Are you there?

Yes, we are here.

As you know, our last conversation went long and there was a great deal more that you and I wanted to discuss, so here we are with part two. Let’s continue with our next topic and that’s awareness and growth.

AWARENESS AND GROWTH

Throughout our discussions over the past year and a half, you have often stressed the importance of awareness, especially self-awareness, as one of the cornerstones of the work that we’re doing together. You have recommended using resources like meditation and mindfulness to increase our awareness of what we’re thinking and what we’re feeling, because our thoughts and feelings indicate the extent of our alignment with the energy of Source. To be honest, I don’t think I’ve paid nearly enough attention over the years to my own level of self-awareness, but I’m now starting to think that awareness is perhaps more of a tool than I realized, one that we can consciously use as a way of nurturing and facilitating our growth.

Indeed. Expanding your awareness of what is taking place on the inside – namely, your thoughts and feelings – is an essential part of your growth on this journey that you have undertaken. At the very least, self-awareness allows you to monitor and assess your choices, making it easier for you to alter those choices that no longer serve you. But often for humans, this type of internal awareness is difficult to achieve. For this reason, it is just as important to open your awareness to what is occurring on the outside, in the physical world around you, for what you are seeing and experiencing on the outside is nothing less than a true reflection of what you are thinking and feeling on the inside. These two elements, the internal and the external, are designed to work together to assist you in understanding what is actually going on beneath the surface of your life. For example, if you are uneasy, frustrated or confused about where you are in life, you need only look outside of yourself for the answer, as the outside naturally reflects, without alteration or refinement, all of the internal choices that you have made up to this point. Likewise, if an external experience seems to pop up out of nowhere, causing you to feel conflicted or distressed or overwhelmed, its source can always be found among the thoughts and feelings that you are generating on the inside. The vibrations of thought and feeling are essential parts of the creative process, so it only makes sense that whatever you are experiencing in the physical world has originated within. This is why awareness is so important. It allows you to understand where you stand on your journey in the physical world, and it helps you to make the choices that serve you best while stimulating your own spiritual growth, which is, after all, why you have come.

MEDITATION AND MINDFULNESS

Meditation and mindfulness have been a part of my spiritual practice for a very long time, but I have to admit that I have not always felt very successful at either one. Even after all these years, it’s still sometimes a struggle to focus my attention on something other than the incessant chatter in my head. And yet, strangely enough, I can’t imagine my life without meditative practice. It’s something that I do every morning, and even though I don’t always feel as if I’ve actually accomplished anything by meditating, I can always feel its affects later on during the course of my day. When I’m caught in a situation that requires patience, for example, or when I’m locked in a confrontation with someone, or when I start to feel overwhelmed by my own fear or anxiety, that’s when I notice the benefits of meditation. At those times, I find I’m now more adept at stabilizing my emotions, avoiding a downward spiral and allowing myself to find a quiet place within. Despite my lingering reservations about the effectiveness of meditation, I can’t deny that it’s been of great benefit to me.

The practice of meditation and its associate practice, mindfulness, are two of the most useful tools that are available to human persons for centering and aligning themselves with the energy of Source and with their own true nature. As such, they are essential to the remembrance of who you really are and why you have come. It is not so unusual for those who practice meditation to feel as if they are not accomplishing anything, for in reality, the practice of meditation is essentially about doing nothing, or at least very little. Focusing attention on your breath, which, in turn, quiets the mind. That is all it is. And because the practice is so simple, it often feels as if nothing is occurring. The same could be said of mindfulness practice, which is essentially a wakeful meditation, focusing on what is happening, what you are experiencing, as you move about in the present moment. Generally, mindfulness practice takes place outside of the peace and quiet of meditative surroundings, so it often requires a bit more skill and practice to master. Even so, at its core, mindfulness, like meditation, is a simple process. Its effectiveness requires only a firm commitment and a willingness to suspend the ever-present human desire for immediate results. If you can suspend this desire for a brief period each day, you will find, as with much of the work that you are doing, that the results are cumulative and eventually very satisfying.

STAYING PRESENT

Almost every spiritual teacher I’ve ever encountered has at one time or another stressed the importance of staying focused on the present moment. Louise Hay would always say, “The point of power is in the present moment.” Our friend Eckhart Tolle even wrote an entire book on the subject called “The Power of Now.” Each of these teachers, and many more like them, realize how important it is to stay present, to use tools like meditation and mindfulness to keep our attention on the only thing that really exists, and that’s the present moment. It’s certainly a challenge for most of us humans to accept the fact that the past and the present do not really exist. We spend so much of our time ruminating on the past or worrying about the future that we’re sure they must be real. They certainly seem real. But I know that it’s only by reminding ourselves over and over again that the past and the future do not exist that we can find the peace and stillness that comes with remaining aligned with the present moment.

As you have said, the present is all that there is. All that has ever been and all that will ever be. And as you say, it is certainly a challenge for the human mind to accept such a seemingly farfetched idea, since all human persons have lived through a past that certainly seemed very real at the time. And all of you have anticipated a future with hopes and dreams that have eventually come true, at least often enough to sustain a belief in the idea of the future. And yet, these concepts, the past and the future, are only that – concepts, ideas that are formed within your own mind and to which you cling most heartily, in part because you know no other way, having followed the example of those who have come before you, and in part because you have forgotten who you really are, that who you really are exists only in the present moment. And yet, with a bit of effort, using tools like meditation and mindfulness, you can learn to hold your focus on what is happening right in front of you and allow yourself to pivot back to the present whenever you find your mind wandering to either past mistakes or future concerns. With practice, your commitment to the present moment will gradually take hold within your consciousness and bring you, we guarantee, the most precious sense of comfort and relief that you have ever known.

STILLNESS AND INNER PEACE

It seems only natural to move from a discussion of mediation, mindfulness and the present moment to a discussion of the value of stillness and inner peace.

Each of these topics that we are discussing during our 100^th post celebration, indeed all of the topics that we have explored over the course of our conversations together, all lead back to the same place – remembering who you really are and why you have come. And each of these topics, from self-love to forgiveness to appreciation to staying focused on the present moment, all of these topics dovetail back and forth with the others and ultimately reflect the same idea – that you are a creature of light, a creature of love, one that has chosen to incarnate for a time on the physical plane and to use that time to express that which you are – unconditional love – through that which you are not – a vibrationally dense physical form. In addition, you have chosen to undergo this wonderous experiment under a veil of forgetfulness while abiding in a previously unfamiliar realm, a realm of contrast, of light and dark, of love and fear. And why have you done all of this? Why have you undertaken what we in non-physical consider perhaps the most courageous act in all the Universe? To grow, that is why. To grow. To expand. To facilitate the sharing of love, the extension of that which is Source energy, to places where it has never travelled before. And how do you make this possible? By remembering who you really are and why you have come. One of the ways in which you are able to accomplish this, in addition to all of the other tools that we have explored today, is to nurture yet another of your innate qualities, and that is the stillness and inner peace that lies at the very heart of who you really are. This is why we encourage you to use tools such as meditation and mindfulness to shift your attention to your own sense of peace, to use them to feel your way to those moments of stillness that permeate your existence, those moments of quiet and repose that live between your thoughts, that underly each and every experience that you create for yourself, and just allow the silence and the stillness to be. It is always there, the stillness and the peace, because it is an integral part of who you are. It awaits only your attention and recognition.

Well, I think we’ll stop there for today. Once again, it looks as if we’re not finished celebrating. My feeling is, and I think you all will agree, that there’s still more ground for us to cover, so let’s pick things up next time.

There is indeed much more for us to explore in our celebration together. Until next time then.

Thank you all.

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