Song - “Just What’s Here”What this is (and isn’t)
She found the page by accident.
It was folded once, soft at the creases, left on the kitchen table beneath a cold cup of tea. The heading read Inquiry Primer. Nothing flashy. No promises. No enlightenment fireworks.
She almost didn’t read it.
Lately, everything spiritual felt heavy — another task, another way to fail quietly. But something in the plainness of the words stopped her. No selling. No urgency. Just a calm refusal to pretend.
This is not self-improvement.
She exhaled before she realized she’d been holding her breath.
The room was ordinary: a ticking clock, traffic outside, a faint ache between her shoulders. As she read, something subtle shifted — not an experience, not relief — more like the removal of a burden she hadn’t known she was carrying.
When the page asked, “What are the details of this experience right now?” she looked up.
There was pressure in her chest. A slight buzzing in her hands. The sound of the fridge. A thought saying, This won’t work.
She noticed that too — not what it meant, just that it was happening.
For a moment, nothing needed to change.
The ache didn’t leave. The thought didn’t stop. Her life didn’t resolve itself.
But something unmistakable softened.
Not because she’d found an answer.
Because she’d stopped demanding one.
She folded the page again, carefully this time, and smiled — not from happiness, but from recognition.
This.
Just this.
Was already here.
Inquiry — Gently, Right Now
Pause for a moment.
Without trying to improve anything, ask:
What is actual, right now?
Not what’s wrong.
Not what should happen next.
Not what this means.
Look instead:
Sensations: pressure, warmth, movement, tightness, vibration
Sounds: near, far, steady, intermittent
The simple fact that a thought is appearing
Notice the difference between:
A story happening
What the story is about
You don’t need to stop the story.
You don’t need to replace it.
Just notice: a story is here.
That noticing is already different from being lost in it.
If resistance appears, that’s not a failure.
If confusion appears, that’s not a mistake.
If nothing special appears — perfect.
Return again:
to sensation
to sound
to the details of this moment
Outcomes don’t matter.
Clarity comes from contact, not conclusions.
This work is not self-improvement, wellness, or becoming a better “you.”
It’s not about chasing a special state (peace, bliss, oneness).
It’s about seeing what is actual in direct experience, and noticing how the mind adds stories about it.
The core pointer
Experience is all there is.
And the “person” who seems to be managing it is a story added after the fact.
Awakening is not an experience you can aim at.
It’s an indescribable shift in perspective and relationship to experience.
The seeker trap
Seeking assumes:
a known future goal (“waking up” as something you will get)
that “you” can do the right things to achieve it
But:
you don’t know what awakening is (nobody can describe it as a thing)
shifts happen when conditions gather beyond awareness
the seeker identity often obscures what is already here
The only useful question
“What are the details of this experience right now?”
Not: Why is this happening? How do I fix it? What does it mean?
Outcomes are irrelevant.
Good/bad is just labeling.
This is about clarity through details.
Two layers: Actual vs About
1) What is actual (what we can look at)
Sensations (including emotional body sensations)
Perceptions (sound, sight, touch, smell, taste)
The fact that a thought/story is happening (as an event)
2) What is “about” (what we don’t follow)
The content of thoughts and stories
Interpretations, meanings, judgments
“This shouldn’t be happening.”
“It means I’m failing.”
“My life is a sinking ship.”
Any narrative about past/future
Key skill: Notice that a story exists without entering what it’s about.
Suffering: what it is (and isn’t)
Pain and difficult sensations happen.
Suffering is largely resistance: wanting it to be different, adding meaning, fighting what’s here.
The circumstances aren’t the main cause—your relationship to them is.
Difficult states (anxiety, despair, insomnia, intense pain) aren’t regressions.
They are often the next test/opportunity to see more clearly.
Control, choice, and “doing”
Control is usually claimed after the fact.
Decisions and impulses happen; the inner narrator announces them.
Letting go isn’t learning to trust.
It’s learning not to mistrust.
You can’t “do” disidentifying—because who would do it?
Seeing happens when it happens.
How to practice (simple and direct)
Locate the experience in the body.
Where is it? What shape, texture, temperature, movement?Name the story as story.
“A story is happening.” Don’t follow the content.Return to actual details.
Sensation, sound, breath, posture, pressure, vibration.Curiosity over fixing.
“What is this, exactly?” not “How do I stop it?”Repeat.
This is training attention to reality, not training a self.
Helpful reminders
You can’t be lost. You know where you are: here.
Peace is not a thing you obtain; it’s the absence of fear/tension/resistance.
Your tools are already present. You don’t need more concepts.
The smallest win is recognition: noticing you’re in a story.
Mini-drills you can use anytime
Story vs Actual: “What is actual right now?” (then list sensations)
Existence vs Content: “A thought is here.” (feel the fact of it; ignore the storyline)
Details: “What are the finest-grain details of this moment?”
The attitude that works
Gentle, curious, non-heroic.
No striving. No perfectionism.
Just returning—again and again—to what is actual.