You Can't Untaste Awareness
Once you've felt that vastness — that living connection — there's no going back.
Hello fellow traveller,
In a recent meditation, I asked myself a simple question.
Where is awareness right now? And what does it actually feel like?
Most of the time, mine is hooked into thought. And if I'm honest, I don't control most of those thoughts. They arrive uninvited, loop without permission, and leave when they're ready.
But then something shifted.
I softened my focus. Not locking onto one thing, but letting my gaze rest on the whole — like looking out of the corners of my eyes with a quiet smile on my face.
Rupert Spira calls this "distracted affection." Awareness that embraces everything without being consumed by any single part.
And in that moment, everything opened.
I wasn't just aware of my thoughts. I could feel my body, the chair beneath me, the room, the city, the planet — the entire universe. Every cell buzzing with connection. A calm, infinite, timeless, joyful space.
It was like zooming out from a keyhole into a vast panorama.
Suddenly I wasn't trapped in the narrow sliver of my mind's chatter. I was free to sense the whole — and to choose where to place my attention.
That's why I often say: you can't untaste awareness.
Once you've felt that vastness — that living connection — there's no going back. The mind still chatters. Life still happens. But something underneath it all has been touched. And it doesn't forget.
A simple practice
Try this right now. It takes about two minutes.
Soften your focus. Instead of fixing your gaze on one point, let it relax — as if you're looking out of the corners of your eyes with a gentle smile.
Open your field. Notice your whole body. The chair beneath you. The sounds around you. The room. The space beyond the room.
Feel into the cells. Sense the aliveness in your hands, your feet, your face. Everything buzzing, connected, alive.
Rest in the whole. No need to fix or control anything. Just notice how calm, infinite, timeless and joyful this space already is.
Then carry that soft awareness into the next thing you do. Notice how different it feels to move from the whole, rather than from the chatter of the mind.
The untapped wisdom
Just imagine how much you have access to when you're not trapped behind the keyhole.
The invitation isn't to control the mind. It's to soften, open and rest in the fullness of what's already here.
Presence isn't something you achieve. It's something you remember.
When did you last feel that kind of spaciousness — even briefly?
And by the way, that’s the view of the Moon and Venus from my balcony overlooking the bay in Kotor, Montenegro. The Universe is a wonder.
Best, Hugh
"You've lived many versions of yourself in this lifetime. And there are many more still to come."
If you haven't already grabbed the Reset Toolkit — I sent it out to the list recently — it's a useful companion to this practice. Six tools for resetting your nervous system and creating space to hear what's underneath the noise. hughwahla.com/toolkit
P.S. If this landed somewhere real for you — or if you tried the practice and something shifted — I'd love to hear about it. Just hit reply.
