Opportunity

I've been thinking about the value of present awareness. I.e., is there something especially or inherently good about being aware of the present moment? In particular, Jacob seems to suggest "value" in an awareness of my own experience; generally speaking, awareness of my feelings at any given moment. (Also recognizing how impossible it is to maintain this kind of awareness "all the time".) I'm at work, and I was giving some attention to my current feelings about working, and I did just get a strong sense of the value in this: how nice it is for me to give myself this kind of attention.

Moreover, I felt a sense of perspective on the work I've been doing with awareness and emotion: that even though trouble and pain started me working on these things, I'm actually very lucky to be working on them at all. If it weren't for me and my anxiety, and all the trouble I've had with it, I may well have never had the opportunity to work on these larger issues, never given myself the time and chance to do this work.

This notion of opportunity arising from strife is hackneyed, but the feeling is genuine, and a very nice one at that.

Back to awareness and presence: the idea that humans can have some engagement with their experiences which doesn't involve craving or aversion, but simply an awareness of the experience as an end in itself. This awareness has it's own rewards, and is free from the "danger" (pain) inherent (?) in either wanting or not wanting something to happen or turn out a certain way. There does seem to be some inherent problem (trouble, discomfort, pain) in craving and aversion; it also seems that there are other potential positive aspects (joy, thrill, ?).