*Conscious awareness* is the prior condition in which everything occurs.
Thoughts, judgments, opinions, sensations — literally everything you experience takes place in the space of conscious awareness. 

If you can quiet your mind temporarily, to see what happens BEFORE the mind creates a thought, it’s kinda mind blowing to see what’s there. And, in truth, what’s there is actually there all the time!  We’re just too busy (thinking, planning, problem-solving, and defending ourselves from imaginary threats and perceived worries) to notice it.