Opening Awareness

I was away on a long meditation retreat over the holidays. It was profound. I never imagined that serious meditation could actually be a training ground for a sane and purposeful life. And that is what it literally is. I have been meditating for several years now, and it has radically changed my relationship to life, but this retreat added another dimension... depth.

To take responsibility for one's relationship to their mind is no small task. But you can really start to see that we actually have to start with that if we ever intend to evolve. Otherwise we repeat the same reinactments of the scenes of our life with slightly different twists over and over again... half aware that we are doing it. This is impersonal, meaning all of us humans do it, unless we get serious about taking ourselves on.
My experience has been that if in meditation I take responsibility for dropping my compulsive need to attach to every thought and make assumptions about what that means about me, me, me, me... then space opens up; awareness expands. It is quite beautiful, and ultimately liberating. And extraordinarily challenging at times. But what else are we going to do?!
Do you feel a sense of responsibility to help make the world a better place? Most people I meet do. If we are really serious about this, then it has to start with the individual. What would it mean to evolve ourselves... to consciously evolve ourselves? Ultimately culture changes due to shifts in value systems, and this happens from "the inside out." We have to ask ourselves what we want to perpetuate, what we want to consciously create, and what we want to leave behind.

It is easy to fall into ruts with eating habits. Easy to be narrowly focused on the familiar. Having Celiac disease, forces me in a way, to think outside the box about food. For this I am eternally grateful.
When I ask myself what I want to leave behind to may space for the new, the answer is my unconsciousness. I want to become more and more and more aware. I care deeply about the evolution of culture, and I don't intend to be asleep during such a creative a dynamic process!
I notice that what "puts me to sleep," so to speak, faster than most anything is eating poorly.
I'm sure you know what I mean. Some foods and ways of eating just zombifiey the psyche and the vehicle that it occupies! Do we really want that, do we really have time for that?

What has worked to help get me "off" the addictive foods that are nothing less than harmful is to focus on all of the beautiful and stunning whole foods that I can have that love me back, that open up my mind, clear my senses, and provide clean fuel for my physical body. When I really do this, it is impossible for me to feel deprived!
The earth provides such richness and diversity. Literally gifts for us. It is a process of shifting your attention to what has real depth and value. Deep down, that is what we all long for. And deep down we all long to truly live, truly give, truly create! Well we are the ones choosing in every moment whether or not this is the life we live.
It sounds corny and simple, but its the truth: What you put in your mouth has great consequence. See it as an act that is no way separate from your very own philosophy on life. "How you do anything, is how you do everything." Do you care or not, are you conscious or not? Stop long enough to see that what you put into your body in not just in service of the immediate gratification of the taste buds. Open your awareness to the rest of your body, to the rest of the planetary body. I'll bet what you'll find is far more compelling than that junk food! :)

Just because we can does not mean we should!

I've been thinking about how incredible the quality of life is for the average American. Some may argue this, but really, in general, we are afforded luxuries that kings and queens did not have even 150 years ago! We can eat from many different cuisines, we can make a trip to a grocery store and there we find types of foods right at our fingertips. No slaving in the fields most of the year to create what will become our sustenance, our means for survival. We have rather high cleanliness standards. We have regulated sewage and in most places garbage that is handled. We have the luxury of cars, or buses to get around. We have TVs and computers and cell phones.

Many gen X's and gen Y's have been raised with the perpetual question of "what do you want?" Most of us have a rather unconscious track running constantly in the mind that says something like "what do I want?" "I need this" "I don't want that" "will this make me happy?" "if I could only have that" "if only I didn't have this" It is a relentless self referencing machine fueled by fear and desire.
You see, at this point in our development our basic survival needs have been met (if you are reading this then you are most likely in that camp), and because of that we have a whole lot of time alone with our own thoughts! Couple that with a culture that places emphasis above all else on the individuals wants, needs, and desires, and you get what is referred to as the highly narcissistic predicament of "post modern" conditioning.
What I have been looking into is how I/we can first off, really look honestly into this reality and individually own it, and then get over ourselves, and shift our focus to the reality of... "its not all about me!" We are part a stunning, constantly unfolding, universal process. Its important to adjust our reference points in order to reflect this reality.

Most of my patients suffer far more from the fall out of this postmodern conditioning (constant self referencing and self obsession), then they do from physiological symptoms. The "mind" problems are definitely leading the way in terms of what prompts folks to seek help. And the reality is, because we are a body/mind/spirit, that perceived suffering of the mind, if not taken on (and I'm not talking about taking anti-depressants), leads to physical problems.
So I was thinking, where can we start? What can we do to begin to take this on? Simplicity! Simplify your life and you will see that your mind does the same. When you begin to simplify you will start to see through the unending madness of the mind. You will start to see that you are something more than your fears and desires. You will start to see that you are not the center of the universe. But we have to chose simplicity over confusion to even begin to see this.
We have a million options, a million choices. We are bombarded with marketing and media that says "buy this "do that" and the promise is that whatever "it" is will finally be the thing to make us happy.
Simplify and you will begin to taste some peace. What I mean is, just because you can, doesn't mean you should. Just because you can do 5 things at once does not mean you should. Try just driving and paying attention, try just eating one or two whole foods and pay attention to what you are doing... enjoy the moment. Try choosing not to pay attention to the narcotic voice that you (we all) have on auto pilot in our heads... choose to simply focus on 1 thing.. whatever you happen to be doing in that moment.
In terms of food: Just because you can eat junk every day, or sweets every night, or diet pop every day, does not mean you should! The power to choose what you put in your mouth is a truly amazing gift! Do you realize how much time, evolution, blood, sweat, and tears had to come before us to afford us not only all of our options, but also the level of consciousness that exists in order to be able to self reflect, discern and choose?? This is truly a gift, and we disregard and abuse that privilege.
Its time that we grew up, and actually acted appropriately in regards to our level of privilege.
Join me this month, the beginning of this new year, and ask yourself if you really should do it (whatever that might be), just because you can. Inquire into what simplicity is, and experience the freedom of letting go of complexity... because you choose to.
Happy New Year!
Tiffany