inner storm of thoughts and emotions, we feel shipwrecked: “This day has also passed and I would do everything differently if I could repeat it!”

“It is not worth living an inattentive life” -said Socrates wisely, and how right he was! Our attention gets lost in all the thoughts and feelings, we keep repeating the same mistakes without learning from them, we do not remember certain parts of our lives, when we are stressed and nervous. But what we do remember quite well and in detail, are those moments when we could enjoy our presence, our existence – when we were in the flow of life.

The first step on the path to consciousness is when we realize our ability to observe.

Replay the events of the day!

Make it your habit to calmly recall the day’s events just before going to sleep. Picture the events as an outside spectator, like watching scenes from your life-film.

What happened to you today? Was there anything that you did not like? What were you happy about and what made you happy? What interesting and important events happened to you? With whom did you get into contact and what feelings did they wake in you?

Choose one short episode from today – a scene which was particularly interesting or important for you. Watch your life-movie of today as a spectator. Be aware that you are now reviewing your day.

As you observe the memories of your day’s most important events, you may find discoveries, and with them, happiness. You recognize constellations, cooperations, which you previously did not notice with your “mind”. You realize what you did unconsciously, in a sort of thought-stunned state.

And what is most important: You learn how to be a peaceful, calm spectator in your life-movie.

(Excerpt from the book "Mindfulness Meditation - Journey into Consciousness" by Ervin K. Kery)