The terms “awareness” and “attention” seem to have the same meaning and hence can be a cause of confusion when used in the context of thoughts. I’ve mentioned in many posts, and in comments, about staying as a space of awareness and allowing the mind to have a free movement – what I call “conscious allowing” of the mind, I sometimes use the term “relaxed awareness” to describe this state of being. In this post I will clarify some of the common questions people have about the terms “awareness”, attention and “letting go”.
The practice of relaxed awareness is the starting point to not only letting go of the “fear-based” grip that you have on your mind, but to also allow the mind to release all its pent up negative momentum and come to a state of balance, plus this causes a release of “resistance” in your being which ensures that you become aligned with the pull of your life-stream. If you simply follow the practice of relaxed awareness, you will soon reach a state of balance in your mind and would be aligned with your life-stream, there is nothing further you need to understand – the only reason for giving all the various understandings is to allow the mind/being to become comfortable with this state of “allowing” or “letting go”, to understand it “logically” and scientifically as to how it allows positivity to come through and how it dissolve the negative momentum.
Difference between space of awareness and attention of mind
First let me clarify the difference between “awareness” and “attention”. Some of you may not have realized, or recognized, that as soon as you wake up, and till the time you sleep, there is a field of “awareness” that’s operating all the time in the background. Even when you are lost in thought, or when you are lost in an activity, this awareness is present in the background. That’s why you can recollect the thoughts that you were lost in, because there was awareness even when your mind was lost in thoughts. This awareness comes from the stream of consciousness in whose space your body/mind is functioning – this stream of consciousness is who you are, in essence. This stream of consciousness is also the energy space which I call your “life stream” which is moving towards the manifestation of desired realities, moving towards your well-being. So in one sense, you as the body/mind is swimming in this space of awareness, and your true body is this wholeness/totality which combines your physical body and this space of awareness (or stream of consciousness, whatever term you prefer) which is directly a part of universal consciousness.
If you want to get a picturistic view of this, just imagine your body being connected to a stream of conscious energy, which in turn is connected a bigger stream (the stream of human consciousness), which connects to a bigger stream (the stream of earth consciousness), and so on, and at the base is the ocean of consciousness which connects to all streams which I call universal consciousness. Essentially, your true body includes this entirety of space of consciousness, and this “physical body” is just one creation in it – so you are this physical body, but you are also the wholeness of life. Most of us are only aware of ourselves as this body, and have no awareness of how we are actually the wholeness of life, the “one being”. It usually takes a few months for this perspective of wholeness to really sink into the mind, once you become aware of it.
Your mind also has the capacity to be “aware”, what we call – attention, or concentration or focus. The mind has a “narrow awareness”, that’s why it’s called “focus” or concentration. The mind can only, specifically, become aware of one thing at time – for example, if you are aware of your “sight” your “hearing” becomes passive, if you are aware of your hearing your sight is on passive, if you are aware of your thoughts your sight and hearing are on passive etc (by “you”, I mean the mind here). The mind can only focus, or be aware, of one thing at a time. The terms “attention”, focus, concentration are all terms I used to refer to the mind’s capacity to be aware of something. I hope you can differentiate now between the awareness produced by the mind (attention), and the awareness which is present in the background all the time (coming from the stream of your consciousness). It’s very easy to realize these two aspects of awareness once you “identify” it using these pointers, it’s not complicated at all.
The term “Relaxed Awareness” is a pointer
When I talk about staying as “relaxed awareness”, the pointer is for the mind to let go of trying to “focus” or be attentive, rather to just let go, so that it can simply rest in the background awareness that’s present all the time. If you would just let go of trying to “focus” through your mind, you will easily understand what the state of relaxed awareness is – it’s basically when the mind lets go of its constant preoccupation with “attention”. The mind in its “fearful state” is constantly trying to give attention to every negative thought that pops in, it focuses intensely on fears because of its nature as a survival machine, and this causes patterns of “obsession” with negative thoughts (referred to in medical terms as OCD, when there is a chronic obsession with certain thoughts). The reason why a thought becomes obsessive, is because your mind has been giving it “attention”/focus all the time out of its fear, and this happens when the mind is totally unconscious of its freedom to just let go of its focus and rest in the background of wholeness (space of consciousness).
Whenever I use the terms – space of awareness, stream of consciousness, life energy, wholeness of life, your life-stream or space of consciousness, it’s all referring to the same thing – the wholeness of life (which is conscious energy) in which your physical body/mind is operating. If you have never recognized this background awareness/consciousness, which is always present, then it would feel like a huge revelation for you to know that you (as the body/mind) are always connected it. You are always connected to the wholeness of life, non-physical conscious energy, which basically created the “physical” you. You, as the mind, has the choice to rest in this wholeness, and let go of its chronic habit of giving “attention” to negative thoughts and thus allow the momentum of negativity to ebb away.
When your mind lets go of its “focus” and rests in this open space of awareness, the momentum of negativity, running in it, starts ebbing away, and it also allows the wisdom/intelligence inherent to your life-stream to start dissolving inner conflicts, confusions and brings forth required solutions/ideas/inspiration/right-actions that move you towards the creation of a positive reality. Hopefully the above explanation was clear enough to drive home the meaning of letting go of attention and resting in the open space of awareness. If you do this as a “practice”, even for 30 minutes a day, it has the power to start dissolving the inner conflicts and negative momentum in the mind, which starts a shift towards the construction of a positive external reality. Soon (in a few months) you start feeling a sense of spaciousness in your body, as the momentum of negativity starts clearing away – you basically become an open channel to allowing the well-being inherent to your life-stream to flood into your physical reality.
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ive had some serious moments, were i felt like my ocd was getting the best of me . after months of trying to as you best describe fighting mind with mind has left me restless ,ive notice that i had moments of total relaxation when i decide to move foward to let go even if its for an hour or two and this comes about when im distracted . only when i become conscious of what i ve done that it leaves me to fall back at this pattern of negativity and i become frustrated for looking back , its like i have to start all over again, with the exeption that i just gain knowledge of what i have to do in order to feel good again.
If you practice staying as a space of open/relaxed awareness of your mind, for just 30 minutes everyday, for a few weeks, you will start finding a stability in your being. From this place of stability you can truly start understand your mind’s natural make-up, and it allows you to stop being afraid of its fears, and its dark nature, it also allow you to bring in a wisdom/maturity to dimensions of love and joy in the mind. The first step is to gain some stability in the power of your awareness. The practice of staying as relaxed awareness of the mind allows this stability to come in.
THANK YOU SEN,
IN SUMMATION TO ALL OF US WHO HAVE OBSESSED ON THOUGHTS TRYING TO FIGURE IT OUT OR ANALYZED IT TO DEATH…PLEASE LET US ALL RELEASE THE NEGATIVES AND AFTER SO MANY YEARS REALIZE WHAT IT IT IS TO “BE HAPPY”…I AM TRULY A BETTER PERSON FOR READING ALL THESE ARTICLES….MY HEART AND SOUL THANKS TO YOU……NORM
Sen,
One of the things I enjoy is research and looking for information. I would love to make this a career in some way.
In the past I have not been successful at trying to figure out how I can do that. What is your suggestion on how to handle this? I know you say not to focus and try to figure things out, just let your lifestream guide you. When do you know whether to give up on an idea and go a different direction?
