Waking Up

Any time can be the time you truly wake up. While this is a spiritual quest, it does not - in the first instance - require many of the activities most of us have come to associate with a typical spiritual practice. Rather, it requires recognition that every moment of your life is filled with the promise of an enriched spirituality. If you want to wake up badly enough - or if you've recognized that you've tried many different avenues to reach a better place inside of you and nothing has worked - here are some of the things you will start doing right now (with specific examples following further below):

• Be diligent in your practice of becoming continually aware.
• For the above to work, be diligent in becoming mindful.
• Being aware and mindful will allow you to become the one who is in charge of your thoughts, feelings, actions, and reactions, as opposed to your circumstances dictating all of these.
• Look at yourself before blaming others, remembering that much of what causes strong emotions generally has some kind of root inside yourself - akin to what Carl Gustav Jung called the shadow, i.e., all those bits of yourself that have not yet seen the light of your understanding (being aware and mindful is the key). Remember that your ego is not your best friend.
• Choose your reactions to anyone and anything with great care (being aware and mindful is the key).
• Be diligent in your practice of being kinder, more loving, and compassionate every day.

Surely you have read or heard of much of the above before, especially if you have been reading my monthly articles (subscribe at the link) that I have been disseminating since 2004 and my blog posts since 2007. Most authors and teachers who write about these subjects refer to them in one fashion or another.

But let's examine some very specific things - using the most mundane examples - that you can explore and begin to do right now as you move in your quest to truly wake up:

• You've just been passed by another car on a very dangerous road in such a way that you had to veer to the shoulder in order to avoid a crash. As you observe yourself going through this, how do you choose to react in your thoughts and feelings? What do you choose to learn from this situation about hidden bits of yourself as opposed to merely blaming the other?
• One of your colleagues has undermined you in front of the boss. As you observe yourself going through this, how do you choose to react in the first instance inside of yourself - long before you decide how to address the issue with your colleague and your boss? What do you choose to learn from this situation about hidden bits of yourself as opposed to merely blaming the other?
• You are at a dinner party with your partner and notice him/her flirting (or appearing to flirt). As you observe yourself going through this, how do you react inside yourself? What self-dialogue do you have? How do you speak to your partner later? What do you choose to learn from this situation about hidden bits of yourself as opposed to merely blaming the other?
• Your doctor has just given you a frightening diagnosis. As you observe yourself going through this, how do you react inside yourself? What self-dialogue do you have? How do you take care of yourself? What do you choose to learn from this situation about hidden bits of yourself as opposed to merely blaming the circumstances?
• A good friend has blown you off. You were meant to meet for lunch and at the last minute gave you a feeble excuse. It's not the first time. You are angry. You are sad. You are disappointed. But: as you observe yourself going through this, how do you react inside yourself? What self-dialogue do you have? What do you choose to learn from this situation about hidden bits of yourself as opposed to merely blaming the other?
• Your salary is tight and this morning your hot water tank gave its last sigh. You need a new one and you don't have the money. Your credit cards are maxed out. You feel angry and impotent, and above all, you feel life is very unfair. As you observe yourself going through this, how do you react inside yourself? How do you take care of yourself? What do you choose to learn from this situation about hidden bits of yourself as opposed to merely blaming the circumstances?
• You are working on a project close to your heart. Not only have you not yet succeeded, but you run into one failure after another. As you observe yourself going through this, how do you react inside yourself? What self-dialogue do you have? How do you take care of yourself? What do you choose to learn from this situation about hidden bits of yourself as opposed to merely blaming the situation?
• One of your children (small or adult) has just had a major setback. You are in pain for him/her and are suffering. You wish to alleviate his/her difficulty. You want to take it on your own shoulders. As you observe yourself going through this, how do you react inside yourself? What self-dialogue do you have? How do you take care of yourself? What do you choose to learn from this situation about hidden bits of yourself as opposed to merely blaming the situation?
• You know you are absolutely right in that argument you are having. As a matter of fact, you can prove it. But no matter what you do, you aren't able to sway the person with whom you are speaking. And so you battle on, trying to convince them. Finally you get righteously angry. But then you catch yourself. You remember that much of what is going on has to do with you. Why is it so important that you are shown to be right? How much of your ego is involved in this transaction? And therefore you check how you are reacting, you correct your self-dialogue, and you begin to free yourself from the need to be right.

Such situations are frequently dealt with by most of us in ways that are neither aware nor mindful. We don't choose our reactions; we simply react blindly. In so doing, we lose precious opportunities that life offers us in the guise of such struggles, not only to grow, and to understand ourselves better psychologically and emotionally, but to move forward in our spiritual path because such awareness of the self, and such using of those opportunities is a important and precious part of what it means to live a spiritual life and to wake up.

Any time can be the time you truly wake up. Start by being aware and mindful and then apply it to absolutely everything that happens to you. You choose.

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Also visit my book website: www.gabriellakortsch.com where you may download excerpts or read quotations from any of my books. My latest book Emotional Unavailability & Neediness: Two Sides of the Same Coin is available globally on Amazon in print & Kindle. You can also obtain it (or any of my other books) via Barnes & Noble.

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