There is a moment most people experience but almost never notice. You are reading something, or listening to someone speak, and then without warning you realize you were not actually there for the last few seconds. The words continued, your eyes continued, your body continued, but something else had quietly left the room. And then, just as quietly, you notice that you were gone. That noticing is awareness. Not the reading. Not the distraction. But the simple recognition that

Language has a quiet way of blurring important differences. We say hearing and listening as though they are the same, even though one simply happens while the other requires attention. In much the same way, the words mindfulness and watchfulness are often used interchangeably in conversations about meditation. Most people assume they describe the same practice with different names. They don't. They certainly overlap, and both lead toward greater awareness, but they begin from