To “let go” of trying to figure out things is basically just a “phase” that allows you to stabilize in your awareness, get in touch with your inner wholeness, get an understanding of your mind and what it truly wants, make you receptive to the wisdom, inspiration and intelligence that comes from your life-stream. At some point, you naturally feel a movement towards becoming “focused” in a clear minded way. When this happens just allow yourself to get engaged in the mind again, you will sense that now you can engage in your mind without being lost in it. The way I sense it, you’ve gained a good amount of stability in your awareness, and are well in a place to get involved in your mind. You don’t have to struggle to figure things out, but just come to a clear minded focus on what it is that you want to explore/experience in your life. Life takes care of the figuring out part, and you just have to stay tuned to the inspirations/ideas that come from within.
As you can see, your mind naturally enjoys the idea of doing research, which involves reading, analyzing information, structuring information and coming up with ideas/conclusions with respect to a subject – you have a scientific/technical mind, rather than a “fictional” mind. I think you would rather enjoy reading a newspaper than reading a fictional novel. However, your mind prefers being given a structure to work with rather than being the “visionary” – so you might not prefer doing your own business (or being an entrepreneur), rather you might enjoying working as a research assistant under someone. The more you understand your mind, the easier it is for you to be clear-minded about the type of role you would fit into – the more clear-minded you become the easier it is for you to attract it into your life.
Do you mean to say that one needs to relax ones body and mind whenever an obsessive thought crops up? I will describe my own experience. Whenever I experience obsessive negative, angry thoughts, I start relaxing my body first and mind thereafter, however sometimes the said thoughts disappear and sometimes they persist. When they persist I again and try and relax myself till these thoughts do not disappear. I try to be as relaxed as possible in this exercise, however sometimes I feel very nauseated and uneasy, whic, according to me, I am somewhere wrong.
Can u guide me in someway?
Regards,
samrat
You are trying to use the pointer of “relaxed awareness” as a technique to get rid of some certain thought patterns in your mind – if you are authentic with yourself you will sense that you are doing this out of fear of the mind. The point of relaxed awareness is not to before a “defense” mechanism against the mind, rather it is to bring an open awareness into the mind, so that you are fully involved with the mind without being lost in it. It’s your approach that matters – ask yourself, if you are using relaxed awareness as a technique to “escape” from some fearful thoughts, or uneasy thoughts in the mind, or if you are using it as means to understand your mind’s domain. If you are using it as a technique to escape the mind you are bound to feel uneasy and nauseated, because you are being totally unnatural. If you allow awareness to just be natural, and fearlessly allow what arises in the mind, you will have sense of being “engaged” with the mind without being lost in it – this feels like an “enjoyment” of the mind, irrespective of the thoughts its producing. It’s like watching a movie, you are not trying to escape it, neither are you totally lost in it, you are just enjoying the movement in an involved way.
Samrat,
I have read through this entire blog,,, and I continue to re read material, if I need to.
The most important point Sen made that helped me, is that we are not our thoughts. The internal voice that is constantly chattering negativity and self-doubt is the ego and not your true self. This is how I was able to dis identify with all of those false beliefs I had continued to feed for so long. I believed all of the negative thoughts as truth. Once I was able to let them go, as just “mind chatter” is when things turned around for me.
Hi Sen,
I read and re-read your posting on the practice of relaxed awareness. And i am not getting it. My mind is irritated and agitated and i do not have a clear idea of what is causing it to be that way, though i have a general idea. I so want to get my mind to the place of awareness you speak off but how to i start. I am aware of my agitation and irritation, i donot try to avoid feeling it. I do acknowledge the presence of these feeling to myself but beyond that what is it i need to do to reach the state of awareness. Are there any steps, a beginner like me can follow/practice to help my mind reach that state naturally? Please help.
Thanks a lot
Chetana, consciously allowing the mind its movement and allowing the feelings that arise in the body, causes you to deepen in the space of awareness. Initially it’s difficult to observe any stability because of the high momentum of the mind, and the torrent of energy in the body (which is basically releasing a lot of suppressed energy). But as you continue to stay in relaxed awareness you will start observing a sense of space within you, as this spaciousness increases you will sense that you are not so taken in by the pull of the mind’s negativity. You must understand that the momentum of negativity has taken years to build up, through unconscious identification and hence it take time for it to start dying down. You will need give yourself the time to start seeing a stability in your being – it can take anywhere between a few weeks to a few months depending on the momentum present in your mind.
Thank you Sen. I am now consciously making efforts to explore my reactions to stimuli in my life instead of reacting to people and situations. Your guidance came at a very right time and i feel like I have found a guide.
Hello Sen!
For one year now, I’ve been struggling, trying to integrate the glimpses of connectedness and love and communion I’ve experienced into my day to day life. But my mind is such that I’ve been feeling really confused, jumping from teaching to teaching and between techniques and that has left me exhausted and I feel I can’t quite deal with the shift in emotions that have accompanied this period. For instance, when I just let my mind be without really trying to focus awareness on anything, I find I become too vulnerable to my emotions, and in my interactions and relationships, I can sorta sense that my limiting beliefs are very much active. Alternatively, there were periods where I focused on the all-encompassing awareness – as if it were a field, so to speak – and I think those might have been the best experiences I’ve ever had in my life in terms of my relationships with people and with existence – it was as if I was operating in a realm beyond the mind, very loving and compassionate. The problem is that you eventually I “fell” from it, and sometimes I try to go into it again, I can’t sustain it for long because my heart starts getting upset and I feel weird and when that happens and I let go of it, my mind takes over again and I start getting miserable again. This teetering between one and the other has been going on for some time now, and I don’t know which one to stick too.
I also wanna relate an experience that I’ve had just last week, I was reading this book on ecopsychology and at some point it said that human beings, like the rest of nature, work by natural attractions (there are 53 of them) and that most of us suppress them due to the heavy conditioning imposed by our culture, thus our way to healing is through rediscovering our natural attractions. I’ve had wonderful experiences in natural environments but as I read that passage something clicked in me and it’s hard to explain, but I recognised myself as a “child of nature”, and as such, there’s nothing inherently wrong with me or any other human being, so that spiritual practices are mostly socially created superimpositions on something that is already the case – I felt my being glowing and humming along with the rest of nature (I live above a beautiful setting of ocean and pine trees) and it was as if my heart was pouring enormous amounts of energy and love. But then again, that realisation seemed to be gone the next day. So I guess my other question is, when people refer to living from the heart, is that possible? If you progressively shift your attention to the heart, would that gradually “appease” the mind and eventually do away with its negativity? Or the opening of the heart is more like a natural unfolding as the negativity in the mind dies down?
Thanks, I really appreciate the enlightening work you’re doing through this blog!
All experiences are fleeting in nature, even the most spiritual or mystical ones. Enlightenment is not about reaching an experience, it’s about understanding who you are in all aspect – as the non-physical and the physical. If you are clinging to “experiences”, it could well mean that you are shying away from your natural “expression” in some way. By your natural expression I mean your creative expression and your desires. Experiencing is one part of physical life, the second part is expressing – a balance is needed between the two. What is the desired reality you see to express into your external world? And what is your heart’s calling towards your creative expression? These are questions you need to ask yourself and allow the answers to come from your being. Following your heart is about following your mind’s natural makeup, it’s natural capacity/aptitude towards a creative expression, and it’s also about focusing on your desired realities to allow their manifestation.
Sen,
So perfectly said. I’m happy I ran across this comment. You’re a blessing. We will have same great news soon, I certainly feel things are lining up. Trust
Gary B
Carpe Diem
Sen,
Your writings are truly unfolding the teachings of great Saints like Ramana Maharshi which are so deep and difficult to understand.
