Wake Up!
Don't sleep through your life.
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Let’s get serious here, but not too serious because I’ve been told that seriousness is the only crime where the punishment is the crime.
How often do you spend your day on autopilot or in “get through it” mode?
A different way of asking that question is, how present are you throughout your day?
Fulfillment comes from being filled full in any given moment. When we let our thoughts stray into the future or past, we are taking away from the opportunity that is happening right now.
Now I know where the mind can go, I certainly do not love vacuuming! I imagine you also have tasks you complete that you do not love. What if though, while you were vacuuming, you could be totally present for the experience? I mean what other option is there? To resist the whole time, miserable until it is over. Sure, you could do that, but why?
Wouldn’t you rather feel whole in any given moment than divided?
Consider the last time you did something you really love. Take a moment and put yourself right in the middle of that experience in your imagination and then notice how you feel. Go ahead try it out and then keep reading...
Didn’t you feel good, in sync, happy, at ease, peaceful, fulfilled... just to name a few options? Now, imagine feeling that in every activity you engage in! What if you could feel that way always despite what you are doing?
A couple of blogs ago I mentioned how when I am writing and in flow, it feels like I just described above, fulfilled, but when I come up against writer's block, I feel pressured and insecure. When that happens I use different tools and techniques to help me re-set and return to the natural flow that happens only in the present moment.
It’s all a matter of being awake or asleep at any given moment. Think about when you are sleeping. It seems like, in your dreams, the world is driving you from random place to place. Then when you are in deep sleep you are not even aware of what is happening. Oftentimes as humans, we live our lives like we are asleep just trying to make it through an activity, or even a day, without being fully engaged in it or recognizing what is happening.
Don’t let your life pass you by or you will miss it! You only have this one opportunity to be amazing YOU in this world.
When we are fully present or awake, the world seems a beautiful and amazing place to live, explore, and serve others through our own brightness. There is a felt sense of belonging so that we can help others feel as if they belong.
Being awake or present brings with it a felt sense of presence, of being truly alive. There’s a joy that comes with that, a readiness to face whatever the world brings even when it brings difficult situations. Because you have built up an ability to be present and filled full by the moment, even the harder moments bring with them a feeling of being alive and awake instead of numb and asleep. It just takes practice.
And as a reminder, I’ve stopped several times during the writing of this blog to breathe, feel, and re-set back to the presence I am so I feel filled full and able to give. Otherwise, there's no point.
I have had students and clients ask me when does this process end, when will I get to the peace I am seeking? I answer, never. Yes, you read that correctly, never. You can’t get to what you already are. You can only recognize in any given moment that you are that which you are seeking. Anything you do to try to get there will fuel a belief in lack, in longing, in believing you are incomplete.
Life isn’t happening in the future. It is happening right here, right now.
Be awake now, and now, and now!
Reinforce that muscle within you and it will become easier and easier, so you no longer long to seek for what you do not have, but revel in all that you are, right now.
In Loving Service,
Heather Indu Arena
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Words for the Soul
Your weekly blog to inspire choices that lead to a fulfilled life of authenticity.