When we begin to watch our own minds turn, we begin to notice that there is a self that is separate from our thoughts. This is obvious and logical. If I can observe myself thinking, then who am I that is doing the observing?

The issue is, we almost immediately also notice that the mind doesn’t stop thinking. And in and amongst the noise of our thoughts we forget to watch our minds think once again. We remember, then we forget. Over and over.

And yet, the whole time, we’re just living our lives. Whether it not we remember to notice ourselves, we live the only life that we live. There is only one life, ours. The past, the future, and anything we think about anyone else is fiction. There is only my present. How can I know your present? I am not inside you to observe it.

In a way this is what is meant by, “we’re all already enlightened”. We’re all already living the only life we can live, and we are never separate from it.

There is no acheiving enlightenment. There is only realizing what is already happening, our one life, without separation.