“The point of awareness—and the point of meditation, for that matter—is to know what’s happening.  We have to be awake.  Otherwise we fall into lethargy, which is one step away from sleep.  Without awareness, meditation will lead nowhere.  In the first stages of peaceful abiding, awareness acts as a spy who watches us meditate, alerting mindfulness to bring us back to the breath when we stray.  For a while it might be clumsy and intrusive, because as beginners we need to be watching constantly.  But as we practice, awareness continues to develop.  The mind becomes more stable, and our ability to know what’s happening becomes stronger.  Awareness becomes the sheriff who can sense that our mind is about to become distracted and remedy the situation before it even occurs.  We don’t see the sheriff running around everywhere; we just know he’s there.  Because we have more confidence, awareness no longer feels intrusive.” ~ Sakyong Mipham, Turning the Mind Into An Ally (Page 107)