While being Conscious of my thoughts, I get so afraid of my thoughts that i immediately tend to distract. I distract my attention because I very well know that these thoughts are harmful for me and for others as well. It is really terrible experience to face our negativity.How can reach to that place of mind where i can stay fearless and relaxed so that i can stay atleast 30min in that relaxed awareness?
Nisha, whatever you resist starts persisting in your mind because your resistance is indirectly fueling it. You are fearful of the negativity of the mind, which causes you to keep trying to escape it through distraction – this is not freedom but pure bondage, where you are a prisoner to your mind. The only way to come to a place of freedom is when you allow yourself to face the negativity in the mind without shying away from it. A negative thought can only influence your reality when you are unconsciously lost in identification with it. When you are conscious, you can allow the mind to have its negative thoughts, and they won’t have any influence on your reality, since you are not fueling it with your belief/identification. So feel free to allow your mind its negative movement while staying in a place of relaxed awareness, just watching the mind without fear (even when the mind produces fear).
It is unpleasant, initially, to allow the negativity of the mind, and the suppressed negative energy in the body, in the space of your awareness. But this is required so that you can release this momentum of negativity. If you keep running away from it, you are basically just suppressing it, which means that it keeps staying in your energy space and thus keeps getting amplified. Just look at this as a “detox” process, to clear your being of the negative momentum – it can take a few weeks for the momentum of negativity in the mind to slow down in force as you stay allowing of it in your awareness.
A few posts which you can refer are
http://www.calmdownmind.com/the-practice-of-relaxed-awareness/
http://www.calmdownmind.com/positive-thinking-vs-fearless-awareness/
Sen,
If I let go of the thoughts and feelings i.e., beliefs of my mind, I also let go my sense of self. In other words, I throw the baby out with the bath water. Talk about fear. How do you get around that?
Jim, the mind has a penchant for the “dramatic”. It likes to create all kinds of dramatic thoughts about what will happen, and if you keep buying into it you will stay a prisoner to your mind’s tricks. This thought that “if i let go i will lose my sense of self” is a pretty common thought in most minds, and it’s just a fear-based dramatic thought. Nothing like that happens. When you let go all that happens, scientifically, is that the momentum of your brain activity starts coming down and hence you become more “free” in your being and more receptive to life’s guidance, you don’t lose your sense of self, you won’t wake up one morning not knowing who you are. Don’t buy into these dramatic thoughts, and use your awareness to see through their false assumptions more deeply.
Sen, you said, “Don’t buy into these dramatic thoughts, and use your awareness to see through their false assumptions more deeply.” That’s seems easy enough, however, awareness seems to be no match against these fear-based thoughts. I seem to make inroads in some areas, but they either eventually come back or morph into other areas of my life.
Jim, having been lost in the mind for so many years, it obviously have a strong pull. It takes time for your awareness to grow in strength so that you are not pulled into the mind so easily. The best practice right now for you would be to simply watch the mind, in a detached manner, as much as you can. Don’t be too hard on yourself, it takes time for awareness to grow in stability – it’s not something that will happen in a few weeks, it can usually take a few months. Just think about it as letting go of an addiction, where you were addicted to the mind and now you are weaning out of it, so that you can have freedom and balance. From this place of freedom, you can enjoy the mind and use the mind creatively. Right now you are just a puppet to your own mind, where it pulls you around.
thanks for this inspiration.
Sen
I’ve just recently started to read your articles, and I do have many questions. One of your readers commented on not asking why, but just accepting or surrendering. My mind always asks why.
How do our emotions relate to our mind? What is our natural makeup? I want to start the practice of relaxed awareness. Any suggestions?
Susan, basically there are just two feelings – good feeling and bad feeling. The good feeling is labelled as good feeling emotions based on the thought associated with it, like a thought of joy or love. The bad feelings are labelled bad emotions, or negative emotions, based on the thought associated with it, like grief, sadness, hatred, fear. Thoughts create emotions in the body based on whether they are aligned with a vibration of wholeness or with a vibration of resistance.
Natural make up is just the natural conditioning of your brain and physiology, including your IQ, talents, creative abilities, emotional makeup (based on what are the dominant dimensions in your mind).
You can try sitting for 20-30 minutes a day, without distractions, just allowing your emotions and your mind movement, in a space of relaxed openness – this is what the pratice of relaxed awareness is. Slowly you will notice that this sense of being spacious keeps growing in you, and then there is no need for a “practice”, it’s just that you become stable in this space of allowing.
Sen,
Is the practice of relaxed awareness synonymous with meditation where you let thoughts come and go without giving them attention
and just focus on the breath?
Thank you
Pete, it’s not about ignoring the thoughts but about bringing an awareness to the thoughts, observing their movement, observing/sensing deeply the feelings created by these thoughts, without trying to escape from it, by staying as an open space of allowing. The meditation of focusing on the breath is mostly about ignoring the mind, and creating temporary sense of silence in it – relaxed awareness is about bringing an open awareness to the mind’s movement and the emotional energy in the body, staying in a state of allowing.
Thank you for the response. I have an issue with thoughts that have been stuck with me months. So the best practice to help reduce the frequency of these thoughts are to sit with these thoughts for as long as they are present. I guess this would be considered similar to exposure therapy. What can I do or practice each day to help alleviate this problem?
Pete
Pete, it’s about consciously allowing the thoughts without being identified with them – it’s not about ignoring them or suppressing them, but about allowing them to happen in your awareness without shying away from it. This fearless awareness is a field of intelligence.
Sen,
If we are talking about trying Relaxed Awareness for 30 minutes, are we talking about meditation where we don’t try to quiet the mind?
Or, is this something we do as we move about our day?
That’s right, the practice of relaxed awareness can be performed as a sitting meditation initially (for a few weeks) to get some grounding in it, after that it’s not needed to do it as a practice rather it starts becoming an “interest”/desire to connect with our inner being – and this connection starts becoming evident as a space within even as we move about in our day.
Sen, what is the difference between being open and staying as awareness? If you are just observing without denying anything, are they the same thing?
David, at one point you can even let go of trying to be aware of the mind and just be “free” in your being – this is a state of total allowing, what I also call “being open”. But initially you need to develop awareness of the mind to come to this place of total allowing, as discussed in this post – Reaching a place of total allowing
Hi Sen,
I understand the relaxed awareness that you need to watch all your negative emotions old or new as they surface up but can you please tell me so when can you focus on positive feelings and about what you love to have in your life. Does it happen automatically, the positive thinking part I mean or I have to set aside some time during the day and do that as well. I still can see that there were some instances that I have had a negative thought in the past and later I released it by relaxed awareness but it still did happen in my reality. Thankfully it was sth small and insignificant but still I am worried what I need to do? but none of the positives ones has happened yet. Can you please let me know what I need to do and if I should try to think positive too or simply being in the state of relaxed awareness takes care of the positives and I only need to be open and embrace all my emotions.
Thnaks a world for your help.
Love,
One Love
Thank you,
Once the momentum of negativity ebbs away, you automatically sense yourself moving towards a positive cycle – there is no effort needed to force a positive state of being. I’ve explained this in the post – Coming to a passively positive mind. So for now, just stay in a space of relaxed allowing, letting the momentum of past negativity and mind intensity ebb away – also, stop judging your reality as “negative” rather look at it as a mirror that’s helping you identify/unearth your inner negativity and thus allowing an opportunity for release. A positive reality (or your desired reality) starts manifesting as the negativity/resistance ebbs away in force, it’s an automatic process. The only real deliberation needed from you is to let go of struggle, let go of trying to “force” anything.
