Yogi: I realized that it was aversion towards having to report at this Q&A that caused the hours of stress and noticing this decreased the stress by 80%; just a change of perspective helped.

Sayadaw: That insight was able to come because there was some awareness even though there was aversion and you had much difficulty. You were trying to bring some awareness to the process. At some point the conditions came together and at that moment something was seen precisely and understood and it cleared the mind.

Knowing is one of the conditions that is necessary for that insight to happen. No awareness ever goes to waste, even if you feel like you’re not putting in enough effort or you’re not trying properly or you think the awareness is discontinuous or you are struggling to bring in bits of awareness.

We always have these judgments about our not perfect awareness, but really it is okay because as long as there is some awareness, it will bear fruit.