AWARENESS Connecting with Your Mind, Emotions, Body and Spirit

Awareness is your mind connecting to you…all of you!

     Awareness is simply your mind, that is your intellect, connecting to you.  Awareness is your mind connecting to all of you, but most importantly, connecting to “who you Are” in your Essence.  Awareness is the mind connecting to what you experience “within” yourself.  Awareness is the process of becoming connected in the present moment with your thoughts, your emotions, your inner sensations, your body and your Spirit.  Awareness is the process of becoming conscious.  The most profound and life changing level of awareness is the mind awakening to the Reality of Being.

Awareness is consciousness.  Awareness enables you to become conscious of your thoughts, emotions, inner sensations, beliefs, attitudes, body and Spirit.  Becoming conscious is not some mysterious experience for only mystic sages or the enlightened few.  Consciousness is for every human being.  It is simply the process of getting to know your “self”.  It is the process of coming to know “who You Are” and to really know that “You…Are”.  You Are, You Exist…with all your thoughts, all your emotions and all your body…and that is good, and that is okay.  No judgment!  You are Spirit with all your thoughts, emotions and body.  The deepest level of consciousness is connection to the Reality of Being…to “I Am”.

     Awareness calls for an attitude of openness, gentleness, humility, acceptance and no judgment.  Awareness requires attentiveness.  Awareness requires attentiveness to thoughts, emotions, the body and to Being or Spirit Realities.  Attentiveness is the inner act of standing back in gentle stillness in the present moment and shifting your attention to what you think, what you feel, what you sense in your body or to who you Are in your Essence.  You simply observe your thoughts, emotions, body or Spirit Realities.  Being present to thoughts, emotions, body or Spirit leads to awareness.  With practice you will be able to identify thoughts, learn the language of your emotions, sense the wisdom of your body and connect to your Spirit.  With awareness of thoughts, emotions, body and Spirit Realities it is possible to acknowledge.  It is possible to acknowledge you…all of “You”.  To acknowledge is to own and to admit “what is”.

Become present to your thoughts, emotions and body.  Acknowledge…your thoughts…your emotions…and your body…with an attitude of Acceptance, Gentleness, Openness, Humility, Truth, Love and no judgment.  Acknowledge these Realities of Being.  Through this in depth awareness and acknowledgement it is possible to accept.  It is possible to make a choice to accept.  Accept all of you.  Through awareness you can acknowledge resistance to accept all of you.  With acceptance you can even accept that “you are not able to accept”.  Acceptance enables you to accept resistance and confusion.

Acceptance confounds the intellect.  Acceptance is from your Spirit.  It is fluid, peaceful, open, gentle, kind, understanding, non-judgmental and non-violent.  Acceptance enables us to be at ease within.  Acceptance creates harmony.  Acceptance heals alienation, division and isolation.  Acceptance allows unity and integration “within”.  Acceptance leads to the state of being “at one” with self and with others.  Through acceptance you can acknowledge “what is”.  With acceptance you turn away from self judgment and self rejection.  Self judgment and self rejection are functions of the intellect and ego.

Acceptance is not resignation.  Acceptance is the letting go of denial.  Acceptance is the shift from self rejection and self judgment to Being.  Acceptance is from your Spirit.  Shift from your intellect or ego to your Spirit.  Shift from self rejection and self judgment to Acceptance.  You can do this even with the echoes of self rejection and self judgment vibrating in your feelings.

Awareness is the realization of “what is”.  Acknowledgment is the process of allowing the realization of “what is”.  Acknowledgment is the act of admitting “what is”.  Acknowledgment is the act of owning “what is”.  Acceptance is the realization, recognition and owning of “what is” with no judgment.  Acceptance is the sense of “what is…is”.  Acceptance is about acceptance of self with no judgment.  Acceptance has to do with no judgment of self and no judgment of thoughts, emotions, inner sensations, body and Spirit Realities.  Acceptance is from Being.  Acceptance is about accepting the person, that is, accepting “you” and accepting the reality of what is.

