HIGHER AWARENESS

Heal dualities

"Beware of the fury of the patient man."

-- John Dryden

Our minds perceive and give relative value - positive and negative - to the different sides of a duality. We usually shun the negative.

Its important to know that you cannot eliminate the negative by focusing exclusively on the positive. Energetically, both opposites must remain in balance. Increase one and its opposite will also increase. Try to be only positive and the negative within you will raise its ugly head.

We work with dualities by remembering that each is part of the whole. We must acknowledge and accept all aspects of life, because they all exist within us. And so, if we seek to be honest, we do so by acknowledging our potential to be dishonest. We can also bring in love and compassion when we catch ourselves acting out the negative.

Power arises out of integrating the positive and negatives within us. From the tension that exists between the two, we develop awareness and become more conscious and compassionate.

"Any fool can run towards the light. It takes a master with courage to turn and face the darkness and shine his own light there."

-- Leslie Fieger - author of the Delfin Knowledge System

Deeper communication

Once a human being has arrived on this earth, communication is the largest single factor determining what kinds of relationships he makes with others and what happens to him in the world about him."

-- Virginia Satir

How do you typically communicate? Is it through words, gestures, emotions, thoughts, desires, needs, truths, direct perception or intuition? Do you focus more on the other person or on yourself? Do you typically tell, ask or listen?

For a few days, set an intention to be aware of your communication styles and skills. After youve spent some time talking with someone, reflect on what your underlying motives were and what level of depth you reached. Write your insights in your journal. This exercise will help you become more aware and conscious of who you are and why you do what you do.

"We need people in our lives with whom we can be as open as possible. To have real conversation with people may seem like such a simple, obvious suggestion, but it involves courage and risk."

-- Thomas Moore

"You must speak straight so that your words may go as sunlight to our hearts."

-- Cochise

We can't escape

"Most of our obstacles would melt away if, instead of cowering before them, we should make up our minds to walk boldly through them."

-- Orison Swett Marden

We cant escape problems and negativity. Escaping just brings denial and suppression - we continue to carry the problem with us. Ironically, it is our lack of acceptance and resistance to the problem that creates the pain. Resistance builds up an energy wall or block that, if not discharged, gets suppressed into the body. These blocks identify places where we have not enough understanding or love.

For health, we must work through what we seek to avoid. How do we do this? We can love parts of ourselves that we dont like. We can seek the lessons we are being invited to learn through the problem. We can examine our beliefs and seek to see different perspectives and a bigger picture. As our perspectives grow, more of life makes sense and has meaning.

"The Lord is a good psychologist: he knows the way our minds run. Turmoil can be the Lord's way of tapping us on the shoulder and saying, 'Don't forget me.'"

-- Eknath Easwaran

Self talk is revealing

"If you wish to know the mind of a man, listen to his words."

-- Chinese Proverb

What passes over your lips each day?

Are your words typically negative, critical, gossiping, deceptive, illusory, justifying, blaming, manipulative and argumentative? Are they more uplifting, inspirational, positive, questioning, beautiful, loving, universal, truthful, accepting and supportive?

The throat is our center of ex-pression. Who we are sneaks out in our attitudes and in what we say.

"Handle them carefully, for words have more power than atom bombs."

-- Pearl Strachan Hurd

"The wise weigh their words on a scale with gold."

-- Bible

Open to awareness

"Mindfulness means moment-to-moment, non-judgmental awareness. It is cultivated by refining our capacity to pay attention, intentionally, in the present moment, and then sustaining that attention over time as best we can. In the process, we become more in touch with our life as it is unfolding."

-- Myla & Jon Kabat-Zinn

Why do we want to become more aware?

If we remain unaware, we:
- repeat the past,
- remain stuck in relationships,
- live superficial, literal and one dimensional lives,
- lack experiences of love and beauty, and
- have limited connection to others and the universe.

With awareness, we are fully involved with life. Awareness is sensing deeply and sensitively for what really is. To do this, we need to approach the present as totally new. When we can be open and attentive in each moment, we begin to free ourselves from the conditioning of the past and the suffering that it so often brings.

"If moment by moment you can keep your mind clear then nothing will confuse you."

-- Sheng Yen

Appreciation

"You can never get to peace and inner security without first acknowledging all of the good things in your life. If you're forever wanting and longing for more without first appreciating things the way they are, you'll stay in discord."

-- Doc Childre and Howard Martin

Develop an attitude of gratitude. We discover a sense of wholeness as we appreciate both the small and big things in our lives. And it really helps to remember to appreciate ourselves. Appreciation is more than just acceptance -- it's respect and admiration. Let go of criticism and self-abuse.

"Generally, appreciation means some blend of thankfulness, admiration, approval, and gratitude. In the financial world, something that appreciates grows in value. With the power tool of appreciation, you get the benefit of both perspectives: as you learn to be consistently thankful and approving, your life will grow in value."

-- Doc Childre and Howard Martin

The power of acceptance

"It is permissible to take life's blessings with both hands provided thou dost know thyself prepared in the opposite event to take them just as gladly. This applies to food and friends and kindred, to anything God gives and takes away... As long as God is satisfied do thou rest content. If he is pleased to want something else of thee, still rest content."

-- Meister Eckhart

Our life begins to change in magical ways when we open to the experience of life AS IT IS. With acceptance, we stop fighting what is happening. And this creates space, an opening for new relationships to unfold.

Explore unconditionally saying yes to the facts of life. Accept your past and where you are now. Unconditional acceptance is unconditional love and this is healing.

"Sometimes what seems like surrender isn't surrender at all. It's about what's going on in our hearts. About seeing clearly the way life is and accepting it and being true to it, whatever the pain, because the pain of not being true to it is far, far greater."

-- Nicholas Evans

Relieve the pressure cooker

"Even though you may want to move forward in your life, you may have one foot on the brakes. In order to be free, we must learn how to let go. Release the hurt. Release the fear. Refuse to entertain your old pain. The energy it takes to hang onto the past is holding you back from a new life."

-- Mary Manin Morrissey

Journaling is a great way to release and let go. To get things off your chest. Our minds are our own worst enemies. The same thoughts go round and round in the same old ways and keep us stuck.

If something bothers you, write about it. Get it out so you can see it from a different perspective. Let it out. Let it go.

Owning and healing your pressure cooker is an important step in claiming your power, building your esteem and making your stand.

"In truth, to attain to interior peace, one must be willing to pass through the contrary to peace. Such is the teaching of the Sages."

-- Swami Brahmanada