Bring Awareness
It’s important to bring awareness into whatever arises in the present moment. Negative feelings arise, and “negative” is not a moral judgment; it just means it doesn’t feel good.
The difference between being aware and being unaware of the negative feelings is that when there’s a lack of awareness, then you get completely taken over by those negative feelings. There’s no inner space anymore, and you think, say, and do things that are controlled by that negative energy inside you.
Often it happens that people get taken over by that temporarily, and then when they become a little bit more conscious again, they say, “Oh, how could I have done that?” or, “How could I have said that?”
So the difference is, when the same thing happens again and you become irritated, you become angry, whatever it is—reactive in some way—sad or depressed, there’s an awareness that this is happening to you. You have the observing presence in the background that’s more who you are rather than the emotion. You are still there as it happens.
Let’s say you’re in a long line at the supermarket or the airport. The line isn’t moving and you’re getting irritated and angry. If you’re present with it, you may realize it’s not the line that’s causing you to be angry. It’s your mind, whatever your mind is telling you. And the emotions are your body’s reactions to your thoughts about the situation. That’s a very important realization, because now an element of choice comes in. You see that it just makes your life unpleasant to be feeling those things—the irritation and anger serve no purpose. It doesn’t change the situation. And now you have the choice of letting go of those thoughts, to experiment to see what the situation is like when you don’t attach these thoughts to it. You’re in the same situation, totally free of negativity.
ON LIVING LIFE
1. “Life will give you whatever experience is most helpful for the evolution of your consciousness. How do you know this is the experience you need? Because this is the experience you are having at the moment.”
2. “The primary cause of unhappiness is never the situation but thought about it. Be aware of the thoughts you are thinking. Separate them from the situation, which is always neutral. It is as it is.”
3. “Most humans are never fully present in the now, because unconsciously they believe that the next moment must be more important than this one. But then you miss your whole life, which is never not now.”
4. “Life is the dancer and you are the dance.”
5. “Acknowledging the good that you already have in your life is the foundation for all abundance.”