Acceptance nurtures and enables “in depth awareness” of unconscious thoughts, emotions, inner sensations, beliefs and attitudes.  Acceptance provides safety and security.  Acceptance holds the person in Love.  There is no rejection, hatred, judgment, condemnation, negation, criticism, shaming, threats or punishment in Acceptance.  Acceptance is the Presence of Love.  Only through Acceptance and Openness can you become aware of inner wounds.  Through Acceptance you begin to heal.  Acceptance is from Being.  Acceptance provides an environment “within”, which enables in depth awareness.  Acceptance and acknowledgment are closely linked inner processes.  As you acknowledge, you at the same time begin to accept.

Be aware that lovelessness programming can deeply engrain unconscious attitudes and mechanisms of self rejection, self judgment, self condemnation and self hate.  Be patient, gentle, kind and understanding with yourself.  Persevere.  Awareness will give you the keys to free yourself from this prison.  The process takes time.  The process involves shifting from these destructive mechanisms to the way of the Spirit, which is the way of Reality…the way of Love.  Anything else is based in lies and lovelessness.

To summarize, the process of awareness can be teased apart into four separate realities.  These four realities nurture and pave the way to connection and communion with self.  The four realities are connected to Being.  The four realities are:

• Attentiveness and Presence
• Awareness or Realization
• Acknowledgement
• Acceptance

To summarize, attentiveness leads to awareness.  Attentiveness involves your mind connecting to your Presence.  The mind becomes still and silent.  The mind enters stillness and silence in the present moment.  The mind, in the Presence of Being, is then attentive to either thoughts, emotions, inner sensations, the body or Spirit Realities.  The mind is open to what is sensed within.  The mind is open to “what is” within.  Attentiveness to thoughts, emotions, body or Spirit leads to awareness of thoughts, emotions, body or Spirit.  Emotions and inner sensations are sensed in the body.  With awareness you can acknowledge.  Through awareness and acknowledgement acceptance is possible.

At the actual point of awareness the mind can tear apart from Being and begin to judge, hate, reject and/or condemn the awareness and/or self; because of the awareness.  This is the ego part of the mind trying to protect itself.  The ego is the part of the mind that is unable to face core lies and inner pain.  The mind created the ego in the void of lovelessness.  The lack of “awareness of” and “connection to” Being together with inner pain and untruth create this void…this sense of nothingness within.  The ego part of the intellect does not want to confront this inner void.  Inner pain, untruth and lack of connection to Being are the result of lovelessness.  Without “awareness of” and “connection to” Being, the mind creates the ego as a way to survive.  What else can the mind do?  The mind on its own cannot face non-Being, that is, non-existence.  More accurately, the mind on its own cannot face the “lie” of non-Being.

The mind through the ego can judge, reject, hate and condemn the newly realized thoughts, emotions, inner sensations, body insights and/or Spirit Realities.  Most often the mind rejects, judges, hates and/or condemns “self” for having such thoughts, emotions, inner sensations, body insights, attitudes and beliefs.  Lovelessness; especially when experienced as a child; programs the mind to reject, judge, hate and/or condemn.  Lovelessness creates deep-seated core lies and inner pain which fuel both the mind’s imaginings and destructive mechanisms.

Without judging self the mind can turn away from lovelessness programming; that is, turn away from the ego, and stay connected to Being…connected to Acceptance, Understanding, Gentleness, Compassion, Openness, Tolerance, Patience and Love.  Connected to Being, any new awareness can be received and embraced without judgment, hate, rejection and condemnation of self or the awareness.  In fact, connected to Being, any new awareness can be received and embraced in the face of all the learned, automatic and psychologically entrenched judgment, hate, rejection and condemnation.  “Be with” a new awareness whatever it may be.  At the same time be with the engrained self rejection and self judgment.  Remember…You Are.  You Exist.

