Practice looking at everything while at the same time remaining aware of yourself as the observer. We can call this technique observation with self-awareness. Observation with self-awareness is another way to describe what I refer to as witnessing awareness. Observation with self-awareness is the key to breaking through the veils of illusion and disidentifying from the mind. Usually, you don’t have much difficulty observing what is outside of you and occasionally may observe what is inside, but you rarely observe yourself as the one who is observing. Observation with self-awareness helps you see what’s inside and outside of you at the same time and remain a witness to both.

Observation with self-awareness is like a torch that illuminates the unconscious darkness both inside and outside and transforms it into conscious light. To see the world with self-awareness means to stand apart from whatever you are observing instead of being identified with it. Observation with self-awareness helps you feel safe enough to venture into the darkness of the unconscious (personal, collective, and cosmic) and disidentify from it.

If you observe everything in the outside world and at the same time remain aware of yourself as the observer, you can never be lost in any situation. You will know that you are simply a detached observer of what is happening. With self-aware observation, you simply look at everything that comes to pass without judging, blaming, or identifying with anything. The self-aware observer has no bias towards what is “good” or “bad,” “right” or “wrong” – she simply observes all judgments as passing aspects of thought. Cultivating the ability to observe with self-awareness takes time and effort, but if you persevere in looking at everything with self-awareness, your consciousness of the world and yourself will gradually increase.

~ Excerpt from In Search of the Miraculous: Healing into Consciousness, pg 196.