AWAKENING
"My goal is to facilitate the growth of one million awake, aware, adult human beings.”—Steven Barnes
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Big talk. But then, I believe we should have big, meaty, inspiring goals.
To accomplish this one, of course, one would have to be that "awake, aware, adult" creature oneself. Working backwards, the first question is "what is an adult?" The soundest definition might be cone who is responsible for their emotions, actions, and security. Responsible for their reactions, and finances.
AWARE might well be to be engaged in a feedback loop with reality, such that we see our actions and the RE-actions of reality. This is central to success in anything: imagine how difficult it would be to learn to shoot an arrow if you couldn't see the target, or lied to yourself about where your arrow struck!
"Awake" is difficult. To move from the dreaming fantasy state. To see life as it is, not as we wish it to be. To not be limited by the social consensus. To prefer reality, even if that reality is painful.
Every morning we have an opportunity to do this, simply by taking conscious control of our emergence from the dreaming state.
I suggest that you create a conscious ritual of awakening, and then tweak and tune it over time until you have a process that is as close to perfect as you can reach.
Here is mine, presented for consideration, NOT as a perfect model, but a work in progress.
I awaken slowly, a bit reluctant to leave the dream world behind. Why? Because the space between dreaming and wakefulness is called the "hypnogogic state" in which we can shape our fantasies and imaginings almost like lucid dreaming. In this state, I might envision a role model and ask him to speak to me. Or imagine the end state of a cherished goal, and imagine the path there, and what I might do today to accomplish it. But this is always a state of curiosity and joy.
I like to feel what's happening inside my body. I'll lay there, literally lay there and just kind of feel whether or not my body feels hot and heavy, or does it feel cool and light. I kinda like to lay there until my body is feeling cool and light and actually until it begins to wiggle all its own, and then my, my fingers will start kind of wiggling and I'll start.
Moving from the gross to the subtle: follow my breathing (is it deep in my belly?), then feel my heartbeat (can I feel it in my fingers and toes? My limbs? My core?) and then imagine that I can feel nerve impulses in my brain. Just as in FIREDANCE TAI CHI, learning to detect subtle rhythms and time your actions to them (begin the form on an inhalation is just the most basic form of this) helps you to "detect the rhythm" of life itself. Surfing the wave of your emotions and intuitive sensations.
I will return to the question: what do I wish to accomplish today? And WHY? Never get caught up in the "to do" lists until you clarify the WHY to your WHAT. What is the main intention? Why do you want it?
The answer almost always relates to my family. Especially my son, my wife, my daughter, my sister, niece and nephew, my friends, my students. What is it that I wanna do for YOU today? These things all factor in. They're all part of the same wholeness. But if I need to know what I'm going to be doing on a given day and. The next step is to know why I want to do it.
Most people get caught up in their to-do lists. Their to-do lists are generally the how's, You know, this is how I get this particular result. But if you focus on the "what", what exactly is it you're trying to accomplish, and then why, you are tapping into the fuel that keeps you going.
Say you want to go to Disneyland.
The why is because it's gonna be fun. I'm gonna have fun with my family. We're going to get mouse ears and we're gonna go on the Matterhorn or whatever it is that you say to yourself that represents the why, the emotional juice behind what you want to do. The rest of it is the how. I need a car, I need a map, I need money, I need this, I need that.
I need to make a reservation. Boy, there were certainly no reservations when I was younger, you just showed up and bought a book of tickets. Sigh.
Anyway, don't get caught up in the "hows", that to-do list. Instead, step back and ask yourself, what is it you are doing? What is it you're trying to get to? Where are you going? What is your major goal in terms of your body, in terms of your career, in terms of your familial relationships and your relationship with yourself?
Be sure you have clarity in all three aspects. I promise you that your fear will hide in the sector you choose not to examine. Even if you want only minimal fitness (which takes about an hour a week) you need to be conscious, and the more conscious you are, the easier it is to get the result you want in minimum time.
At some point I will discover I am awake, and sit up. In seated position, I will refine the meditation. Breathing, then heartbeat, then the light in my head. From the gross to the subtle. I look for a tiny improvement. 1% improvement over yesterday. A little more clarity, a little more "light" between my ears or up my spine or in my heart. The visualizations shift and change, but I love them all.
I might let my role models talk to me. This morning, I dreamed I was at a conclave of Tai Chi masters, and they were approving of my push hands, but reminded me to PLAY, to have fun with it. I realized I'd forgotten to smile, and the greatest Tai Chi master I have direct confirmation of was Chin Man Ching…and he smiled a LOT, especially when playing push hands. A fine role model. One suspects he was very, very connected to his "child" self, which would explain his level of mastery: it is the child who learns most quickly, because we learn best and fastest when we PLAY.
And that put a smile on my face. Which awakened "Little Stevie" my child self, who was delighted to see me. I held him for a while, and then he said it was time for me to enter the world. I brought myself out of that state by wiggling my fingers and toes until my body spontaneously woke up…and rolled up out of bed, put my feet on the floor in my beautiful new bedroom (thank youy, Tananarive!) and stood up. How was my balance? I could feel the muscles on the insides of my legs a little out of balance. Stood tall, "head held as if by a string from above" and fel the minute imbalances. A single "B" sun salutation fixed that.
And I was ready for the day. Whatever happened, I knew what I needed to accomplish, why, and the steps I could take today to do it, aiming at being "done by one" with all critical business so that I could spend the rest of the day playing with my writing.
The most important thing today? That might well be setting up the first of something I've wanted to do for you for some time: a monthly FREE Zoom mastermind. If you want to be a part of this group, just sign up AT WWW.STEVENBARNESLIST.COM
