Be That Which is Looking

(Image 7D Sun by David Dreamwalker Diamondheart)

Notice the end of seeking is the beginning if Being, the continual surrender of 'me-ness' so spirit can work through the ego. Notice what it is to turn attention around, turning it on itself. Awareness can be what it is and has infinite capacity to modify itself into an infinite variety of states of awareness. This spectrum is the gamut. We keep looking for true self (what we really are) as a state of "expanded consciousness." Awareness in its natural state is with everyone every moment. Its so ordinary, the mind does't usually see it. That which is real, is always available to All. We no longer make a big deal of it. Only as we turn attention to awareness, does it dawn there is nothing behind it. Awareness exists behind the perceivable, the thinkable. To look within does not imply we look for something amazing to happen, for states of consciousness to change. Looking within is not like looking outside "for something." It means to go to the root and the root is the looking itself. To go within is to turn into that which is looking.

5 Tips for Living Whole-heartedly

For many, stress and trauma may seem a regular part of life. The question is, at what point do we stop allowing this to hijack our energy and focus? And how do we go about healing from emotional trauma and shift to living whole-heartedly? Consdier these 5 Tips:

1. Accept, Forgive and Be Willing to Heal

The first step to any healing or recovery is acceptance. Denial is a common coping mehanism of emotional trauma. Watch what happens as you choose to empower yourself by reframing the experience in love. Rather than allowing ego to echo that something is wrong with you, choose to see the expeirence in a cathartic way. Responses to experiences are simply pointers and do not define you. You are not your emotions, experiences, mindor body. You are the soul. You are not what you do or do not do, not your personality, not your behaviour. You are pure love.  Love yourself enough to go through the healing process because you deserve the happiness. Trauma may be part of the journey to truth.  It hasn’t taken anything away, you are a whole and complete.

2. Community & Support

Regaining your sense of safety is key to transmuting energy from emotional trauma and living wholeheartedly. This step may look different for everyone, depending on what makes you feel safe and what your idea of stability is. Creating community and a support system can include friends, family, professional help, even a pet.  Being open to vunerability brings strength.  Allow those closest to you to support you and be there for you while you heal. Take the time to ground connect with nature. 

Nature has a very balanced and high frequency vibration that calms the mind and warm the heart. The purity, simplicity, and divinity of nature are very grounding and great for meditation and mind clearing. Society can be very overwhelming by presenting triggers and even just general stress into your life. It’s always helpful to step away from it and take some time to tap into the therapeutic properties of nature.

Even in urban living remember that you, yourself are nature.  You can tap into the divine within you through meditation and you can experience the same soothing and grounding feeling. Allow yourself to reset with calm surroundings. See the beauty in the nature and people around you and begin to trust the universe again.

3. Let it go

The power of releasing feelings is oftenunderestimated! Healing from trauma doesn’t mean brushing it under the rug. To truly heal, it’s important to face it, and let yourself experience all of the emotions it brings up for you. Purge yourself of the negativity, and only leave what’s productive and positive. Cry out your sadness, scream out any shame, punch out your anger at a boxing class, and face and accept your fear.

Purify yourself by letting out all the emotional responses that you have pent up. Sometimes many of the long-term responses you have to trauma are actually a result of holding in your emotions more so than the trauma itself. Exercise and physical activities are an incredibly therapeutic way to heal from trauma for this very reason. They’re a great outlet for letting out emotions and channeling negative ones into something positive. 

Now, the goal isn’t to relive the trauma, but it most certainly is also not to escape the uncomfortable emotions that it brings up. The goal is a healthy middle ground that allows you to heal and process the trauma. Aside from cleansing the pent up emotions the trauma has caused, it’s also important to grieve what you may have lost as a result of the trauma, whether it’s a certain quality of life, a person/being/pet in the case of death, even just peace of mind and sleep. Be patient with yourself.

4. Process and Empower

After you’ve allowed yourself to let out your pent up emotions surrounding the trauma, it’s time to look at the trauma itself from a balanced and logical place to pick it apart and strip it down to something you aren’t attached to anymore. For this tip it’s very important to have a therapist that you trust and feel comfortable with in order to help you analyze the trauma and the how’s, why’s, and what now’s of it.

A professional can help you put the trauma into context and process it in a healthy and constructive manner, allowing you to then empower yourself by detaching from it. The goal here is to see the trauma as something that doesn’t control you and your emotions anymore, to realize that you are bigger and stronger than the difficult experiences. To be able to confidently declare that your trauma is just something that happened to you, it is not a part of you and it does not define you.

Other activities that can help with this tip are meditation and reflection, as well as creative activities. These things help you step back and look at what happened and what it means for you, and even how to move forward from it. Creative outlets and activities are also good for Tip 3.

This step is all about taking the power back from your trauma by moving on from it, and realizing that your trauma is something outside and separate from you, a moment in time, it’s not part of you or who you are. You can leave your trauma in the past and move on to brighter days because it’s not attached to you anymore!

5. Reconnect, Balance, and Live Wholeheartedly

This last tip is all about how to maintain a healthy and wholehearted lifestyle after the bulk of the trauma healing process is done. While it’s important to do this throughout the process, an important factor in moving on and not being pulled back into the darkness of past trauma is having a stable, balanced, and structured lifestyle that includes healthy habits, a healthy support system and social life, and a healthy work-life balance.

