I was taking a walk this afternoon listening to this You Tube Video. I listened to it over and over as I took in the beautiful vista that is my neighborhood. If you listen to it be prepared for the possibility of knowing yourself as you truly are.
'SONATA', oil on canvas, 48"x36" by Katherine Treffinger 2009 (sold)
Let's pretend for a moment that before we are born to this manifest reality we have to stand in a very long line to get the chance to incarnate here on the playground called Planet Earth. I mean, after all the Divine is infinite so there are most likely a lot of souls, if not an infinite amount, wanting to get here. As we are standing in line we are so excited and we are talking about what we want. Some of us are saying they want love, peace and of course money. However, others who have been around the Earth block a time or two laugh at the naivete' of this. How the heck are you going to experience the infinite diversity of experience incarnation has to offer if you live in a safe little bubble? Everybody gets excited then, they want it ALL!! So here we are, we have it all. What are we doing with it? What can we do with it? Lately in my work with others there has been a few times where my 'clients' have been addressing the 'problem' of being too busy, too distracted or too upset by all that is going on to be present. The truth is there is no such thing. This life we are leading is made up of an infinite number of Nows. Those Nows are what make up our life. If being present for this very moment is put off it is another in a long line of postponed moments that eventually make up a life. Believe me, before we know it we can have postponed being present for our entire life and we find death stalking us (and there you go, back to the end of the line!). Everything that is messed up that is happening right now is caused by reactions, greed, fear and negativity. What if we all became present with our feelings, our reactions, our greed and our tendency to point the finger? What the heck am I talking about anyhow? Be present? Being present entails calling ourselves back into the present moment. Many of our thoughts and feelings are oriented toward the future or the past. Get back to Now. Be aware of what is extremely current. Go there through the door of awareness, become aware of textures, smells, sounds, sights, emotions, busyness and, yes, thoughts. When being present with emotions, I find it helpful to ask where it is in my body and to become aware of what the emotions feel like, aware of the energy of the emotion. This is important. Feelings rule us and they are simply sensations. I know, fear has been a big issue in my life, certain feelings can be quite overwhelming, but being present with whatever feeling comes up one eventually discovers that it is quite freeing to hang out with the very sensations that want to rule us.(Remember there are souls standing in line wondering what a moment of sadness, laughter, anger, beauty, depression, joy, and yes, fear, feels like). Just be a witnessing presence, because that, in fact, is what you are. In doing this we embrace the richness and diversity of this human experience. All of it. Experience it all! Now, once you practice this for a while and get the drift of it and you want to get really yummy with life, step one more step back and become the awareness that is aware of this human who is aware. This takes one to a sense of Oneness, Peace, Stillness, Love and Happiness. You see, we have been going about it all wrong. We think our happiness is around the corner, up ahead, when in fact it is in dropping back into ourselves as we abide the present moment that we attain the very things that drive us.
A beautiful video with Non-Duality teacher Rupert Spira.
|
Archives
September 2023
|