How does a person go about practicing awareness? The method of awareness is self-examination without judgment. Judgment (especially when emotion-based) tends to cause attachment and clouds perception. For inner-work that is clear and meaningful the self has to be examined from moment to moment with some level of disconnected awareness. This process is applied in observing the manifestation of the Self in three centers:

• Emotional
• Cognitive
• Motor

In the emotional center emotions and feelings that are present can be observed. In the cognitive center one observes thoughts and takes note of common patterns in the mind. In the motor center one can observe actions and the conduct of the physical self or the corporeal body.

The observation of the Self in each aspect re-centers an individual. This allows a person to note the assumptions and meanings that exist below the surface of consciousness and to re-integrate them with the self rather than leaving them in a form of abstraction and unrealized potential.

In the above meditation it soon becomes apparent that a thought has power. An emotion has power. An action has power. These three centers have power over the self. The important realization here is that even though each of those elements has power over the Self these elements are still not one with self. Their participation in the self is limited to a temporal state. Then what is the self that makes up who a person is?

The self transcends thoughts and emotions; it exists as the watcher of the internal processes of the Mind; thoughts, emotions, and actions.

If at the core the essence of a person is not their thoughts or emotions then the endeavor of introspection becomes to discover what that essence is. The true benefit of self-consciousness is the point where a person recognizes a higher aspect within themself. However the aim to discover how the Mind and the Self functions leads in itself to a widening of the perceptual spectrum and possible potential a person allows themselves to experience.

The process of self-awareness often causes a change in how concepts and ideas and beliefs are perceived over time. Some ideas might render a certain level of understanding in an initial encounter with them. However in the process of expanding the self new meaning can often be brought forward in future encounters with the same situations. It is therefore a core aim of awareness of these three centers to expand our inner potential for understanding. Greater potential for understanding liberates the Mind and liberates our potential.