Keeping it alive!

Insights are wonderful things. And what makes the difference in the quality of our lives is to create a context for living that invites insights as a way of life, and not just from time-to-time as an aberration or a big surprise.

This past week (Engaging…and awakening others) was filled with insights for all who were present. Like breathing in and breathing out, being willing to see, hear, consider and experience made way for that wave of insight and discovery to move in the body. Several a day, day after day, for five consecutive days. Imagine! We really can live like that!

Days filled with insights are the antithesis of days of habituation. With insight comes the opportunity to think differently, to engage differently and to BE differently. Each insight opens doors to new discovery. Each insight awakens us to the possibility that more insights await. And, before you know it, an expectation of insights in flow as a way of life becomes as much an expectation as our need to breathe in and breathe out.

Insights invite authenticity – and one moment of authenticity can penetrate through decades of the dense conditioning of cultural coma. No wonder authenticity… telling out truth and decloaking about what is meaningful to and for us… is so terrifying to us all. When habit disappears, we’re left with ourselves – and most of us have no idea who that is.

But how do we keep this incredible experience of insights-as-a-way-of-living alive, as a process; as our way of being? In a world that is shaped, pounded, pummeled and baked into a process of mindless repetition and habituation, it’s not always easy. We look around and see so many people in our lives just going through the day. Yes, for sure, they make decisions about where to go, when to arrive, what to do when they get there….but how many people in your life ever make mindful choices about what’s meaningful to them and why; or who they’re becoming; of what impact this choice will have on their tomorrow? Doesn’t happen much.

Keeping it alive becomes much more likely if we give ourselves permission to be in the presence of others who are seeking to stay awake! In a culture cloned for coma, having the desire to stay awake can quickly make us annoying and irritating to those who are choosing to sleep. Our over-prescribed, chemically-dependent populace is evidence that the struggle to wake up is often met with counter measures that ensure compliance to that culture of coma, all in the name of what’s ‘good’ and ‘reasonable/logical’. This is one of the reasons why those of us who are seeking to stay awake encourage others on this journey to stay connected.

Staying connected does not mean we all have to become each other’s best friends! What it does mean is that we have to be willing to engage with those people who we know a) are seeking to stay awake (because so many are not); and b) as a result, are willing to have the tough conversations about ourselves, without trying to make anyone do anything. Sharing our thoughts is not done to reveal them to anyone else – it’s done to reveal them to ourselves, ensuring that we stay present to them as they are flowing through us.

Staying connected can be as simple as creating your own blog and being willing to let people know it’s there. It can be as easy as connecting for coffee for a couple of hours once a week/month. It can be as accessible as having an email contact list and allowing yourself to be seen and heard by others you trust to honor the journey you’re on.

It can be as simple as:
* Breathe
* Follow the impulse
* Let yourself know the truth of your own experience
* Stay in the tough conversations – with yourself and with others
* Be willing to stand alone
* Shape or be shaped by your world

Where have I heard that before?

Breathing is good…..