With awareness and an attitude of no judgment the choice to accept all of you is a natural progression because the intellect comes to realize and to see that “what is…Is”.  The intellect sees the wisdom of connecting to Acceptance.  There is Peace, Autonomy, Oneness and Harmony in Acceptance.  There is a moment when the intellect stops the inner fighting, denial, suppression and repression.  There is a moment when the intellect sees it can survive the awareness and that reality does not mean death or non-existence.  There is no longer denial or suppression of what is.  Let go of denying and suppressing thoughts and emotions.  Acceptance allows and embraces all inner reactions.  You do not even have to like “what is”.  “I might not like ‘what is’ but that is how it is.”  In other words, acceptance can accept non-acceptance.  You can accept your non-acceptance.  Acceptance is the peace giving process of surrendering to and admitting that “what is…Is”.

Acceptance does not mean “acting out” of thoughts and emotions.  Do not “act out” of any new awareness concerning thoughts and emotions in a way that is harmful to yourself or others.  Allow, receive and embrace the awareness of your thoughts and emotions but, as intense and tumultuous as emotions can be, do not act out of the emotions in ways that are hurtful or destructive to others or their property.  As sure as emotions come, emotions will also fade away.

With awareness, “acceptance” becomes a choice.  In the present moment accept you are Spirit and accept your emotions, your thoughts and your body.  Accept You.  Once you learn to accept yourself you can accept others.  It is okay not to be perfect.  It is okay to make mistakes.  It is okay to be confused.  With Acceptance come Peace, Connection, Communion, Harmony and Oneness within yourself and with all.

You and Your Behaviour

The goal of the work of awareness is to begin living your life to the full by both healing inner wounds and connecting to Being.  During this work of healing inner wounds, intense thoughts and emotions can surface.  This fact makes it critically important to discuss behavior.  Inner wounds are core lies and inner pain, either alone or in combination.

Destructive and violent behavior is driven by unconscious core lies and unconscious inner pain.  The core lies and inner pain have a variety of causes, all of which are discovered through awareness.  The most common causes of core lies and inner pain are lovelessness, abuse, major losses, untruth and traumatic life events; especially when experienced as a child.  The core lies create intense and powerful emotions.  The inner pain in itself is an intense and powerful emotion.  These types of emotions are often repressed resulting in surface emotions like anger, rage and fear.  Even these surface emotions can be repressed or stuffed creating feelings of anxiety, sadness, numbness, flatness and depression.  These unconscious emotions still drive and fuel behavior.  Sadly, without awareness, intense emotions like rage, fear and depression can lead to destructive, addictive and violent behaviors damaging people, families and relationships.

Until getting to the stage of healing, behavior must be managed.  This is especially the case if powerful emotions begin to surface.  Do not behave or act in a way that hurts yourself, others or property.  This is the number one guideline when managing your behavior and doing the work of awareness and healing.  Leave the situation before you act out of intense emotions in a violent or destructive way.

Acceptance and Destructive Behaviour

Growth is possible through awareness, acknowledgment and acceptance.  You are not able to make a choice without these three steps.  This leads to the subject of destructive or hurtful behavior.  You do not need to accept your destructive behavior but that does not mean you do not accept “you”.  You do need to accept the reality of your behavior or the reality of the pattern of your behavior, even destructive behaviour.  Acknowledgement and acceptance are closely interwoven.  You acknowledge and accept your destructive behavior without self judgment or self rejection.  This does not mean you condone such behavior in the sense of letting yourself repeat these behaviours.  You can judge and reject destructive behavior but do not judge and reject you.  Become aware of destructive behavior and stop destructive behavior by managing this behavior.  Learn to manage destructive behavior.  To heal, use these behaviours to become aware of the inner forces and inner mechanisms driving these same destructive behaviours.

