Each moment holds incredible freedom of choice & creative potential, as long as we are the very energy of an alert, loving, spacious, open heart-mind. Can we be fully alive?
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| Fire juggler in front of the Basilica of the Sacre Coeur, Montmartre |
Showing posts with label alertness. Show all posts
Showing posts with label alertness. Show all posts
Sunday, 10 May 2015
#678 Each Moment is Brand New & Unique - Is Your Response?
Each moment presents an absolutely new, absolutely unique, never-to-be-repeated set of circumstances, to which we're asked to respond in an absolutely brand new unique open fashion. Can we be absolutely fresh, authentic & true to what is?
Each moment holds incredible freedom of choice & creative potential, as long as we are the very energy of an alert, loving, spacious, open heart-mind. Can we be fully alive?
Each moment holds incredible freedom of choice & creative potential, as long as we are the very energy of an alert, loving, spacious, open heart-mind. Can we be fully alive?
Tuesday, 28 January 2014
#482 Keeping Tabs on our State of Being - our Operating System
It's common to forget what we're doing or supposed to be doing. We start searching for topic "A" on the web, and hours later, we've meandered our way through the alphabet, and are deeply into topic "Z". Even when we're not on electronic gadgets, we're more often absent-minded than on track. But that's just a basic level of mindlessness.
An equally or perhaps even more important level of potential awareness is being in touch with our state of being. Knowing whether we're in a waking state, dream state, a state of deep, dreamless sleep, or perhaps in a state of pure awareness. In the latter, we can objectively observe or witness these changing states without identifying with them or with the self that appears in them.
Thompson E. "Waking, Dreaming, Being: New Light on the Self and Consciousness from Neuroscience, Meditation, and Philosophy." Columbia University Press, 2014. http://evanthompson.me/waking-dreaming-being/
From a very practical standpoint, being aware when we're afraid or angry, we can immediately realize that our performance is adversely being affected, whether we're studying, writing an exam, having a job interview, playing a sport, or even having a fist fight. Being afraid or angry is akin to running a computer on an obsolete operating system - it works poorly. We have to first be aware of this state of being to then be able to release it.
Regardless of what we're doing, again from studying to fighting, our performance - AND QUALITY OF LIFE - is optimized when we're genuinely relaxed, alert, aware, & open-hearted. And yes, a good fighter can & should be all of those even during a fight.
Both of these levels of awareness are desirable & possible to progressively enhance with training - MINDFULNESS PRACTICE - and "practice makes perfect."
An equally or perhaps even more important level of potential awareness is being in touch with our state of being. Knowing whether we're in a waking state, dream state, a state of deep, dreamless sleep, or perhaps in a state of pure awareness. In the latter, we can objectively observe or witness these changing states without identifying with them or with the self that appears in them.
Thompson E. "Waking, Dreaming, Being: New Light on the Self and Consciousness from Neuroscience, Meditation, and Philosophy." Columbia University Press, 2014. http://evanthompson.me/waking-dreaming-being/
From a very practical standpoint, being aware when we're afraid or angry, we can immediately realize that our performance is adversely being affected, whether we're studying, writing an exam, having a job interview, playing a sport, or even having a fist fight. Being afraid or angry is akin to running a computer on an obsolete operating system - it works poorly. We have to first be aware of this state of being to then be able to release it.
Regardless of what we're doing, again from studying to fighting, our performance - AND QUALITY OF LIFE - is optimized when we're genuinely relaxed, alert, aware, & open-hearted. And yes, a good fighter can & should be all of those even during a fight.
Both of these levels of awareness are desirable & possible to progressively enhance with training - MINDFULNESS PRACTICE - and "practice makes perfect."
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| Kreber www.dpreview.com |
Wednesday, 16 October 2013
#412 Failing to Embrace Reality, We Miss Out on Miracles
Most of us miss out on innumerable "ordinary miracles" each and every day. Why? Because we're in a self-absorbed trance, running from ghosts from our past, chasing after fantasies of future happiness, all the while ignoring the wonders of our one rare and precious life.
We miss truly seeing our loved ones changing in real time, we miss nature's endlessly mysterious beauty, we miss even our own physical presence on this precious earth - life passes us by, yet sadly, most of us have never really lived. The stories below illustrate our propensity for sleepwalking through life:
"New Yorkers who love a good bargain missed a golden opportunity Saturday, when the artist and provocateur Banksy, whose sly graffiti art adorns collectors' walls, opened a sidewalk kiosk in Central Park to sell his work for $60 apiece.
His first sale came hours after opening, when a woman bought two canvases for her children. She negotiated a 50 percent discount on the pieces ...
The offerings included small and large canvases, including a version of "Love Is in the Air." A limited edition of that work sold for $249,000 at auction this summer."
http://www.npr.org/blogs/thetwo-way/2013/10/14/234023611/collectible-art-at-street-prices-banksy-sells-pieces-for-60?utm_content=socialflow&utm_campaign=nprfacebook&utm_source=npr&utm_medium=facebook
In January 2007, virtuoso Joshua Bell performed incognito, on a violin worth millions of dollars, at a metro station in Washington DC. This was an experiment organized by the Washington Post. His performance received very little interest from passersby.
We miss truly seeing our loved ones changing in real time, we miss nature's endlessly mysterious beauty, we miss even our own physical presence on this precious earth - life passes us by, yet sadly, most of us have never really lived. The stories below illustrate our propensity for sleepwalking through life:
"New Yorkers who love a good bargain missed a golden opportunity Saturday, when the artist and provocateur Banksy, whose sly graffiti art adorns collectors' walls, opened a sidewalk kiosk in Central Park to sell his work for $60 apiece.
His first sale came hours after opening, when a woman bought two canvases for her children. She negotiated a 50 percent discount on the pieces ...
The offerings included small and large canvases, including a version of "Love Is in the Air." A limited edition of that work sold for $249,000 at auction this summer."
http://www.npr.org/blogs/thetwo-way/2013/10/14/234023611/collectible-art-at-street-prices-banksy-sells-pieces-for-60?utm_content=socialflow&utm_campaign=nprfacebook&utm_source=npr&utm_medium=facebook
In January 2007, virtuoso Joshua Bell performed incognito, on a violin worth millions of dollars, at a metro station in Washington DC. This was an experiment organized by the Washington Post. His performance received very little interest from passersby.
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