Why we awaken…

If life was like an interactive movie, and we were fully absorbed in the movie, completely lost in the experience of it, forgetting our bodies and our lives as we followed along with every moment…

Awakening would be like suddenly realizing you were in a movie, as a character and observer, being aware of your body, looking around the theater and going “oh yea, this experience is not all that I am.”

And most of the time when we awaken, it is unlikely we will ‘sleep’ again, as the gig is up!  Even if you ‘go along with it.’ You’ve seen the illusion, it’s hard to unsee once you’ve seen it.

However, noticing is only the first part of awakening.  As you go through the experience, you discover that you’re not constrained to any particular part of life, and you begin to remember how to create in ‘new’ ways – ways that are more natural and true to who you really are.

From the fullest perspective, it’s not better or worse to awaken.

Awakening isn’t any better or worse than being involved in the movie experience of life.

It’s simply different.

We sometimes build up this idea that awakening is so much better because we expect awakening will ‘fix all our problems’ that we had in life.

From one perspective you could say that’s true.  A full awakening does change your experience of reality in a way that you have a new relationship with things like pain and pleasure in your life.

However, awakening is not an escape from growth or experience.

If anything, awakening is a choice to fully allow yourself to feel, process, experience the fullness of everything in your life up until this point.

It is saying a full YES to life, to feeling, to seeing, to being aware of the ‘good, the bad, the ugly’.

Awakening challenges every belief and judgement we ever held, about ourselves, about the world around us, and the world within us.

Awakening allows us to process and release all that is not true to us – beliefs, situations, experiences – so we can embody our true selves.

Letting go of expectations and attachments to what awakening should be

Some people expect awakening will be a certain way or give them certain results.

This is a sure-fire path to disappointment. The nearly universal thing that has been noted about awakening is no two are alike – and it may be wise to check your expectations at the door.

The biggest asset to awakening is flexibility and adaptability, because often we are going through a ‘death of identity’ when we awaken.  This can feel destabilizing at a life experience level, as relationships, jobs, homes, beliefs all come crumbling away.

You may find yourself deeply depressed, or ecstatically euphoric.

You might swing from one end to another.  It might feel simple and pleasant, or like your life is on a roller coaster.

Your ability to adapt, to not judge, to embrace the moment – these are the keys that allow for the ‘dissolution’ of the experiences that aren’t true.

It’s a form of alchemy, transmutation, transformation.

It takes love to do this, because when we approach our experience from fear or trying to control it, there’s where things get hairy.

Fortunately, whether we try to force or allow, there is no real way to mess anything up.  

So allow yourself some relief as you consider the following:

The feeling of relief is an indicator that you are living a resonance of life that is in alignment with you.

When do we awaken?  Can we trigger our awakening? (Continue) >