Awareness

This morning I was reminded of how easily it is to drop your awareness without even noticing. I was driving into work along some country lanes and was thinking about some meetings I'd had and some meetings I was going to have. It was quite a drab drizzly morning but I suddenly noticed that the valley (if you can call it that - I live in Norfolk) across from me was wreathed in mist that just left the tops of the trees showing. It was all very Japanese painting style and it was quite arresting. And I nearly missed it because I was worrying about stuff that happened in the past or that might happen in the future. Because I was indulging in an activity that I can almost do automatically (i.e. driving the same route I drive every morning) my awareness was almost at a basic level; e.g. just enough to allow me to get the car where I wanted it to go. It was pointing inward and not outward. I was looking but not seeing. In general I think it is very difficult to be intensely aware all the time and those people who can do this must be very special individuals indeed. However it is also correspondingly easy to miss a lot of stuff along the way. In fencing it is especially important to remain aware not only of what you are doing but what the other person is doing; not an easy thing to do but one to aim at anyway?