Relax into Self Realization

I just received this clear message in a forwarded email and thought I'd share it with you all. Author unknown:

The simplest and easiest way to realize one’s essential nature is just to totally relax into pure awareness, which is the deepest, and most fundamental, level of one’s being.

At this suggestion the mind is likely to say: ‘how do I do this?’, or:
‘how can I find this state of relaxation?, or: ‘how can I get there?’.

This is easily solved by realizing that: there is nothing to achieve, for awareness is already present; there is nothing to find, for awareness cannot be lost; and there is nothing to get, for you already have (in fact are) awareness.

If you doubt this apply the following simple test: ask yourself the question ‘am I aware of my thoughts and sensations?’ If the answer is ‘yes’ then awareness is already present, and if ‘no’ then you are dead! Even in sleep there is awareness of dreams, the quality of the sleep, and sensations; for if the sensation becomes strong enough it will wake you up.

Assuming that you have answered ‘yes’ all that you need now is to see
that thoughts and sensations are ephemeral objects which appear in,
exist in and are seen by, and disappear back into awareness which is the constant subject. Just take a moment and notice how thoughts and sensations come and go, whilst awareness is a constant presence.

To put this in a slightly different way: before any particular thought or sensation there is effortless awareness of 'what is' (the sum of all thoughts and sensations occurring at any
given instant), during the thought or sensation in question there is
effortless awareness of it within ‘what is’, and then when it has gone there is still effortless awareness of 'what is'. So awareness is the sub-stratum in which thoughts/sensations arise, exist, and back into which they subside.

Therefore the mind, which is experienced as a flow of thoughts, and the
body which is experienced as a flow of sensations, are both flows of
ephemeral objects. This does not mean that at a surface level we are
not the mind and body for they arise in, are perceived by, and subside
back into awareness, which is the deepest and most fundamental level of our being.

Now you can just relax completely letting go of all effort, searching,
desiring or acquiring, confident in the recognition that deeper than
body/mind you are this ever-present awareness.
This field of subjectivity is akin to the ‘cosmic audience’ that is
viewing the movie of the universe and the lives of  everything within
it…

This relaxation will intensify as you sink more deeply into awareness by noticing that it is:

Effortlessly and choicelessly present, and effortlessly and choicelessly aware of all thoughts and sensations occurring in it.

Absolutely still, aware of the slightest movement of body or mind. In fact awareness is consciousness, when it is completely at rest, just aware of all movements that are occurring within it.

Totally silent, aware of the slightest sound or thought occurring within it.

Utterly at peace, for to be absolutely still and totally silent is to be utterly at peace.

Omnipresent, for all things (manifestations of cosmic energy) are forms of consciousness in movement, and thus arise in awareness, as all movement arises in stillness.

Omniscient, for all things exist in it, and are ‘known’ by it, just as
all movement exists in a substratum of stillness and is known by
(comparison to) that stillness.

Omnipotent, for all things
subside back into it, just as all movement subsides back into
stillness; and no ‘thing’ has any power over it.

Thus awareness is truly the source, from which (and in which) all things arise, that
in which all things exist and are known, and that into which all things
subside. This is also:

Pure, for no thing can taint it, or affect it in any way.

Pristine, for no thing can stain it.

Radiant, for it illuminates everything that appears in it.

Limitless for it contains and encompasses all things.

Attributeless, for all attributes are ephemeral objects coming and going in it.

As you relax more deeply into this pure ocean of awareness,
and identify with it as the deepest level of your being, realize that
we are always floating in, and as, an ocean of utter peace. This peace
is always present no matter how turbulent things may be at the
peripheral levels of mind and body, and may always be immediately
accessed by relaxing back into that pure, pristine, radiant awareness that we are… There is absolutely nothing in existence that can disturb
this peace, for all things rise and fall in this ocean of peace,
leaving it totally undisturbed. Just relax and check it out!!