Hi Sen,
I wanted to know what about positive feelings and dreams and goals that we have, staying open to all negativity through relaxed awareness (RA) is for cleansing our minds from negativity, so if I want to reach my desire should I visualize as well and feel or allowing negativity out through RA is just enough and positivity and all my desires would manifest automatically as I let go of negatives by RA. I want to make sure should I also visualize my desires and feel good about them or just RA and letting out negativity is enough? What about self love? should I actively love my self as much as I can or just by doing RA my self love will happen automatically?
Thank you,
Thank you,
Hi Sen,
My main challenge here is when I try to do this during a moment of depression. I am mostly positive, vibrant, enthusiastic. However at times I go down in depression and sadness…I guess I become fearful.
In trying to observe my mind when this happens becomes very painful. I want to fix it, I want to feel better.I cannot avoid but twist and at least reach out for a journal and write. Or reach out for your blog and read
Perhaps I could try to connect with my wholeness at times when I’m more neutral. And leave this depression times for later when I’m more stable? Or I’m just creating excuses?
30 min feels like a really long time….
You may get some insights regarding your query in this post – Wholeness in physical life. Your fear of the “low state” causes you to keep clinging to the high state (out of fear) and this causes an imbalance in your energy because a balance requires an integration of the high and low, light and dark. This imbalance causes you to go through some intense low states, mostly because you’ve been suppressing its expression. When you come to a place of “allowing”, you will go through a phase of release where you may experience periods of low states in the form of anxiety, anger or depression, and it’s just a part of the release of past suppression of these states. Once the release is done with, you will sense a balance in your inner space, the highs and lows lose their intensity and they are felt as subtle movements that don’t disturb your being. Going through a phase of release is, however, critical to coming to a place of balance and this can only happen when you stop resisting the low states when they arise, and stay in a place of open allowing to what arises, the more you try to escape the more you suppress and delay the release.
Don’t bother with any “time limits” like 30 mins and such, I am never a proponent of “practices”, it’s just that when people specifically ask for a practice that I suggest a time limit which can they use for a while. As long as you have an understanding of what the state of “relaxed awareness” points to it’s enough, it’s just a state of open allowing nothing else, you can do it whenever you sense that you are trying to escape a low state that’s arising.
Greetings Dear Sen,
In this article you where you explain the
mind’s awareness in terms of “attention”
and “focus”, my sense of my mind’s
awareness is a little different. I accept
your understanding but my experience
concerning my mind’s evolving awareness
is a little different. Ever since I started letting
Go and I started allowing all to surface,
I am sensing my brain
becoming more consciously aware of these
changes on an existential level as well as on
the intellectual level. I feel There is a sense
of an evolving calmness and a deepening intelligence.
I’m not sure if this is a result of my total commitment
to trusting in the flow of life. I don’t resist anything
that enters my field of awareness. I let go of every
thought. I don’t make any thought my “truth” it’s
more like I’m moving into an existential truth where
many small “truths” come to me on a daily basis.
So I feel this is all part of my continuing liberation
from my mind, but in a sense it is also the evolving
conscious awareness my mind is going through.
You mention in your other articles how the light of
awareness (who we essentially are) dissolves
previous trauma only if we allow ourselves to
be open to fully allowing these emotions to
surface. This very practice has allowed my brain
to become more aware and free of resistance so
In a sense because the light of my being is
touching all my suppressed thoughts/emotions
The resulting experience is that my brain is sharing
in the very awareness itself. Could it be that the
dropping of all barriers allows the brain to become
“one” with awareness itself thereby adding a physical
dimension to wholeness itself?
Kind Regards.
Pavlo, that’s how it is, I mentioned this in the post – the space of being – which is basically the space you connect with as you rest in relaxed awareness. This space allows your brain to get in touch with your life-stream’s intelligence.
hi sen. What do you think of holosync and such, the binueral beat thing.
stonez, basically binaural beats are like “white noise” of a certain frequency – it’s like music, just that the frequencies are tuned to match brain wavelengths. Some people feel very restless about just sitting and allowing even for 20 mins, such people can listen to this “white noise” or binuaral beats while doing this practice – however, binaural beats will act like a “distraction” on the brain, in the sense that it will impact the brain just like music – it can create temporary relaxation and that’s useful, but eventually you also want to just sit without any distraction so that you can totally allow your mind/emotions to have it free movement.
Stonez,
Ive been on Holosync for 2 years and it works for me. Am interested in what Sen thinks though.
Hello Sen,
Ever since your email…I have been watching my thoughts, emotions come up without trying to push them away or distracting myself. There hangs a very heavy feeling in my chest; it is as though I really need to cry. I feel very gloomy, down and tired…but i am not trying to push anything and letting the feeling hang on. Do you recommend to let it hang on until it passes on its own? thanks…
Shi, yeah, just continue staying in a space of allowing this present “feeling” and it will find a release of its own. It can happen in layers where you feel relief in between and the start of another cycle of release. This sensation of feeling down/tired, and gloomy, is natural during a phase of release, don’t be worried about it, just be allowing of it.
Thanks so much for your response, Sen. I have noticed that all that comes up is fearful thoughts…thoughts of family members dying, losing them etc. Sometimes, as soon as I wake up, I notice these types of fearful thoughts racing through my mind. Then a thought comes and says, if you don’t want them to die…stop doing what you’re doing (just as an example: stop brushing my teeth, if i am doing that, and do this instead). If i don’t give in to that thought…more fear arises and i feel very shaky mentally. If I give in to that thought and start doing something else…then soon another thought comes in and says something similar. I feel pulled in both directions and very restless and agitated.
I use a guided meditation tape which bascially first pays attention to the the body and sensations and then it gently leads you to let go and watch your thoughts without getting involved with them with very gentle music playing in the background. In doing so, sometimes i sense a deep calm and quietude. I find it hard to sit quietly without the tape. Any suggestions… the fear based thoughts drive me insane….thanks…
Shi, what’s needed is for you to deepen in your connection with your inner being (as explained in this post – the space of being). Right now your awareness is held hostage by your mind, and its fear-based behavior/thinking. You have to allow your awareness to just fall into your space of being, and thus become more and more detached from the pull of the mind. The mind is bound to get into tantrums when it senses that your awareness is looking to detach from its influence, you will just need to ride it out with courage trusting in the power of your inner-being rather than fearing the threats of your mind. Don’t give in to its fears, just allow them while just staying in the space of being. You can follow a guided meditation, but since you can’t carry a meditation tape with you everywhere you go, it’s best to start grounding yourself more in the practice of just allowing without requiring any external support. It’s normal to feel uneasy initially, it’s about persisting with the state of allowing and giving yourself time to start seeing a progress towards inner stability.
Thanks Sen, that is very helpful. If I am understanding correctly, basically, relaxed awareness and the space of being are both pointing towards the same space of let go. Whatever arises, let it arise. The good feelings, the sad feelings, fearful feelings, feelings of being a victim, feelings of uneasiness etc. – watch them arise and pass without any intervention. And if the mind intervenes (in form of thought), watch that too and let it pass. Regular, conscious connection with this space will reduce the mind momentum / negativity. Hope I am understanding correctly…
Shi, that’s an accurate understanding
Hi Sen,
first of all, thanks for amazing articles. I am rather new to both your website and this topic in general.
