Welcome.
This is part one of the 30 days of conscious living.
And I'm excited to take a few moments and dive into these topics to explore how they can point us in a direction of being more present.
And a natural consequence of being more present and seeing what's actually happening is that we get to connect with more love,
Compassion,
And freedom.
And so I'm honored to go with you on this journey.
And for those who are unfamiliar with my flavor of sharing,
It's wise to know that I'm not in any hurry,
No rush.
I really like to take my time and allow the silence to speak as much as my words.
And so I invite you to go slow with me as we look at these things.
What's most important is not so much remembering what is said,
But it's to allow yourself to recognize something right now.
And what I mean by this is that so often we can try and protect the future by memorizing things or trying to take something with us rather than just seeing sincerely where it lands right now.
And so whatever comes out of my mouth,
The intent isn't for you to protect the future or to end up at a particular destination.
But the point is to allow yourself to open in this moment and simply see what is discovered.
And the beauty about this is that everyone is going to discover something different.
Everyone is going to see what they are here to see.
And so we can kind of open ourselves to that mystery without any expectation.
We can truly just be here and hang out.
And in that space,
We'll simply discover whatever we're going to discover.
The title of this session is called Awake to Life.
And I feel like it's really going to set a tone for this whole journey.
And with each session,
There's going to be a quote and I'll start with that quote.
There is a profound difference between the life we think is happening and the life that is here and now.
Are you awake to life?
Or are you asleep and lost in a life you only imagine to be happening?
And just sit with that for a second.
Throughout the history of spirituality,
And we can also maybe even say the history of human beings.
There's been this invitation to recognize something profound.
And that spiritual invitation is to recognize the profound difference between the life that really is and the life we imagine to be happening.
And the beauty of this gift is the more that we can recognize and connect with the life that is actually happening,
Then the more you will connect with love,
Compassion,
And freedom.
Don't you recognize that the purpose of the spiritual invitation in some way or another is to bring an end to suffering?
It is to allow ourselves to connect and recognize with something that brings about more wellness.
And whatever the spiritual tradition or path,
In some way or another,
The invitation is to see what's true.
The truth will set you free.
And another way of saying,
Seeing what's true,
Is to say,
Wake up to what is true.
See life as it really is.
See the truth of life.
See the truth of yourself.
See the truth of other people.
And in the recognition of this,
It'll set you free from the traditional resistance that we live with as human beings.
And so to make this very,
Very simple,
I want us to recognize that in the most primary way,
We're invited to discern.
Again,
Not tomorrow,
Not five years from now,
But right now.
Discern the difference between the life that happens in the mind and the life that's actually here right now.
And we can recognize this maybe throughout our day.
In fact,
Just before I jumped on here,
I went for a walk out in nature.
And it's such a fascinating thing to recognize that as I'm walking through the forest,
I can watch myself be consumed by thoughts,
Maybe thinking about this video that's coming up,
Thinking about yesterday,
Thinking about next year.
And then the more present I become,
Which is to let go of all of those stories,
And to come back to the present moment,
It's like the forest becomes more alive.
I start to hear the water rushing down the creek.
I start to hear the sound of the insects and animals crawling around.
And then also what I notice,
The more I become present,
Is that there is a release or falling away of tension.
And this tension,
Of course,
Is just resistance.
And I invite us to recognize this.
When we look at the human difficulty,
Can we see that it's a difficulty of resistance?
And this is super basic and super simple.
But just notice this.
It's an issue of resistance,
Tension,
Where we don't want something to happen,
Where we do want something to happen,
Where we're trying to get there,
Where we're trying really hard to not go there.
It's resistance.
Now here's the thing.
Are you resisting life,
Or are you resisting what's happening in the imagination?
You see,
As we live life,
We can live a life that's entirely made up of thinking.
Where we think that what we are experiencing is actually happening,
Not realizing that what's actually happening is we are thinking that our thinking is happening.
Just notice that.
This is the unconsciousness,
Where we are living a dream while thinking that dream is reality.
In the beauty in our availability to see beyond it,
Is that it affords us the opportunity to connect with what we actually crave,
Which is a presence that ultimately allows you to be here and now and experience more love,
Compassion,
And freedom.
And you know,
Quite directly,
And I'm sure we'll get into this over time,
Love,
Compassion,
And freedom,
Or whatever it is that you sofully crave,
It's some reflection of that.
But it's so intimately tied with presence.
It's so intimately tied to being here in this moment without resistance,
Without pushing or pulling.
And the only reason we're going to be pushing and pulling is because we are thinking something's happening that's not actually happening.
And we have to go slow here and not rush to any conclusions because the mind is a master storyteller.
It can convince you so abruptly that something is happening that's not actually happening.
That's why I think this part one opportunity of asking,
Are we awake to life,
Is such a great starting point to be willing to just discern the difference.
And do you see the difference between looking in your mental content as opposed to just being present and available?
Just notice that.
Because if you go looking in the mind's content,
You're looking in the dream.
You're looking at what you turn it into with your imagination.
The story you tell about it.
And the story isn't actually happening.
The story is what we put on top of it.
And so do you recognize that to really connect with what's happening,
To connect with life,
We have to be willing to lay down the mind's content.
Is this not meditation?
And maybe what I'm speaking to here is like a living meditation.
Am I seeing life?
Or am I seeing my mind's content?
Am I experiencing life?
Or am I experiencing what I think is happening?
Now as you go about your life,
Watch how much you're lost in the dream.
And please do it without judgment.
It is like a dream inside of a dream.
You get super lost.
Part of the conditioning is that we think the problem is in life.
We think the problem is in other people.
We think the problem is us.
Not recognizing that the problem is a belief in a problem.
And that's okay.
This is awakening in its most sincere spiritual invitation.
Beyond all the bells and whistles,
Beyond any social wokeness,
Awakening and simply waking up from the dream of what we think is happening and seeing what's really happening.
Beyond the mind.
It's not waking up to a different story.
It's seeing what's happening beyond all the story.
And story can be beautiful.
It can be playful.
It can serve a purpose.
But the invitation here is to wake up and see life.
And then go play with story.
Thanks for joining me.
