Living an Awakened Life

We learn to walk one step at a time. We learn to talk one word at a time. We learn to read, to write, to drive a car, to operate a computer - in fact, we learn almost everything in life - one day and one small action at a time. So why is it that when we find ourselves at a place in our lives where we feel unfulfilled, unhappy, unloved and totally unable to cope, we cannot bring ourselves to try to turn our life around with a few small, easy steps? Why, instead, do we come up with excuses like these?
- "I don't believe in God - that wouldn't work for me"
- "I'm too busy for all that meditating - and nothing happens when I try it, anyway"
- "I've read other books on self-improvement (or enlightenment, or spirituality, or ... you fill in the blank). I just don't see how anyone could live or act that way in the real world!"

Sound familiar? Have you said or thought any of those phrases? Did you feel just as miserable after you said them as before? If you are answering 'Yes", then please read the next sentence very carefully. There is absolutely nothing true or relevant about any of those statements, and you can begin - this minute! - to take small steps that will fill your life with a profound peace and sense of joy.

Do you believe me? If not, then open your mind, open your heart, and reread that sentence a few more times until you begin to hear that tiny little voice of hope whispering to you of the possibilities. "Really?" "I can?" "Today?" "Well, maybe it might be possible..." There! When you reach that point, you are ready to take these small steps toward changing your life into an Awakened Life.

The first step is silence. Turn off the radio when you are driving. Leave the headphones at home when you go for a jog. Spend some time each day with the phone off, the television off, the stereo off. Just sit quietly. At first, you may have to occupy your hands with a sketchpad, a journal, or maybe even a crochet hook and yarn. That's ok. In fact, it would be a very good idea to keep a journal close by during these times, because you are eventually going to begin to hear something you haven't heard in a very long while, if ever. You are going to begin to hear your inner voice. You are going to begin to trust that voice, and you are going to begin to bring it more and more into your consciousness as you go about your daily routine. Soon, it will become a stronger part of you, and you will not have to be sitting in silence to hear it - it will be with you throughout the day. Listen to that voice and act upon its urgings - that is the voice of your intuition. We have all had flashes of intuition. We have marveled at our ability to know something was going to happen before it did. We have had moments when we have felt a sense of complete calm and incredible peace because we are absolutely certain that we have made the right choice about something. That ability is there within us all the time. We can know the joy of having our lives blessed by the power of our own intuition on an almost constant basis, rather than in occasional brief episodes. But first, we must turn off the noise of the world and listen for that tiny voice within.

The second step is simplicity. If you have begun to take the first step, then you are already working on the second step. Your life has already become more simplified just by your act of substituting a period of silence each day for your normal routine. As you continue to follow your intuition, you will find yourself taking steps toward simplicity in many other areas of your life. You may find that you no longer have that urge - that need - to always be doing something. Maybe it was shopping, or going to parties, or talking on the phone or having dinner with friends. None of these activities are bad or wrong. But you may discover that you were doing them not because you really wanted to, but because, "subconsciously," you felt the need to keep busy all the time, or you needed the validation you were receiving in the form of the attention paid to you by your friends. That is now becoming less and less the case. You are finding joy in the simple things in life. Perhaps you are finding yourself eating simpler, healthier foods or developing a taste for water over other drinks of choice. Your large group of so-called friends is growing smaller. You begin spending more time with the one or two people who truly are your friends. It suddenly seems like a good time to clean out your closets. Material things are no longer as important to you as they once were. You are finding joy in the things that truly are important.

The third step is selflessness. Again, this step will seem to come to you effortlessly and naturally as you continue to practice steps 1 and 2. As your mind quiets and your life becomes more simple, you will find yourself focusing more on relationships than on things. You will think more about others than about yourself. You will begin to feel a sense of joy about life and an unconditional love toward others. In the beginning, the acts toward others which we do in the name of selflessness may not actually be totally selfless, because there will still be that lingering need to do things for others in order to receive something in return - appreciation, validation of our feelings of self-worth, etc. But practice makes perfect and as our awakening deepens, we will find ourselves doing for others with no thoughts whatsoever of ourselves. This is true selflessness.

The fourth step is the search for more steps. As we become more and more in touch with that inner force within us, and we begin to feel a connectedness with everyone and everything around us, the exquisite joy that we will begin to feel will lead us further and further into the study of living an Awakened Life. But now, you may find that the study is almost effortless. Gone are those excuses we once told ourselves about not having enough time or interest in the "topic" to pursue it. It is no longer a topic; it is now a way of life. Having begun to practice Awakened Living through these small steps, you have prepared yourself to receive insights through books and teachers that you might once have overlooked. Concepts that you once considered to be "too much trouble", such as meditation, now come more naturally. As the ancient saying goes, "When the student is ready, the teacher will appear." The steps are small, but the knowledge and rewards you will gain will change your life in ways you cannot even imagine.

Begin today!