Mingyur Rinpoche has a great metaphor for how life changes when you become aware of awareness. Without awareness one is like a man who has a watch but doesn't know it. He misses appointments, he isn't able to keep a job, he is living in poverty. And then one day someone points out to him, you have this thing on your wrist called a watch. Suddenly his life changes, he's able to connect with others, become more productive, live a decent life.
We are like people with watches, but no real sense of time. We live in the past and the future, but don't know how to get to the present. Being aware is quite simply being able to tell time by knowing whether or not we are present.
It seems so simple, but it's hard for us, I think, because we don't know how to enjoy this feeling. We are so driven by wanting, that we don't really know how to tell time in a world where we have what we really want, the ability to be happy about being happy. We are driven by the next desire, or the next regret.
To be present, and to remain present, is hugely dependent on our willingness to enjoy the present and to the enjoy the feeling of being aware.
My standing practice is only as strong as my willingness to enjoy the constantly increasing energy that it gives me, and the joy I feel in using this energy for the benefit of others. And it's only as strong as my motivation to continue enjoying it.
I tell time now less and less by time, but more and more by sensing how happy I am.
