Awakening is About Becoming Intimate with Life
Awakening is about becoming intimate with life. It is discovering how to stay present on this constantly changing roller coaster ride we experience every day. When I first started awakening, I calligraphed a quote that is still on the wall in my bathroom: “Know and silently respect the perfection of everyone and everything in every situation, especially when it’s not at all apparent.” That is the key to awakening. Rather than trying to control life, we show up for it as it is and discover it is a benevolent and loving process, even with all the challenges.
This is not about being at the mercy of life. It is about being present enough to respond to a situation rather than react.
But this is not a quick process as the title of one of my main teacher’s books alludes to – a Gradual Awakening. But slowly and surely, as you clear the clouds of struggle in your head, you see that life is an intelligent and benevolent process, giving you the exact set of situations you need to finally wake up to life.
But when life is challenging, you can lose sight of these truths. I experienced a family heartbreak right before Christmas, and I was also dealing with intense pain around a cyst on my sciatic nerve, which, believe you me, is not much fun. But most importantly, I lost one of the dearest friends that I’ve ever known. He happened to live in a cat body, but what an aware being he was. He taught me about truly unconditional love, but more importantly, how to receive love, and He died a difficult death a couple of weeks ago.
There were definitely times when I lost sight of the fact that life is for me, but before Bodhi died, I had written this quote on a Post-it note: “Whatever comes is here to take you beyond yourself,” and stuck it on the desk in my office. What it is saying is that our challenges are here to help us see how we get caught in our minds, so we can unhook from the conditioned self that talks in our head all day long, which is addicted to struggling with life.
A week before Bodhi died, I was working on an art project on a big piece of paper in my bedroom. I put it down for a couple of days, and when I went back to work on it, there, right in the middle of my artwork, was the sticky note from my office, which is down the hall. And that piece of paper I was working on had never left my bedroom. I paused, I breathed, and I remembered that the only sane way to live life is to stay open to it all.
Then two days later, that note showed up on my living room floor, and I cannot tell you how it got there. And then a day later, it showed up on my bathroom floor. Life knew I needed to remember that resisting what is here only amplifies the struggle. Instead, when you ground and open your awareness, saying yes to whatever is here, you can respond to the situation rather than getting caught in reaction. Then, as the thoughts, feelings, and sensations that come with struggle more easily move through you, you can gather all the gifts that come with the challenges of your life.
Of course, resistance still comes, but I quickly ground myself in this moment, soften the tightening in my body and mind, and then open to whatever life is offering me. Because the truth is, whatever comes into your life is here to take you beyond your struggling self.
If this resonated with you, and you’d like to explore more of my work, then I invite you to listen to my podcast on Dreamvisions 7 Radio: Becoming Smart with Pain. It will air on Thursday, February 12th at 5am and 5pm HERE. After the 12th, it will be available on demand, along with every other podcast I’ve ever done HERE. Please feel free to explore my catalog and listen to topics that call to you.
Offerings:
DATE CHANGED Free Live Call with Mary: My Good Friend Cancer, Really???
Thank you again for a wonderful free night! I hope you enjoyed it as much as I did. We will be meeting on March 3rd, now March 17th at 5:30pm PT as usual. Here’s the topic:
Mary has been working for 6 years with a rare form of blood cancer. While it has had its challenges, it has also healed her in ways she couldn’t imagine before her diagnosis. Join her in exploring all of the gifts this cancer has brought into her life and how you can access all the gifts that come with the challenges of life.
As always, even if you can’t make it at that time, if you are registered, you will receive a recording of the event for you to listen to at your leisure. Registration is now open! Click HERE to learn more and register.
Thank you Mary. Your messages are always a gift. You are truly heaven sent and I am so grateful.
You’re very welcome. Be light!
One of the things I have discovered that I resist are my feelings. These may not be the simple experience of the sights and sounds of the present moment, but they are definitely happening and they are definitely a part of my experience. I try to push them away and my mind generates all kinds of content to ensure that I don’t have to feel them. So I struggle with my emotions. Overwhelmingly it is grief and loss. It’s a feeling that I’m going to die. I push that feeling away so hard, but lately I’ve changed my intent so that I can allow that feeling. I can accept that feeling. I can have that feeling and still ultimately be here, still experiencing the sights and the sounds of the moment. It’s uncomfortable, but not feeling it comes at the cost of rejecting life itself. I had come to believe that it was the outside world that was at fault, or maybe it was me. Something or someone was responsible for that feeling so I would fight it and fight them in whatever way I could. But now I see that this is just a part of life. Feeling sad is a part of life. Death is a part of life. I can’t resist these feelings. It doesn’t work. All I can do is allow them and slowly come to realise that hiding in my mind isn’t actually helping. And perhaps come to realise that I’ve been safe this whole time.
Thank you so much for sharing this. This is a beautiful realization and exactly what I’m talking about. Almost all of us are taught to fight our emotions when we are young but like you said, that only disconnects you. I hope you’re able to come to my next free night: My Good Friend Cancer, Really??? on (Now on March 17th), I really think that discussion will resonate with you and where you are in your journey. Thank you for your comment. Be Light!
If you need the link to register: https://maryomalley.com/my-good-friend-cancer-really/