When all the major areas of your life are doing well and in check, you enjoy a sense of stability and safety that make it easier to deal with things like triggers. Trauma often causes intense feelings of danger and instability, which is why a balanced and stable lifestyle and environment is so important when it comes to trauma healing. When you lead a healthy lifestyle — eating well, exercising, taking care of your body — your mind is clear and your emotions are more stable to handle reminders of past trauma and future trauma, even.

When you have a strong foundation, it’s hard for the storms in life to knock you down. When you’re living a physically and psychologically unhealthy life, you’re living life on the edge, and any little thing can push you over into chaos and spiral into depression. When you’re living a balanced and healthy life where your mind, body, emotions, finances, and relationships are all stable, you can handle and weather just about any storm.

Staying in touch with nature and maintaining a meditation practice are great ways to keep your mind and emotions healthy, while exercising and eating well are great for the body. Meditation helps quiet down your thoughts and calm the chatter of your mind, so that you can connect with your true self and experience wisdom, acceptance, and appreciation for life.

Emotional trauma gets stored in your body, and the body also benefits from meditation practice and the calm feeling of being in a thoughtless, meditative state. Exercising and activities such as yoga not only release endorphins, which make you feel safe and stable, but yoga aids in releasing the trauma stored in your body.

It’s also always important to continue therapy sessions and to maintain your strong support system to talk to whenever you are struggling with trauma or anything else. Shifting from self-isolation to connection is key as relationships are one of the most important pillars of happiness and balanced living.

Come into Remembrance

(Visionary Art by JR Slattum--threyda.com)

Notice if we have some difficulty, we are used to saying how can we make our mind different, what do we do about it? How do we get beyond whatever holds us back? How do we/I let go? Every stage is appropriate for the stage we are at. What occurs when we no longer ask what to do with or about it? When we no longer attempt to manage conditioned self, stop seeing a destructive pattern to fix, then the projector behind it reveals itself. Every point of view is a level of consciousness complete at every moment. Consider going to the root. This is the point where we see beyond obstacles to surmount or situations to 'work through'. This is not for everybody. The way you are used to dealing with yourself, whatever is causing difficulty, can shift to seeing from a point that is truly objective. When we are no longer affected emotionally, then the root arises. Focus shifts to what it is that feels what you feel? Things get quiet quickly. It brings us into the lived experience of being ourself, shows us immediately "I really do not know." The more you look inside to find yourself, the more you find a false self. There is nothing wrong with this. Its simply not primary. It leads us exactly where we wish to go- the Void, mystery, the Nothing. Look into the mystery behind all your ideas and aspirations. Behind all the drama, stories, and personality, is the Nothing. Everything is about avoiding the Nothing that is ever-present. To fall into the Nothing behind the mask called 'you/ me, self/other' is to discover what we really are. It is not what we imagine it to be. It does not end up being the Nothing we assume, but much more than that. It reveals itself beyond concepts. Everything in the mind is distracting us from the Nothing; that perceived past (memories), future, anxiety or whatever seems to happen in between. All of this invites attention for lessons or whatever we assume is gain. The concept of "who am I" takes shape as you dive into infinite waters. It spontaneous awakens. Zen teacher Shunryu Suzuki echoes, 'the Most Important Thing is to find out the Most Important Thing.' Until you find out what is The Most Important Thing to/for you (not what someone says should be the most important), you have not yet touched your true power, ignited the inner spark or fire. Tune in, see how it moves. Watch and experience what you really are relate and function in the human experience. Be aware how you operate, every cell, organ and aspect of being. How does true nature see your conditioning. Life is self-authenticating. The Truth is Self-evident. A true teacher keeps you on track and points the way for you to find things out for yourself, step by step. Come into remembrance.

Honour the Self

Notice facing and honouring yourself is the most direct route to piercing through the veil of illusion. Everything is pointing toward Reality, though its not Reality itself. Would it not be curious if someone could give you who you really are? Everybody has given us what is on load-our personalities. When the body is given back, we realize who we are but we can also realize this before. To be a seeker is to imagine a gap between "here" and there. To maturely integrate a spiritual teaching requires you apply it, not simply believe, write about or work toward it. This knowing and being activates cosmic alchemy. Tune into what makes you feel most alive. The ultimate solution to a problem is to realize you do not really have any problem. This is the Truth of who we are. To awaken to this is to be truly satisfied. Its a spontaneous happening. It happens when the well-intentioned self-will takes a vacation. Beautiful things in life simply happen without effort. Falling asleep is effortless. Falling in Love is beyond you. Falling into you and the Truth cannot be forced. It is effortless. Let go of all that is self-centred.

Embrace the whole journey

Notice each of us is on a journey. We have opportunities to join our own dots about who we are and why we are here. Based on our own allowing and resistance, direct experience leads us to grow aware of more innate wisdom. What we read in books or hear from others, can lead us to reflect but does not itself activate our alchemical process. No shortcuts exist to what can only be fully activated within based on our choices and shifts in consciousness. Being aware of the divine radiance in our midst mirrors what we may not yet recognize in ourselves. As the internal compass comes alive, one shifts to tune into True self and sees the unified view in the ether before it manifests in 3-D.