Destructive behaviours are usually triggered by external events.  How does this happen?  It happens because external events trigger powerful emotions associated with inner wounds.  The natural tendancy is to act out of these powerful and intense emotions.  Turn away from destructive behaviours and shift your focus inward to what you experience, feel or sense within.  Work with these inner forces; to heal inner pain and uncover core lies and self destructive inner mechanisms.  Shift your attention inwards.  Work with your feelings.  Work with your emotions and inner sensations.  Be attentive to these inner vibrations.  Become open and vulnerable to what is happening within you.  Let yourself be affected by your emotions and inner sensations.

To summarize, your behavior is not who you Are.  Your behavior is not your thoughts, emotions, body or Being.  Behaviour is an action.  Behaviour is often a symptom.  Acceptance is not about condoning destructive behavior, abuse, untruth and lovelessness.  You can accept everything sensed “within”.  It is important to acknowledge and accept everything sensed within.  This does not mean you “act on” or “act out” everything sensed “within”.  Also, this does not mean you condone everything sensed within.  “You” are always acceptable.  The person is always acceptable.  All your thoughts, all your emotions, all of your body and your Being are acceptable.  It is the person’s behavior that is not always acceptable.  Do not behave or act in a way that hurts yourself, others or property.  This is a simple guide to use as you become aware of new thoughts, beliefs, memories, emotions and inner sensations.  You can choose whether or not to act out of thoughts and emotions once you realize the difference between “processing” your thoughts and emotions and “acting out” of your thoughts and emotions.  Without this awareness learn to manage your behavior so as not to hurt yourself, others or relationships.

It is important to acknowledge “what is”.  Do not jump over the truth of…“what is”.  Why do I say this?  Because most often, you cannot heal what you do not acknowledge.  Having said that, awareness of Being is very profound and powerful.  Awareness of Being is the power that heals mind, body and emotions.  “Being” does not follow rules set up by the intellect.

Acceptance and Core Lies

Acceptance of self does not mean acceptance of believed core lies in the sense that a believed core lie is okay.  Core lies are not okay.  You are okay.  You, believing the lie because of lack of awareness, are okay.  But the lie is not okay.  The lie is damaging.  ‘I am bad’, ‘I am not good enough’, ‘I am not important’, ‘I am nothing’, ‘I am no good’, ‘I am of no worth’, ‘I do not exist’ and ‘I am not’ are examples of core lies.  You need to accept and acknowledge that you believe the lie.  If you do not, the lie will stay repressed or hidden in the unconscious and continue to deny you your life.  If you could “see” the lie and “see” the Truth, you would choose the Truth.  You would automatically believe the Truth because the Truth is the deepest part of you.  Core lies are not okay.  Core lies are destructive.  The person is acceptable.  You are acceptable.  The person believing core lies because of lack of awareness is acceptable.  Work at becoming aware of core lies you believe.  Awareness weakens the core lie’s hold on you.  At the same time nurture connection to Being.  Being is Reality and Truth.  Remember, you believe core lies because that is what you have been taught to believe.

Further, acceptance means if for now you cannot see the Truth, then that is how it is.  What is…is.  Be so very gentle and patient with yourself at times like this.  Core lies are a result of suffering lovelessness and abuse.  Lovelessness and abuse engrain core lies.  As a child you needed Love, Connection and Presence; not lovelessness, alienation and abuse.  The core lie is destructive and will affect thoughts, emotions and behavior.  The lie is evil.  The person believing the lie is not evil.  The lie has nothing to do with the identity and deep reality of the person.  The core lie is just that…a lie.  The person is Good.  The person is Sacred.  You are Good.  You are Sacred.  The person, believing the core lie, is trapped because of both the lack of awareness of the lie and, more importantly, the lack of awareness of Self…the lack of awareness of Love, Presence and Truth within.