I’ve had anxiety for roughly 13 years, the last 3-4 years it’s been pretty bad. I went to therapy, but after a while I felt this was just filling more info to my rational brain. It was not making me _feel_ different, and it was not making me accept or stop fighting my anxiety related thoughts. This lead me to checking out “Mindfulness” (Jon Kabat Zinn) – which eventually make me come across your website while googling.
I really, really like your ideas and wisdom, you have a great way of explaining things. My first question to you is basically what your take is on your ideas vs the concept of Mindfulness ?
Paul, mindfulness is basically defined as the practice of consciously “observing” the mind, or being aware of it as a detached observer. This practice is the initial step to growing in your power/ability to be aware of the mind without being unconsciously lost to its pull. As you grow in your power of awareness (through practicing mindfulness) you will reach a point where you feel that you “know” the various patterns that run in your mind, including the negativity that it churns out. However this awareness by itself does not dissolve the momentum, because even this awareness has a “judging” quality to it, where you are observing with a sense of distance and a sense of judgment. The next level is to be willing to simply “let go”, and just allow yourself to be open to emotions and thoughts that arise – letting go from this place of “acquired” power of awareness, is what I call a state of allowing (or conscious allowing). This conscious allowing connects you with your space of being (with your life-space) and allows the intelligence in your being to dissolve the negativity in the mind, and also causes the integration of the dark and light natured energy within you that may have gotten imbalanced through suppression of a certain nature of energy. I’ve mentioned the sequence of this process in the post – http://www.calmdownmind.com/reaching-a-place-of-total-allowing/
Hello Sen,
As I continue with the practice of allowing, I have become very aware of the constant battle of thoughts inside of me. Even while working, I am aware that thoughts and feelings are racing and creating a sense of restlessness within. Usually, very heavy feelings come to the surface and I feel very weighed down. Feelings of guilt, sadness and a general sense of unhappiness etc. No motivation to do anything. This has been going on for a long time now; the only difference is that before I came across your blog…I would try to divert these heavy feelings by consciously moving attention to something else or try to think more positively. The heavy feelings would dissipate but I never felt any better within. My memory, attention, focus, concentration and the level of general alertness are at an all-time low. Ever since reading your blog, I am not fighting these feelings and letting them be. They go when they go. Not to say that I am feeling any better. In fact, I feel very down and tired. How to not identify with these feelings? There is a pressure in the head space. Your writings keep me encouraged as they carry an intrinsic sense of honesty, simplicity and openness about them.
In order to connect to the space of being as you have suggested, I take time out and sit with my eyes closed; not doing anything. I understand well when you say that there is no right or wrong way of doing it. But when I actually sit down, I still keep wondering and on how to do it? Any suggestions…thanks a lot for your help
hi Shi,
I am someone who has been plagued by OCD for a long time. I have suffered a lot. I have been reading Sen’s article for a while and wanted to share my humble opinion with you.
There are few pointers that have helped me the most:
1. Mind is a survival machine. I have seen my thoughts and they are always rooted in fear/worry. Always trying to send me the fearful vibrations.
2. I am not my mind. Again, I am more than mind, a stream of consciousness. Funny, I sense it most the day after I have had a bad day. It is almost like mind has run its course and is calm and I can sense my consciusness better.
3. Mind is notorious for taking any pointers as directive and tries to implement it. Even the pointer to let go, I find myself trying to let go.
4. Any solutions that mind provides, comes from the same source which has the problem. Constant voices in my head.
What has helped me the most is to undertand that anything I do to calm my mind, mind will make a program out of it, and execute it. So I have given up on it and I do nothing and let things happen. It is not always easy.
I cannot say that I do not suffer anymore, but honestly I have been doing so much better.
Sen: I am sorry to jump in.
Thanks,
Anu, thanks for sharing your insights
Shi, you are on the right track with respect to “allowing” these feelings/thoughts their presence in you instead of trying to find an escape through “positive thinking” or activities. Of course, it’s quite evident that your emotions, and the imbalanced thoughts in the mind, have a strong momentum owing to past accumulation, and it will take time for this momentum to dwindle way (you should sense stability coming in within 5-6 months of practicing the state of allowing). Also, this process of allowing can be “exhausting” for the body (just like any detox is), this is mostly because the body not only has to allow the intense energy movement involved in the release, but also re-adapt to a state of higher vibration caused by the release – it’s best to take plenty of rest whenever possible to allow the body time to recuperate, to ensure it’s more comfortable for you.
It’s normal to have this sense of loss of motivation/drive during this temporary phase of release, this is mostly because the ego-force is dying away and your inner-being/life-force is yet to fully take over, so it’s a transition phase – you can sense “return of focus” towards the end of the release cycle and things fall back in balance/normalcy.
When you are sitting in a space of allowing, if a thought comes up saying – “how do I do it? Am I doing this right?” – just allow this thought instead of trying to answer it. This thought is produced by the “thinking mind” that wants to be certain, and the ego-force clings to this thought out of fear. If you let go of clinging to this thought, and simply allow the feeling of doubt or fear of uncertainty, you will no longer be fueling your ego-force and hence be able fall more into your space of being.
Thanks for your response and concern, Anu.
Of late, I sit down twice a day and just let go. There is no effort to calm the mind or fight what comes up; i realize what I am mostly prone to fighting are the fearful thoughts and the sense of anxiety that wells up along with them. Now I just let them be – instead of pushing them away or distracting myself. Sometimes a sense of calm and well being follows; at other times the thoughts just keep on coming. I just let it all be without getting involved in any meaning that the mind tries to attach to it. The followning response receieved from Sen (posted above) has seemed to help me a lot:
“The mind is bound to get into tantrums when it senses that your awareness is looking to detach from its influence, you will just need to ride it out with courage trusting in the power of your inner-being rather than fearing the threats of your mind. Don’t give in to its fears, just allow them while just staying in the space of being”.
At work too, during the day, I am very aware of the thoughts racing inside. I just let them be. Sometimes I worry that my mind is pretending to take care of matters by making this a practice and executing it (like you have mentioned above) and an uncomfortable feeling of despair follows; I realize it as just another thought and let the feeling be.
I am so glad to hear that you are doing better. It seems that Sen has helped so many people with his clear expression and his desire to reach out. I have come across this web-site only recently and feel very grateful to have found it. I keep reading his posts (so as to keep re-instating until it sinks in) along with the Q&A section and find it very insightful.
Thanks again Anu…stay in touch.
Thanks so much for your response, Sen. Although I feel like a ton of bricks, your responses keep me very encouraged.
As for thoughts, when I sit down, I notice many a times questions followed by answers (in form of thoughts) are coming by themselves without any active participation on my part. Sometimes I find myself clinging to a thought… trying not to get involved actively; and yet it happens. It feels like a conflict within. Like you said, it is normal to feel exhausted, unmotivated and not in sync with anything. Hearing you confirm that it is a normal process…keeps me going.
Thanks again…you have a gift of getting the message across very simply and accurately. In hindsight, I see that many teachers are expressing the same principle…but none so clear and simple as you.
Dear Sen,
I know you recommend ‘Ask & It Is Given’ but how do am I suppose to incorporate the processes (focus wheel, positive aspects, scripting) while just letting go? How can I attract my desired reality when I’m feeling negative during this phase? I have this HUGE fear that I will be attracting all the negative emotions I’m releasing. Abraham talks about working up the Emotional Guidance Scale when something arises, just soothing your resistance by thinking better feeling thoughts, but isn’t this counterproductive to letting whatever arises arise with interference?
