DANCING STILLNESS
Sometimes you have to play a long time to be able to play like yourself.
MILES DAVIS
Imagine what our world would be like if more and more people began to awaken. What if awakening became available to us as a normal stage of development? It can happen, and I am hopeful it will.
In these contemporary times with so many choices, we can become distracted and end up living on the surface. I designed this book and these practices to encourage experiences of the simplest and deepest dimensions of our human experience in the midst of our daily life. We all have the potential to recognize awake awareness, which brings true peace of mind and an open heart. I do not know enough about evolution to say our species will evolve, but I can say that this stage of growth can be intentionally developed. Perhaps this evolution requires us to show up and consistently participate, the way we do when we learn to read and write. Awakening is one of the greatest gifts we can give to our fellow human beings and our planet.
Like changing any habit, awakening requires making your practice a priority. It takes as much unlearning as learning. Starting your day with a short sitting or a tuning-in practice of ten to twenty minutes is as important as eating breakfast. You can skip it, but your whole day will be different.
Learn the principles of glimpsing and abiding. Do one of the glimpse practices in the book that works best for you. Make it your own. Shift awareness, tune in, marinate, then open your eyes and begin to see and do from Being until you become reidentified. Then do a small glimpse to re-recognize. You can do this anywhere. I do it at home, on the subway, standing in line at a store, walking on the street, and while talking to someone. The inner silence, the dancing stillness, and the awareness are always available.
Ultimately, my hope is that by beginning with small glimpses, you will fall in love with love. When you fall in love with your own true nature and its natural qualities, you will want to return. Like romantic love, when you’re in love with your true self, you have a natural interest, motivation, and devotion. Then the next step is no longer seeking in the spiritual marketplace but making a commitment. The love you’ve been seeking is already who you are—so you’re already living together! You may have been worried that there was going to be a funeral for your ego, but instead it’s a wedding celebration.
Once you develop the habit of small glimpses, you’ll begin to see changes in your day-to-day life. You’ll discover a wellbeing and ease with things that used to upset you. You’ll also begin to recognize this awareness and basic goodness, as well as the pain of ignorance, within other people around you. When you’re grounded in the awareness that knows it cannot be harmed, you can respond, rather than react, to other people in pain.
Life is a teacher, and we can learn as much from mistakes, difficulties, and disappointments as successes. During this process, it’s important to recognize that doubt is a discriminating tool of thought. For instance: “I’m not sure that awareness is unhooked from thought. Let me try again.” We don’t want to suspend this kind of doubt, open-minded investigation, or curiosity. But we do want to be aware of another kind of doubt that can become an identity, often making people abandon their awakening process. This doubt whispers: “Everyone else seems to be getting this. I never will. I might as well not even try.” This sort of doubt is a sign you’re back in ego-identification or a “doubter” subpersonality. From open-hearted awareness, you begin to hear this doubter voice and respond with “Thanks for sharing.” Then all thoughts, feelings, and parts of yourself are welcomed.
The glimpse practices in this book will lead you to discover the natural love and wisdom within you. Kindness and awareness become your life. It’s easier to find forgiveness and let go of resentments toward others. If you take away nothing else, remember that in difficult situations the first step is to shift your level of mind. No advice can be given ahead of time about how you should act, there is no guarantee about how you will respond or what it will look like. Simply shift and you will know. If you have experienced great pain, awake awareness is the ultimate medicine. Your heart can heal. Change, loss, and death are always part of life. Even people like me who have experienced the tragic loss of loved ones can open to something bigger than the grip of grief.
You can choose any time of the day to step off the train of thought and into awake awareness. Once you’ve done this, you will naturally find new motivation, creativity, kindness, and passion for life. Please don’t wait until you’re stable in your awakening to enjoy the journey.
Here are a few things to do along the way: Do what you love. Do your ethical, psychological, and relational development, and continue to grow in all areas of your life. Walk in nature, dance, play with animals, be by the water, connect with friends, do something silly, laugh out loud. Sing in the shower. Go to a museum or a concert. Spend time with children and have tea with their invisible friends and stuffed animals. Perform a random act of kindness, like paying for someone’s coffee (do some of these kind acts boldly and others anonymously). Explore fun activities by yourself and enjoy your own company, but also take the initiative to invite a friend to join you in some fun. Shift into awake awareness. Accept whatever is happening as it is. Don’t react to reactivity. Don’t judge judgment. Just allow everything to move through.
Give someone a compliment; make a gratitude list and count your blessings. Ask for a hug and receive it; ask someone else if they want a hug and give it. Wear bright colors one day (or most days); walk around with an inner smile. Be kind to your inner voices and say, “I hear you, sweetheart; it’s okay.” Send heartfelt good wishes to someone you know, and then say a prayer for a stranger who seems down and out. Receive the support of the universe. Pause before sending important emails.
Dedicate your practice to all people, animals, the earth, and the universe. Make a list of all people who have helped you or been kind to you, even in small ways, and feel that they are here now as your support team through your day and night. Examine your own prejudices. Forgive someone unconditionally. Try to see someone who is mean as someone in pain; don’t hate them and don’t back down, but talk to them with love. Call someone you haven’t talked to for a long while and tell them you’re thinking about them. Smile and take a slow, cool breath of air and enjoy the now. Send a small check to a charity. Listen to someone without giving advice or thinking about how this relates to you—just listen and be with him or her fully. Resource with your Source first, and then feel vulnerable about what hurts now in life. Feel your feelings from Being without creating a story or going to the future. Write a sentence or two in your journal to honestly communicate what you know, think, and feel. Be the dancing stillness.
Say thanks.
Ask, “Please help me,” to the universe.
Say “no” to something you don’t want to do; then say “yes” to life.
Shift into awake awareness and embrace life.
Breathe and smile.