YOU ARE NOT WHAT HAPPENS TO YOU….
Apart from the essential duties of key workers, for many of us during lockdown, there has been a lot less happening ‘to us’. For months at a time we’ve been forced to retreat to the cocoons of our homes, peering out on a world that is happening without us playing much of a part in it. The process has certainly given us a different perspective. An ‘inside out’ one. Or, perhaps it is ‘outside in….?’
A central philosophy of my book ‘Wake Up - What Are Your Emotions Really Telling You?’ is that if we change the way we look at something, then what we look at changes. In many ways the current Corona virus, that has presented itself to us, has made us take a different perspective. An alternative viewpoint.
Whilst none of us particularly enjoys being ‘told’ how to see something, we nevertheless still have a choice in whether we regard this virus as something that is only ‘evil’ and must be defeated. Or, whether we offer it a degree of intelligence, and give it the respect that we would a wise teacher or experienced elder.
Exercising our personal power in how we choose to perceive something helps us to appreciate that, even though an outside event may momentarily seem ‘bigger’ than us, the realisation that we have a choice, builds our spiritual muscle. And it is this muscle that reminds us that we are not what happens to us. We are spiritual beings having a human experience. We are witnesses. Observers. Channels of experience….
In the chapter of my book entitled, ‘The Pursuit of Happiness’, I talk about the concept of being a witness to life’s events. Of not rigidly attaching ourselves to emotions that arise from the stimuli of external happenings. Of being aware that we are a consciousness that has the capability of observing life from any perspective. And that our potential as creators lies in that choice.
When we gift ourselves this insight we understand that, ultimately, nothing ever ‘good’ or ‘bad’ happens. There are just experiences, and our reactions to them. Events and our witnessing of them. Remain curious when you catch your mind attempting to trap you in a particular ‘negative’ mindset. Notice when your self-deprecating thoughts want to seed themselves in the limitless garden of your personal potential.
Practice identifying more with the gardener and less with the seeds. What do you currently give the most power to: the ‘seed’ thoughts or the greater awareness of the gardener? What types of seeds do you choose to water? Remaining curious of how the ego-mind runs when we stop observing it, helps to liberate ourselves to be the channels of the flow of life that we were designed to be. When we don’t overly identify with the anger and fear which block this flow, we forge meaning and strengthen our spiritual objectivity:
“Perhaps all the dragons in our lives are princesses who are only waiting to see us act, just once, with beauty and courage. ”
Whether our heart sings or is aching are we actually the song or the pain? Or are we the being inside that watches this emotional process unfold? Maintaining a ‘witness consciousness’ helps to nurture our spiritual aliveness. Our presence. And it is this very presence that we bring to experience that reminds us that we are, ultimately, indestructible and timeless. It is the eternal light within us that we can turn to, from the ‘outside in’, when all around appears to be in chaos. A chaos ‘dragon’ which seeks the courage of our clarifying light to reveal the hidden beauty of the inner princess. To create new opportunity in a world which now appears to be calling upon us to view it from a renewed perspective. And to treat it, and each other, with a different regard.
A fundamental question which helps to clarify our ability to maintain a witness consciousness is whether we fundamentally believe that the universe is a friendly place. Albert Einstein famously said that either we treat everything as if it were a miracle or nothing at all. I know that if I ally with the miraculous perspective, then I can more readily surrender to the intelligence in every earthly experience. I can heed the message rather than block my ears in fear. I can remain a more open channel that allows universal awareness to add to my being and feeds my very consciousness of it….
“To be conscious means not simply to be, but to be reported, known, to have awareness of one’s being added to that being.”
William James