Awareness, Love and Compassion are who we are at our essence.
Our expressions of love and compassion bring about healing, forgiveness and reconciliation within ourselves and with one another.
Love and compassion are expressions of the eternal’s presence in our lives and in the lives of each one of us. When we’re not being one with our eternal essence, we experience alienation from ourselves and one another. On the other hand, when we’re at one with our eternal essence, we experience a sense of completion and joy.
Adyashanti has written, in True Meditation,
Awareness is that part of us that perceives, observes and witnesses our thoughts, feelings, behaviours and our bodies. It can be quite transformative to realize that you are not what you thought you were, that you are not your feelings, that you are not your beliefs, that you are not your personality, that you are not your ego. You are something other than that, something that resides on the inside, at the innermost core of your being. For the moment we are calling that something awareness itself.
What is it that alienates us from ourselves? Thoughts that involve memories of what has caused us pain, such as “I’m not good enough, “I’m bad,” “I cause others pain,” or “I’m ugly.” These thoughts alienate us from ourselves and bring us into seasons of suffering.
Adyashanti also writes, in The Way of Liberation, “Suffering occurs when we believe in a thought that is at odds with what is, what was or what will be. When we believe in thoughts that are lies about who we are, we again become alienated from the eternal’s essence within us, with who we really are, and we suffer.”
The value of pausing
Our need is to return to connecting with the truth about ourselves that lives within each of us. How can we do this? We need to learn to Pause. We need to learn to stop, look and listen as we travel through our daily activities. We need to stop what we’re doing and look at what we’re thinking, what we’re feeling and what our inner conversations with ourselves are all about.
Ideally, I do this several times a day, in the morning, the afternoon and the evening. The more I do it, the more it becomes an innate part of me. It’s amazing to bring my awareness to my inner conversation with myself. If I’m in an angry place or have hurt feelings about something in my relational life, connecting with my thoughts and feelings allows me to leave my past or my preparation for some future unpleasant event and be in the here and now. All too often, we spend our time, as American author Carlos Castaneda writes, “rehashing the past or rehearsing for the future.”
People report that simply by this pausing for a moment, several times each day, they’re able to get back in touch with and return to themselves. We can change the course of our perceptions about what is, who we are and where we are in the moment.
As soon as we acknowledge that we’re not in the present moment, we return to the present moment. It’s that simple. By returning to the present moment, we become reconnected with our essence and we return to being at one with who we are.
Credit for the concept and practice of ‘pausing’ needs to be given to psychologist Tara Brach, Ph.D., who has pioneered this practice.
Wishing you the warmest wishes, as you travel your ‘path with heart.’
"СВЯЗАННОЕ ЧТЕНИЕ" POEMS BY JAMES FARWELL: 10 haiku about appreciating life in the present moment»
изображение: Serkan Göktay
