Observe any conflict your mind creates as you awaken or, on the other hand, any joy or exhilaration you may experience as you awaken.
By Patrick Kelly
Waking up, simply defined, means to become roused from sleep or from an inactive or tranquil state, such as lounging or daydreaming. Some refer to waking up as that moment in your life where you find true meaning for yourself or your perceived destiny. In terms of spirituality, it often points to the “self” transcending to higher levels of consciousness or the state of experiencing love and joy beyond the confines of the spoken language.
Others still refer to waking up as the different steps you achieve on the journey of enlightenment. Regarding enlightenment, as a process not a destination, which you move more deeply into as you apply the knowledge you acquire along the way. Waking up as the process that leads to total awareness or, for some, the ultimate state of conscious awareness. Presence.
The majority of us do not want to wake up. We are quite content in our slumber. Waking up can be hard, a struggle, an unpleasant wrestling match with that which we have come to believe and what we believe is truth. Waking up often means change. Change that challenges your beliefs, ideals and many of the fantasies that you have become comfortable with. Most of us don’t like changes. We are happy with the illusions our minds have settled with. Illusions created by our programming, conditioning, societal norms, etc.
They say the wise teacher will not challenge you to wake up, they will leave you in your sleep, knowing the knowledge they present and direction they point you in will lead you to great challenges and moments of suffering you have yet to endure. Our society does that, leaves them as they are, better they live in fantasy then try to struggle with the truth. This teacher chooses to take the risk. To tell you to wake up. Wake up from that mind-made self that has gotten you to where you are now. Whether it be a state of repetitive suffering or an ego-motivated existence. Wake up and find you are not the stream of thought, you are not the things you have been telling yourself. You can wake up to knowledge of your own glory, grace and divinity. To find for yourself, you are what you are looking for in the world. Everything you want and need, you already have: peace, love and joy. It is the nightmare of the thought stream that keeps you from experiencing the glory of life. You can wake.
A simple meditation: Meditation wakes you up. It separates you from the repetitive, conditioned workings of your mind and allows true, concise thinking and awareness to come to the forefront of your life. Try this here and there, when it comes to your mind, or not… Bring your attention to how you feel and what goes on in your mind as you wake from sleep or a relaxing moment. You could observe how it feels as you come out of a meditative state after some meditations. Observe any conflict your mind creates as you awaken or, on the other hand, any joy or exhilaration you may experience as you awaken. Consider how these feelings would apply or be similar to any joy or struggle you come across as you continue on your journey of enlightenment.
It’s a new day… your day. ••
For more on this topic and meditation practices, visit wakingupwithpatrick.com