Should I let go of my desire to with the faith that life will take care of it & connect to my space of being? And where does EFT fit into this?
Amia, that was the first book I encountered which talked, with some clarity, about the way your life-stream (they call it the vortex of creation) works in your favor all the time, and the amount of leverage you can get if you just start letting go of struggle (imposed by your ego-force) thus letting your life-stream gain more force in you. This book can be used to gain this perspective on the non-physical intelligence of your life-stream – and the reason I recommended this book is because the commenter specifically asked for some books to read. Frankly, the techniques they provide like focus wheel, journaling or positive thinking, can end up becoming a source of “struggle” by itself, when it’s being executed in a state of inner lack or imbalance due to the presence of a high momentum of negativity in the mind, or high emotional momentum – rigid techniques are not needed at all and just become means to strengthen the ego-force further. Rather, the state of allowing (or connecting with your space of being) is all it takes to release the mind/emotional momentum, which puts you in a place of being resistance-free towards allowing your life-stream to orchestrate your “external reality”. I’ve never used any techniques like EFT (which involves tapping certain nodal points on the body while affirming etc), because the emotional clearing gets taken care of by the state of allowing itself. Your being is well-capable of instigating a balance on its own (through dissolving the emotional/mental momentum), if you allow it, without the need for your mind to use/learn techniques for it.
Sen what about PERMANENT physical appearance changes? Like growing taller, acne, eye color, etc. Abraham has talked about it & said that it is very much possible because the body is capable beyond anything we can imagine.
I read in the comments where you told someone else that a plastic surgeon is just as much an expression of life as a healer. But is the body not capable of or intelligent enough to carrying out those changes itself?
I’m in place where I have low resistance, I have seen the unfolding of so much & it happens so seamlessly. And than this desire to grow taller came out of nowhere too & it was surprising because I love my height now, but it’s almost a feeling of indifference when I have desires where I don’t care what happens because I’m complete, if that makes sense. But my only problem (resistance) is this cynical doubt I have about my body being capable of such drastic changes. For example, right now I’m feeling shame for asking this, idk why. But I’m allowing it so it’s not intense.
Thank you.
Amia, the question you can ask yourself is – are you choosing to manifest a desire or is the desire controlling you. It boils down to how much inner freedom you have, and inner freedom comes from a place of being free of the mind’s pull, so that you have the choice to follow what feels aligned rather than be pulled around by the momentum of the mind. As you said, you feel “indifferent” to your desire, and have a sense of your wholeness – so in that sense, you can simply let the desire be and see if it does create any natural inspiration in you – by natural inspiration I mean a struggle-free inspiration where you don’t feel like you are moving from a place of desperation. “Trying” to believe a desire is simply an indirect statement that you don’t believe the desire – so it’s not about trying to prove to yourself that this desire has a possibility of manifesting, rather it’s about allowing the energy of the desire (if it’s present) in your being and see if it naturally creates some inspirations in you, for example, you may feel inspired to read something, come across some exercise or diet tips that can contribute to instigating the required physical action for grounding this desire (about becoming tall) into physical form. However, if this desire is simply about your mind asking you to “prove” your creating ability, then it’s mostly just a waste of energy for you (even if you manifest it) – it’s one thing to understand/practice your potential for deliberate creation as a choice, and it’s a totally different thing to be a prisoner to this tendency, where you feel pushed to keep proving something to yourself.
Hello Sen,
I continue with the practice of allowing…basically, I just sit down with the intention that I am dead with no control over my thoughts or feelings. Can still find the mind going after the fearful thoughts when they come up. There is a tenseness and a discomfort in the body. All this without any effort on my part.
You had mentioned to me in an earlier post that:
“What’s needed is for you to deepen in your connection with your inner being (as explained in this post – the space of being). Right now your awareness is held hostage by your mind, and its fear-based behavior/thinking. You have to allow your awareness to just fall into your space of being, and thus become more and more detached from the pull of the mind”.
What is the difference between ‘space of being’ and ‘relaxed awareness’? I constantly wonder if I should be doing it differently – should I first deepen my connection with the space of being or practice relaxed awareness and then total allowing. Where to draw the line? Being very mind oriented, I feel very confused by this…even though it does sound senseless. Any guidance on this would be greatly appreciated.
So at present, I try not to label my ‘sitting’. I just sit. I have some bad days in succession in terms that there is this tensed up energy in the body that I don’t know what to do with – it is significantly uncomfortable. I try not to be bogged down with this as you have assured all time and again that it is only a natural process of release. Then I have some good days…in terms that I feel very light and grounded. I try not to cling to this either remembering your adage – of not getting hooked on to these feelings as they will be followed by another release.
Any guidance…as always, thanks a lot for your help…
Shi, the state of conscious allowing should start becoming a more “involving” process if you are not resistant towards facing the truth of the negativity or suppressed emotions with you. You can do relaxed awareness and conscious allowing at the same time – for example, you can allow yourself to be aware of any mind patterns, or memories, in you that are causing a state of fear (as a practice of relaxed awareness) and then allow this fear energy, and thoughts, to arise freely in your being (this is what I call the space of being), to allow a release of its momentum and possibly gain an understanding/insight into finding a release from this pattern. Basically, freedom comes through consciously facing a pattern which you may be afraid of facing in you and this is part of conscious allowing, in that you allow yourself to face what you’ve been suppressing. Anything that you don’t face consciously will keep re-cycling within you. When you are willing to face what arises without resistance, you are basically resting in your “space of being”. I hope you understand that is not a “magic” process, rather it’s a conscious process – it’s not about using this technique as some magical means that will dissolve your inner conflicts without you having to face them consciously first. If you don’t face something consciously, your space of being cannot touch it, and hence it cannot dissolve the pattern. In your case, the sense I get is, that the patterns may have to do with fears, guilt, powerlessness/helplessness and some thoughts based in an imbalance of light nature. It’s possible that you’ve lead a life imbalanced towards light nature, where you find yourself to be overly sensitive and fearful, possibly leading to forms of victimization by the outside. You might also be oriented towards a struggle based life coming from a place of self-denial (owing to your imbalance in light nature). You would need to face these imbalances within you, and bring awareness to these patterns of fear in your being, you would also need to allow the expression of dark nature components in you that you may be suppressing (which can involve connecting with your sense of inner power, sexuality and personal drives) – all this is part of conscious allowing, it’s not a passive process of just hoping that everything will dissolve without requiring a conscious involvement on your part.
Sen,
why is that allowing and/or intelligence, or, I don’t know how to call it – comes … well, it seems to me that it comes on it’s own accord. I just woke up in the morning, and… there it is. Space. Free flow. No thought can touch me. I like the term “choiceless awareness”. Or in preparing food I just feel that blooming of intelligence which cuts through all thoughts. I’m not doing anything. Or I walk, and suddenly…
Also, when I try to allow, it somehow… I can’t do it. It happen when I shock myself somehow, like “enough is enough”, but like it is not some decision, it just comes, it comes like a call – stop being a child, or something like that. Be serious. But, not be serious in dead sense, but be serious in terms of finding out the truth.
So, is it possible that all this business is not in my jurisdiction? Which is maybe another proof to just – let go.
And, if a great fear arises, and resistance with it – I just need to allow resistance first, am I right?
