On Being Awake.

Wise Choosing. Intuition. Clarity. Gratitude. Ease. Understanding. Direction. Connection. Happiness. Love.  

All pretty important eh?  All areas that we could grow into stronger, experience more naturally… expending less precious energy on the fight to figure it out, and more on developing and accelerating in our unique and important missions. 

So what is it exactly?  What is that thing, that magical little droplet of a thing that links all of these magnificent acts of being together and to us? 

To me it’s real simple.  Because it is… just one thing.  One way. One focus.

Ready for it?

In my mind, it all boils down to Paying Attention.

Well duh right?  I know it sounds so… trivial, bordering on condescension, associated with disempowering voices of authority. 

But if we can disentangle this notion from our, say, repressive educational experiences, and apply it to our adult living experiences, paying attention quite simply means activating our senses.  Being awake in our moment – seeing, tasting, smelling, hearing, and feeling what’s happening inside and around us.

Zeroing in on the details.  Looking closely.  Making connections between phenomena - because there’s nothing more real than the fact that everything, and I mean EVERYTHING is connected.

It’s about paying attention to our bodies, and the reality that they are always sending us signals.  A rash is not just a rash.  Neither is constipation, lethargy, a lump, or chronic allergies.  All of these are signs, cries for help, that something is out of balance and needs to be paid attention to.  When we choose to ignore, numb or suppress our body’s signals, we are sending ourselves the message that we are not worthy of health, that our fear or apathy is more valuable than our life.  For my mom, it was an ultrasound her doctor ordered that could have caught the cancer 6 months before it took her.  The signs were all there – pain, discomfort, yellowing eyes, months and months of an on again off again flu.  But her fear of the truth swallowed her life in one ruthless fell swoop.      

We must shift our understanding to viewing things WHOLLY, rather than in parts, slices, and fragments. Thinking in a circle (how it all connects) rather than in a line (how it all ends).  It’s about remembering as often as possible that everything small represents something much larger – that a cell is the universe and the universe a cell. 

It’s remembering that our actions and thoughts feed back into one big ol’ collective pot of energy soup, and we all receive nourishment from the same dang pot.  It’s taking responsibility for the ingredients that we contribute.  Are they healthy? Wholesome? Spicy? Fresh? Or are they toxic? Empty calories? Processed bullshit filled with carcinogens?  Are they easy or are they right?  Did you prepare them with love or with carelessness?  Every thought, every choice, every act counts.  Because if we like it or not, we are all feeding each other, our earth, and our sweet selves with the energy we cultivate and maintain.

My sister-in-law, Lindsay (although we usually omit the in-law part) once told me that it’s about reading your life like a novel.  There are signs, symbols, and connections all over, everywhere.  And it’s true.  The closer we pay attention to the details, the more meaningful and clear our missions in this life become.  My mom sends me ladybugs.  That’s when I know that she’s with me, validating my moves, letting me know that she’s got my back.  And with out fail, it’s always in times I need her most that a little lady finds its way to me.

And it’s as brilliant and simple as Paying Attention.  Although the reality is that it’s much more simple in theory.  We have to consciously re-train our mental patterns… choosing to not waste our lives trapped inside our heads, perpetually trippin’ on the past, and trying to control the future. Paying Attention is a life-long dedication.  It’s a meditation through life.  It’s the way the monks do.  

It’s also the way to genuine happiness, real fulfillment, and true love. This shit saves lives. 

Which means to me that it’s definitely worth some honest ongoing practice.

What does it mean to you?