Awakenings

Isn’t it marvelous we have awakenings?

Awakenings to what it is.

Awakenings to why it is.

Awakenings to who it is.

Awakenings to where it is.

Awakenings to when it is.

When Archimedes got into a bath-tub, and the water overflowed, and he realized he could use this principle to tell if the king’s crown was adulterated with metals other than gold, it was an awakening.

When Newton observed an apple fall from a tree, leading him to think about the nature of gravitation, it was an awakening.

When 16 year old Einstein imagined chasing after a beam of light, which came back to him again and again, helping him formulate his theory of relativity, it was an awakening.

We are meant to have awakenings.

Awakenings help us overcome our problems.

Awakenings help us break our shackles.

Awakenings help us shake the dust of our heels.

They change our patterns.

Move us into new realms.

Liberate us from stale thoughts and routines.

Answers are just an awakening away.

Freedom is just an awakening away.

Peace is just an awakening away.

Solace is just an awakening away.

What can bring about an awakening?

A puzzle can bring about an awakening.

A challenge can bring about an awakening.

A humbling can bring about an awakening.

A rude shock can bring about an awakening.

A spiritual, moral, physical, social, or financial crisis can bring about an awakening.

A profound loss can bring about an awakening.

It’s always darkest before the dawn.

An awakening is often preceded by the darkest of darknesses.

Remorse, pain, emptiness, fear, guilt, hopelessness, are all rich natural resources for an awakening.

Whether we are in deep misery before an awakening, or just plain unconscious, when we have an awakening, life as we have known it before, ends.

We are never the same after.

Awakenings are full of light.

Bright, restoring, healing, conscious light.

To fight off an awakening, is to deny ourselves the rich gifts of an awakening.

Imagine if St. Augustine had not heeded the voice that was the beginning of his awakening.

An awakening can be prompted by a word, a sound, an idea, an experience, a conversation.

Awakenings will involve our thoughts, feelings and our sensations. They are never just thoughts. They are a physical and mental experience.

Our hearts quicken, the blood in our veins pump faster, the hairs on our hand stand on end.

They are “ahas”, and “I got its”.

There is no uncertainty about an awakening.

Every awakening is a moment of complete clarity. You know what you should do. You couldn't be more sure.

The Awakening Muse is shy and introverted, and often speaks only in whispers. She usually meets people only one-on-one.

No surprise we often have an awakening, when we are alone with our thoughts, on a sleepless night.

So if you are wrestling with something, go to bed tonight, and quiet your thoughts. Invite the Awakening Muse to whisper the answers to you.

There is so much to be awakened to in our lives.

We just haven't been quiet enough to hear it yet.

As always, thanks for reading, and have a great day and week….M……a Pearl Seeker like you.  Thanks to Ajay for his compliments on Sangeeta Patel’s post, Into the Light, and thanks to the rest of you, for your likes, pins, shares, tweets, and votes….much appreciated.

Related Posts:

Awakening to a new view of parenting

Awakening to a new way of being

Awakening to a more creative way of dealing with problems

Awakening to a saner way of investing

Awakening to a new way of dealing with relationship problems

Awakening to the value of a pause

Awakening to a new sense of purpose

Into The Light

In response to my last post, my friend Sangeeta Patel sent me this beautiful piece she said she was inspired to write, and which I am honored to publish, along with a picture she sent to go with it……

Into The Light

by Sangeeta Patel

Losing a significant person in one's life changes one.

Compound that loss with couple more and you are filled with regret.

You can push it away from your mind, move on, or acknowledge and deal with the pain.

It is easy to acknowledge the loss, the numbness, the vacuum. But how do you deal with the pain, the regret and the remorse?

I exiled myself into my room, to feel, to grieve, to cry, to remember, to think, at the same time, battle blame, anger and disbelief. It could be said that for a long period of time, I lived in my head. It was like the rest of me did not exist. I registered nothing else, the things people around me were saying seemed to come out of a tunnel so far away. It was remote things about needing help and medication, or a holiday, and other such preposterous things. 

I tried to reach for memories but they seemed fragmented at best, sketchy... I did not even have the luxury of memories to hold onto. Sometimes as I fell asleep in exhaustion, I would have such vivid dreams that would haunt me , and I clung onto this gift and lay motionless flitting back and forth between dreams and agitated consciousness.

Through all this cyclical thinking, it became clear that I was not trying to overcome the loss, but to be able to let go of the inexorable losses that I would face in the future, with joy and gratitude. Being able to let go because there are no regrets, no remorse, no self-pity, just happiness that I had the gift of time to savour.

So while I was in that deserted island of my mind, I realized that I let so many unnecessary things, possessions, procrastination, pointless relationships shackle me. And as I purged my soul and my life of all these decrepit beliefs and attachments, I felt cleansed and unburdened. I realized I did not need to dwell on anything insignificant, be it material, people, ideas, outlooks, or other’s warped perspectives. They were all like the mirage of an oasis.

Like a gardener, I weeded, I pruned, I sowed, I nurtured. And I reaped the magical inner landscape.

My perspective to life did a 360 degree. I had been looking at the world through my lens in the wrong angle, shift it and the focus is sharp. 

To simplify my life and live in the moment, making everything in every moment matter, every interaction kind and meaningful, infused me with a sense of finally feeling free. I feel new, alive, authentic, and on a high. The smile that tugs at my mouth acknowledges who I really am, and my purpose in life.

As I wake up each morning I feel like the diver on a springboard, stepping on her toes, arms outstretched, as if to embrace life, mind free, feeling just joy, exhilarating joy.

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Thank you Sangeeta for sharing this heartfelt post, which I can relate to, as I'm sure, many readers will too. Looking forward to more from your pen, as you make new discoveries about life and yourself....Minoo