Thanks for your response and clarification, Sen. Essentially, I am doing what you have described above. Sit and let whatever comes up, come up without trying to push it away or get involved in it. I find that a lot of thoughts / instances from the past well up and linger on. Some are fearful, some painful, some neutral, some pleasant etc. I just try to let them play through as they arise and subside. Is this conscious allowing? Will the momentum get released on its own accord by simply letting them play through? Some thoughts of the future, when they come up, are extremely fearful and I find it very hard to face them as they arise and I find myself backing off. How to deal with this?
I understand when you say that this is not a magic process (although secretly wishing that it somehow was); but I really want to see this through as I am fed up of all the negativity and lack that I have collected around me in most areas of life; I have become conscious that I live life in such fear that I sub-consciously choose to be disinterested in everything. And your posts intuitively point me towards freedom. They resonate within…thank you so much.
The part that I don’t really understand is where you have mentioned that:
“You would need to face these imbalances within you, and bring awareness to these patterns of fear in your being, you would also need to allow the expression of dark nature components in you that you may be suppressing (which can involve connecting with your sense of inner power, sexuality and personal drives) – all this is part of conscious allowing, it’s not a passive process of just hoping that everything will dissolve without requiring a conscious involvement on your part”.
How is this to done? From what I understand, I can be aware of ONLY whatever comes up in my consciousness. How can I allow the expression of the suppressed dark nature components, as you say – if I am not aware of them? How do I become aware of them? And let’s say that if and as I do become aware of them in time, what do you mean by “allow the expression”? Would you please guide? This may sound like an inane question…but really what am I to do other than just consciously allow whatever comes up? Am I missing something? Thanks a lot, Sen.
Shi, the reason I say “conscious allowing” is a highly involving process and not a passive technique is because it’s a means through which you can allow yourself to explore all the facets of your being at a deep level. Suppression happens for two reason 1. fear 2. ignorance. Once you consciously start “allowing” the feeling of fear, instead of fearing it, you will soon be able to see through its limitations and hence will no longer feel so fearful of the feeling of fear. “Ignorance” is simply the result of narrow thinking, where your awareness is limited to your beliefs, conditioning and influences of upbringing (the way you were brought up as a child) – you need to develop the attitude of “exploration”, where you are willing to explore yourself, your brain’s makeup, your desires, your preferences, your sense of adventure, instead of simply living life as per some belief/rules that you may have accepted as your bible. In order to “explore” yourself you need to a balanced “selfishness”, or else you cannot explore yourself. Selfishness can be seen as a dark nature aspect, and your mind may be avoiding it and may be trying to be “selfless” or “egoless” in some way, living in a state of self-denial.
A balanced selfishness is needed in order to find alignment with yourself and your life-force. You need to willing to allow changes/transformations in your personality, in your reality and your lifestyle as you enter into a journey of inner exploration, and for this you need to have an openness in your being – if you are dominated by guilt, insecurity, over-sensitivity and an attitude of self-sacrifice, you cannot have this openness. You have to allow these forces of resistance (like guilt and fear) to lose their grip on your being by no longer identifying with them when they arise and thus allowing their release. I mentioned that you don’t need to cling to the high states as they arise, but that does not mean that you don’t enjoy it or connect with it – it’s important to connect with your joy dimension and explore the things that bring you joy (a part of aligning with balanced selfishness). It’s very possible that most of your imbalance is related to the fact that you are not connected with your joy dimension, mostly because you’ve be run by internal fears about living from a place of freedom. I cannot give you a “how” as a technique, I can only give pointers or “understanding”, and you need to use this understand to see if it expands your awareness of life and yourself. “Allowing” is not a technique, it’s a pointer towards “openness” – that’s all, it’s just that most people take it as a technique. The reason why I even suggest that you practice “allowing” for 30 mins a day, is simply as an initial step to give you a sense of your “being” – you don’t have to do it as a practice at all. Allowing has to be a way of life, where you are open in your being to release any fear that arise, to release limiting thoughts by allowing them to arise in your consciousness, to allow an exploration of the various dimensions of your brain. Suppression is the opposite of freedom, and allowing is simple a pointer towards inner freedom.
When you are in a state of allowing, everything that needs to become “conscious” will arise, but it’s upto you whether you simply try to hold distance and hope that it will all go away, or you have the openness to explore the feelings and the thoughts and see if there are questions and truths in there that you may be avoiding in your life. Allowing is not a state of holding distance, it’s about being open to what arises, without necessarily identifying with it, but a willingness to see it for what it is so that your awareness can touch it and know the truth in it. You can consciously involve yourself with thoughts and feelings, without being afraid of them or being unconsciously lost to their pull – when you involve yourself consciously, you can explore and find out the truth behind everything. Ultimately, it’s the truth that sets you free, as long as you keep holding distance (out of fear of facing/feeling what arises) you cannot really know the truth of it in your being. For example, when a feeling of depression arises, you don’t have to become totally identified with it, but you can allow it fully and “explore” it consciously – what is this feeling about, is it just a bodily feeling or is it instigated by certain thoughts? If it’s instigated by thoughts, explore what the thoughts are, are they pointing to some truth that you are trying to deny/avoid in your life? Is there a fear behind this depression, a fear that you are trying to avoid? If its a bodily feeling can you simply allow a full expression of this feeling in you instead of trying to distance yourself from it, and see if this feeling is really as a bad as your mind initially makes it out to be? This is what it means to consciously involve yourself while allowing what arises without being lost to it.
Thanks again, Sen…I re-read the post (Practice of Relaxed Awareness) one more time and for some reason now…the process that you have described seems fairly simple. Just resting in your own space…allowing the mind it’s free movement…without identification. It is only when I try to make it into a rigid practice of some kind…it appears complicated.
Exploring thoughts, feelings and disturbances, as you have suggested, still sounds a little complicated (for lack of a better word). But I will try…and let you know. Thanks so much, Sen. I do agree that fear dominates my life and I find myself stressed over the slightest situations. I will try to explore this feeling of fear. Thanks again…much gratitude.
Hi Sen,
I have some questions but I have to share some things first.
I think I have some strong belief in me which I know is wrong that I have to have an imediate relief of the symptoms – I kind of expect it.
When I was a child I was living in a story created by my mind and I believed it completely. Then when I become 14 years old there was an awakening – as I remember it, it was all that you describe it – I was living in the present moment, I had accepted everything that I thougth previously about myself – all my bad characteristics, suddenly life felt so real, so colourful and full of sensations, my mind was very clear – I didn’t expect this to happen. It was at the end of a very boring summer vacation and it happened because I decided to share with my mother something that I previously would feel very defensive about – just this time I tried a different route.
Sadly for me now this lasted about a week and then I somehow got overexcited about it and lost the feel what was this. I felt I had forgotten or I don’t know how to explain it exactly but I got scared. My life after that was a constant struggle to achive this state again, I forgot about my previous worries and thougths about life – now my goal was different but my thinking was just as it was before the awakening.
I think this memory about this period is interfering with the practice of relaxed awareness because I really want to achieve something, I remember how good it was, I remember the relief that I felt while most people, I don’t know really but I guess they don’t expect so much and it’s easier for them to do it.
Even if I am not trying to do anything I am still struggling. I often get a headache and feel a bit like poisoned after the 30 minutes. Other times I fell asleep and thougths start to become dreams and I can feel the struggle even in the dreams. Also in the daily life I always try different strategies to remember what it was, to play with my brain, I’ve become quite a passive person, constantly living in my mind.
Should I continue to do it despite all of these difficulties, are there any people for whom this practice can be counterproductive?
