The Secret Within-Part 1
A special thanks to everyone who bought The Secret Within last week, propelling it briefly to #3 on Amazon’s new releases in the Emotional Mental Health category. Reviews posted on Amazon are greatly appreciated!
This post, along with two more that follow, provides a brief preview of the book.
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Part 1: Awakening To Awareness
One of my earliest childhood memories is of a day when, while playing with friends, I suddenly realized. “I am me!” This “Me” felt as if it originated within, separate from the outside world.
Suddenly, I felt alone and responsible; that my life was up to me. Isn’t that the story of all our lives? An internal drive to control events to satisfy a separate thought-generated “Me.” If we’re lucky, it works for a while, but inevitably, we are caught off guard.
For me, that happened at age 27, with the birth of our severely disabled son. No amount of hard work could fix this. I didn’t know where to turn or what to do. I felt lost.
How does one find happiness when circumstances beyond our control turn our lives upside down?
I was raised to believe that attitude determines altitude; fake it until you make it, or so the saying goes. After our son’s birth, I worked hard to maintain an outwardly cheerful and optimistic attitude despite the relentless medical challenges our new family faced. Inside, however, was a different story.
Nevertheless, I was determined to be happy. I pursued happiness as if I were preparing for a college exam. I knew I wasn’t the first person to face hardship. The answer to my problems must be out there somewhere. I assumed I would find it in wisdom literature. I filled a couple of bookcases with those types of books. They brought inspiration, but no solutions. After many years, I was forced to accept a depressing fact: the road to peace, by way of intellect, was impassable.
I began to look deeper into the source of my pain. Was it our circumstance, or my inability to stop thinking about it? Having failed to find answers on the outside, I turned inward, focusing my attention on awareness. Here’s what I found:
-Consciousness enables thought
-Thought establishes a context
-That context colors perspective
-Perspective creates our experience
The world comes to us not as it is, but rather as we are. Disturbing thoughts were the protagonist of my emotional pain. The challenge before me was to stop thinking about my problems. But how?
My earlier philosophical studies included Eastern traditions, many of which center on highly disciplined contemplative practices. I decided to pursue these on my own. I had no idea what I was getting into, but if such practices could free my mind of disturbing thoughts, it would be well worth the effort.
It was slow going at first, but gradually I discovered a new mode of awareness, one that did not rely on thought. As my mindfulness practice deepened, my familiarity with this new awareness grew, revealing an entirely new context for experience. My perspective began to change. Awareness, unfiltered by thought, brought forth peace and resilience. I call this period of my life “awakening to awareness.”
Previously, thought and awareness were one and the same for me. I hadn’t understood the significant role that thought-driven context and perspective play in shaping experiences. I hadn’t understood that thought created the Self, a tyrant that is never satisfied when things don’t go its way.
Letting go of thoughts took time. Thoughts are sticky. I had no idea that awareness absent from my own context and perspective was even possible. But I stuck with the mindfulness practices because of the peace they brought to my life.
When Self is no longer the center of our universe, a new context arises. Rather than life being about us, we find it’s the other way around; we are about life. This was a transformational revelation for me. In time, thoughts no longer had the power to carry me away to disturbing events or future anxieties; I became more present, more in touch with the simple feeling of life.
That was twenty years ago. Looking back, things are much clearer now. Consciousness is like a video camera that’s always on. Awareness shows us where the camera is pointed. When awareness is filtered through disturbing thoughts, we are distracted or even hijacked because those thoughts take us out of the moment to another time and place.
Practicing awareness in the absence of thought created greater resilience and peace. In short, I became happier.
Awareness is the operating system for experience. Letting go of thought is like restoring awareness to its original factory settings, before troubles set in.
Change is constant. No one can predict the future. We don’t have as much control over change as we’d like. When we encounter an unexpected change, we categorize it as either negative, neutral, or positive. If the change is neutral or favorable, we’re OK with it. However, if the change is negative, we are troubled and can’t stop thinking about it.
Does that sound like your life? If so, you don’t have to surrender your emotional well-being to circumstances. I call the ability to choose awareness free from thought Silent Fitness. Silent Fitness builds resilience to disturbing circumstances and the associated stress that would otherwise ruin our lives. I include an entire section on Silent Fitness in the book. You can purchase the book here.
I recently created a YouTube channel and uploaded a video interview with the publisher for Part 1: Awakening to Awareness. You can access it by clicking the link below the picture. I encourage you to subscribe to this channel, as I plan to post video content as a new feature on my blog.
Next week, I’ll present Part 2, which delves into Silent Fitness.
Thanks for supporting my journey!
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