Just bare Attention.

Getting to know one's 'self' is no small effort although it is by right should be the easiest as it is a matter of taking note of who you are. What stands in the way of getting to truly familiar with one self is the influences that the external circumstances has upon our mind. We are constantly being distracted by the forces that are acting all around us whether we call upon them to or not and these forces are not without their attractive ingredients that would captivate th mind into delving deeper into them. What is needed for us to see beyond these distractions is a sense of discipline that would put the mind under close observation so as not to allow it too much freedom of getting trapped by circumstances and experiences that are forever appearing and disappearing all around us. A sense of awareness that would draw the mind back into itself focusing within more so than without 
The practice of 'bare attention' is one of the Vipassana Buddhist form practice that dissuades the mind from getting attached to whatever that it is perceiving or experiencing. Bare attention keeps that reactive mind to a bare minimal state making every reaction nullified by the fact that there is no more than what is actually perceived to the mind. A sensuous female walking by simply is seen as a woman passing by, a sack full of money is just as sack full of money nothing more, the mind has no attraction or attachment to it. It simply observes with bare attention. No story added to and no projections of its own upon what is observed, the mind is trained to become neutral like a mirror; reflecting but not reacting. When the mind thus neutralized and pacified, it becomes a very potent instrument of observation through which all manifestations in the external becomes mere scenarios to the observer like watching a movie on a screen; all seems real but nothing is real.
When the mind is brought under control and becomes more steadfast and focused there is less vexations and necessary distractions that will emerge to distract one from getting to know one's true nature. Through meditation and contemplation one is able to gain better insight into the nature of one's inner being. One's consciousness becomes more lucid and clear as the layers of accumulated obstructions are being lifted from one's vision into the true reality of who you are underneath it all. perhaps it is not a big deal for this to happen in the course of one's practice as it is an on going process and rarely something that happens spontaneously like an inner combustion. One sort of grows into it without realizing this happening if one truly practices the way to get there; most of us don't. Most of us live like a satisfied lot, happy to be able to simply exist in space and time, making the best of what is handed to us and leaving when the time arrives for us to.