Much has been said about mindfulness. Buddhist practitioners have in mindfulness a valuable tool, but not alone. In the wonderful book of Ken McLeod “Wake Up to Your Life – Discovering the Buddhist Path of Attention†there is a very clear explanation on the role of mindfulness.
It is said in that book that to be mindful means to be present with the object of attention. Mindfulness is the first experience of any degree of presence. Mindfulness also allows stability in our mind, because we do not wander from one object of attention to another.
Awareness is knowing what is going on. Mindfulness is being present with the object of attention but awareness enables you to know what is happening. It gives clarity to the object of attention. Awareness is a form of knowing that develops from mindfulness.
The couple mindfulness and awareness are also presented in the literature as calm and clear, tranquility and insight.
Yesterday I was in a beautiful garden and I brought the intention to experience the aliveness of time. I allowed myself to be touched by a
breeze arriving from nowhere and mindfully saw the soft fluttering of prayer flags. Aware of the original intention, I let myself  marry my inside to the outside surrendering to the truth of what was happening. And sensitive to the lightest touch, I became aware of the connection with the flags and felt as if I myself was waving, in tune with the tender breeze of the night. And a whispered intimacy arrived, arresting my whole body. It was as if my heart, that always has conversed secretly, were speaking out loud. This appreciation of time led me to inquire about the subtle “inward” of time that conducts differently.
As soon as we open present time even slightly to this subtle inward aspect, space energy makes itself more available. We do not have to rely on the mental projections of our ordinary conducting, with their efforts and positions and limits. We touch the lightness of being; we fuse with light. It is an experience both specific and immediate: a loosening in the body, in the head, in the mind—a lightness let loose everywhere. DTS 153-154
Thank you for this sharing…