Introduction to Mindfulness - Dean Amory

quality of our lives to become self-aware, it is important to go below
the surface to look at our ego-personalities – the issues, patterns,
conditioned responses, fears, habits, and attitudes that we want to
change. Looking below the surface of our problems and issues, we
find causes and, thus, have more information available to help us
change, heal, and grow.
Consciousness is one of the five aggregates because it is such an
important part - I would say the most important part - of what we
are. Because consciousness, in the end, is what defines us - because
we identify with it so powerfully - we also hold on to it very strongly.
As long as we have attachments and craving we will get reborn, and
thus suffer. The only way to end suffering is therefore to overcome
our attachment to consciousness.
To end our attachment to consciousness we first of all need to refine
it. Deep states of samadhi are often referred to as refined states of
consciousness. I guess this is what you mean when you refer to
consciousness being "something to attain". Based on such refined
states of consciousness, one is able to gain the insight that leads to
the end of attachment.
Observation by Timothy A. Pychyl at www.psychologytoday.com
Timothy A. Pychyl, Ph.D., is an associate professor of psychology at
Carleton University in Ottawa, Canada, where he specializes in the
study of procrastination.
Self-consciousness includes three general components: private and
public self-consciousness and social anxiety. "Private selfconsciousness
is awareness of one's thoughts, feelings, and private
motivations, while public self-consciousness is awareness of oneself
as a social object. The private self-consciousness factor is itself
composed of two facets . . . Self-reflectiveness represents rumination
about oneself, whereas internal state awareness reflects awareness of
one's emotional states. Self-reflectiveness positively correlates with
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