Two Types of Awareness

Norman Farb, PhD, a psychology professor at University of Toronto describes two fundamental types of self awareness - experiential and narrative.

You can experience the world through your narrative circuitry, which will be useful for planning, goal setting, and strategizing. You can also experience the world more directly, which enables more sensory information to be perceived. Experiencing the world through the direct experience network allows you to get closer to the reality of any event. You perceive more information about events occurring around you, as well as more accurate information about these events. Noticing more real-time information makes you more flexible in how you respond to the world. You also become less imprisoned by the past, your habits, expectations or assumptions, and more able to respond to events as they unfold.

For the full article:

https://www.psychologytoday.com/ca/blog/your-brain-work/200910/the-neuroscience-mindfulness