Core lies and inner pain can fuel destructive behavior.  Behaviour can be judged using the phrase “what is the most loving thing to do” as a guide post.  Often we miss the mark of living by this guide.  Destructive behaviour is a symptom of the deeper problem of believed core lies and inner pain.  The person is not the problem.  There needs to be separation between the person and the person’s behavior.  The Spirit of the person is good.  Core lies, inner pain, lack of connection to Being and mental dysfunction are at the root of destructive behavior.  It is vitally important to learn to manage destructive behavior if you do not know how to safely process intense emotions.  Seek out a trusted person to receive you and lead you through this process.

Once we lose sight of the “person” all is lost.  Believed core lies resulting from abuse and lovelessness are persistent.  It takes time to purge these lies from the body, mind and emotions.  Awareness of the core lie and at the same time awareness of Truth and Love within are the answer to dispelling inner core lies.

This is the fine line of separation.  Separation is the process of separating Truth from untruth.  Separation leads to inner clarity.  As discussed, a person’s behavior may be “bad”.  The person’s actions may be “bad”.  The person is not bad.  What is bad and evil are the unconscious core lies.  The person may be lost but the person is good.  To move forward it is necessary to accept the reality of such behavior.  Separate the person from the behavior.  Separate yourself from your behavior.

Destructive actions and behaviors, fuelled by attitudes and beliefs based in lies and lovelessness, have consequences; whether a person is aware or not.  Believed core lies are destructive and can result in destructive behavior.   These facts make awareness and healing so very important.  Let go of self rejection, self hate, self condemnation and self judgment.  Be patient with your “self”.  Be Compassionate, Understanding, Gentle, Accepting and Tolerant with yourself.  You are Good.  You are important.  You Are.  Do not judge yourself.

While on the subject of separation it is important to discuss feelings.  Feelings are often judged as bad.  Feelings of anger, rage, resentment, hatred, depression, pain, wanting to be destructive or even wanting to be violent are often judged as bad or wrong.  More importantly, the person having these feelings can mistakenly be judged as bad or wrong.  “Feelings are not bad or wrong.  The person having the feelings is not bad or wrong or defective or a failure, no matter what the feelings are”.  “Acting out” in ways that are destructive or violent towards self, others or property; because of what you think or feel; is what can be judged as bad and wrong.  Judging feelings or the person for having the feelings leads to denying and repressing feelings.  Denying and repressing feelings leads to “acting out” of feelings.  Feelings need to be recognized, acknowledged, accepted and then “processed” safely and constructively.  The intellect is an expert in jumping over, ignoring, denying and repressing feelings.  Slow your thinking.  Become still.  Shift your attention to within.  Become attentive to your feelings.

Awareness is not only the process of hearing and understanding unconscious thoughts, beliefs, attitudes, emotions and inner sensations.  Awareness is also the process which leads to connection to Being.  With awareness, acknowledgement and acceptance; it is possible to know, to see, to hear and to experience…I Am…You Are…and Love Is.  Awareness is the light of your inner world.  It is a gift and the key to Reality…to Truth…to Love…to Being.  Knowing Reality is consciousness.  Consciousness is an amazing journey.  It can be the longest journey you will ever take and yet it is only a few inches long!  It is the journey within.  It is the journey from your head to your heart and then to your Center…to your Being.  Your heart is the awareness of and connection to Being.  Guard your heart.  It is your heart that can be broken.  Being can never be broken.

Awareness is simple but takes time, practice, patience and some work.  The pay off or reward is inner Clarity, coming to know yourself, coming to see yourself, coming to understand yourself, coming to accept yourself, Autonomy, Inner Space, Connection, Communion, Peace, Oneness, Healing, Freedom, Truth, Wholeness and Harmony.  Awareness leads to freedom from untruth, core lies, alienation, isolation, division, self judgment, self rejection, self hate and self condemnation.  It is an exciting process and it has everything to do with You.  It is about your Life and what makes you tick!  Once you begin this journey it is difficult to turn back.  So, how do you do it?  Let’s get on with that…with becoming aware of your thoughts, emotions, body and Spirit.