Thanks
Hi Sen,
I’ve bee practicing relaxed awareness for 2 days and every time I do it, no thoughts of fear or “all the problem-ideas” that I usually have during the day, are not coming. Or they are coming just “small” ones…
Is it because I’m making effort in that I’m waiting for thoughts to come and I’m not really relaxed in this sense? (I’ve a feeling that partially I’m afraid of my thoughts now also, because 2 months ago I had a depression and all the thoughts that I had that time have sucked up my energy).
I also practiced “zen” meditation, so every time an idea comes, I’m used to come back to stillness again when I notice them. So I’m like used to supress them now.
So, how can I stay in relaxed state and not be drown in the thoughts and not try to interrupt them as in zen meditation? Could you please give me an advice?
Thanks
F, you must understand that though I use the term “relaxed awareness” it’s not meant to be a technique to “relax” and be passive, rather it’s a pointer to be “allowing” – relaxed-awareness means an awareness that’s totally allowing of what arises, in a fearless manner, without trying to suppress and without giving in to the pull of the momentum (of mind/emotions). You’ve just started the practice of relaxed-awareness, so you would need to give yourself more time with it (it takes time for this awareness to grow within) – you will notice that soon enough the barriers will be brought down and the suppressed emotions/thoughts will all start coming up, like a room that’s being lighted up which reveals all the objects therein. Don’t “try” to be still, that’s not freedom, that’s just discipline. There is a natural stability (what I call unwavering peace) that comes in when you’ve released the momentum of imbalance. You’ve have to develop the willingness to be “fearless”, to be open, instead of seeking refuge in a forced silence/peace, it’s a choice you need to make – if you are truly open to a release, the release will happen, but for that everything that’s suppressed needs to come up in your consciousness, and you need to be open to allowing it.
Dear Sen,
thanks for response, and references to Adyashnti and Mooji in other posts, their vids help me too.
Have a nice day.
You know what , im a 17 year old who has been suppressing my mind for the past 2 years, due to past bullying. Iv become aware and feel GREAT! Everything is starting to come naturally , and iv only been doing this for a few days. It really doesnt seem real how someone could figure this whole science out, but i appreciate it greatly. I really wish more people were exposed to this website. Thanks alot for letting me finally love living and teaching me how to finally start working towards being myself.
First of all, thanks for the bringing us the informations that really works.
Just one quick question here, when do we use relaxed awareness? Is when we feel the negative vibe in our body? or even when we are feeling good?
thanks a lot
Axrain
axrain,
This article can be of help with regard to if your wondering about using relaxed awareness to dissolve negativity: http://www.calmdownmind.com/what-is-awareness/
The last section talks about how awareness works with letting go to dissolve negativity.
Also, relaxed awareness can be used at any time with regard to any aspect of life, be it negative vibes or positive vibes, or even to understand mechanics of how something works (such as law of attraction, or even something such as mathematics). The point is awareness doesn’t have to be used for just dissolving negativity. From what I have noticed awareness originally for me was about dissolving negativity, but now I see it can be used to gain understandings of areas in life, such as gaining awareness about how light and dark natures work through openly watching them and observing how they/life works.
Relaxed awareness is a practice to connect with your being, to sense the intelligence that exists beyond our mind. It is recommended to spend 30 minutes a day practicing relaxed awareness. But remember it is nothing more than a pointer to relax and just be and not really a practice. Our minds will make a practice/technique out of it, but so is not what the pointer implies.
Hi Sen,
I would like some clarification please and hope you can help.
In one article you mentioned that our ‘attention’ is the fuel for thoughts; if we give negative thoughts our attention, it amplifies the negativity, but if we deprive a negative thought of our attention then it ebbs away.
On the other hand, you mention that when a thought arises in the mind we simply watch the thought and allow it to be without getting involved in it. But doesn’t watching a thought require attention? How do we deprive a thought of attention when we are supposed to watch it?
-thanks
Joe
Joe, the way I use “attention” is to imply the state of unconscious interest/belief/association/identification with a thought – may be “unconscious attention” would have been a better term. In a state of aware allowing one is not lost to identification, one is simply “open” to what arises. Identification is what causes the “re-fueling”, as does suppression – an aware openness allows a release.
Hi, I have been trying to ‘fix’ my mind now for a while and I think I could be over thinking everything. Is it a good sign that I am feeling a lot of fear at the moment, maybe 3 weeks after I started trying your approach? I’m feeling a lot of fear that I can’t figure out and I also feel irritated and agitated at times, especially in the morning it seems. Does it sound like I am on the right track and these are sympthoms of my minds survival instincts? Thanks in advance. Great sight with a lot of useful information. Would I be right to say that we should hear our minds but not listen..would that be the difference between attention and awareness?
Sean
When I had a moment of awakening, realizing I am not my space of thoughts, I spent a good time watching the mind without being influenced by it. Now that that “euphoric” moment of realization has passed, things kinda went back to “normal”.
My space of being still feels very “slippery”, most of the times I’m fully identified with the mind and giving in to it’s doubts and specially trying to answer them. Then there are times where I simply snap out of the thoughts, and I cant define what I feel in these moments. It’s kinda like when you’re having a nightmare and then suddenly wake up and feel a deep relief because you know that was just and illusion and nothing really happened with you. Except that the nightmare continues, but you know it’s all bogus. :p
It’s a unique sensation, a sense of complete fearlessness towards anything happening, where everything feels like a minor concern because you simply don’t care and fear what will happen next.
Dear Sen.
I have fully understood the pointer to conscious awareness and conscious allowing. – “CONSCIOUSLY INVOLVE YOURSELF WITH THOUGHTS AND FEELINGS, WITHOUT BEING AFRAID OF THEM. EXPLORE AND FIND OUT THE TRUTH BEHIND EVERYTHING”
What about the feeling of over excitement? I experience frequent bouts of over excitement? Is it okay to just bring an awareness to this behavior or find the truth behind this?
Also I have a fear of my car getting into an accident. This fear is because a lot of accidents take place in this country and the police procedure of getting it repaired through insurance are lengthy and time consuming. Is this the cause of my fear of car accidents or do i need to explore this fear?
You also mentioned about “BODILY FEELING” of depression. Does this mean increasing heartbeat, sweating, heavy breathing etc. I have such bodily feelings without actually knowing the root cause.
Ahlan, over-excitement is basically the momentum created through a lack of balance towards the dimension of boredom and possibly an imbalanced pre-occupation with the dimension of joy. I talk about it in the post – The Resistance of Over-excitement
As for your question about the fear of accidents, this thought is basically one the “catalysts” in you towards unearthing your imbalanced fear-energy. When these thoughts trigger anxious feelings in you, just be open to the feelings, don’t try to “think positive”, just stay allowing of the fear-energy fully without trying to hold distance. This openness will eventually cause the intensity of fear to keep ebbing away while also developing an inner freedom in you towards fear.
Sen, if I understood your comment correctly this means that whatever anxious thoughts we have are just a “catalyst” or “entrance” into our fear-energy and this would mean that working on specific fearful thoughts or fears through for example reasoning or changing ones point of view would just change the belief/thought – but we wouldn’t actually have an impact on the imbalanced fear-energy in our being/mind itself, and it would find another thought to trigger the same underlying energy again? Is this correct?
Sen,
Is your space of consciousness the same as your soul?
LQ, you can read the recent post – the experience of finding balance, there is a detailed section on what I mean by the term “consciousness”. It’s simply the capacity of awareness that’s present in you as a soul/being.