What is real Spiritual Awakening? #Stoicism #Mindfulness

Usually if you are not conscious of how your mind operates and many people still are not conscious of how their mind operates, they blame that is all the source of their troubles outside themselves. No matter how much you practice positive thinking which is of course a wonderful thing to do, there will always be things that are problematic; life always challenges you no matter what stage you're at in your life you get new challenges even if you are highly conscious or in let's say enlightened even the enlightened person still gets challenged by life situations. The beginning of an ‘awakening” for people out of their suffering is the the realization that most of the psychological suffering arises from stories that you tell yourself in your mind about situations… Stories or narratives that you are telling yourself about your life or your life situation.

In this video, I share with you a practical exercise I recommend for the next time you find yourself in a situation in which suffering arises…

As a practical exercise to introduce

this teaching to people I sometimes recommend that the next time you find yourself in a situation in which suffering arises… (From just feeling irritated or upset about something minor or on the other end of the spectrum where you feel deep despair, depression and sadness or anxiety). You can practice this technique which is called “Prosoche” in Greek Philosophy and “Mindfullness” in Buddhist philosophy..

Let's say it's at the airport and you're in a lineup that is moving very slow.. or you could be a traffic jam or on the telephone nobody's answering, just to get automated message?

You're bored, then you get angry and irritated…?

Now I recommend the following

practice. Ask yourself,? “How would I experience this situation if I did not add any

interpretation or any thought to it how would I experience this moment

if I didn't add any thought to it if I did not interpret it in any way if I just allowed this to be as it is without

burdening it with this baggage of thought?”?

-If I just practiced no thinking or judgement-

In other words, if you didn’t say , “This is bad! This is terrible! This sucks!”... and all the other thoughts that come after that…?

Because when you say “This is bad!”,? then the next thought comes is, “ My life is bad! My life sucks! F-this!” or “Poor me! Why does this happen to me?” and down those types of “toxic-tunnels”...as I call them.

So if you just said “Time-Out!” to this compulsive habit…even for? afew minute….How would I experience this moment?

Without adding any thought to it…just being a witness to what is happening…

This would bring your attention into the present moment and so your attention moves into the

Present alone and in this present moment you're standing there you're breathing…

You're looking around, observing, without getting irritated…Just observing…in silence…You pay attention to yourself to you. You're breathing, you're perceiving things people and suddenly you may find that this moment

is actually free of suffering…You are inwardly free.

The suffering was not caused by the external circumstance it was caused by the narrative in your mind

about this circumstance… That's a huge distinction and this is to begin to live consciously…?

Until you realize that you have been living unconsciously which, in spiritual terms means to be totally identified with whatever your mind is saying to you…?

It means you totally believe the narrative or story that pops into your mind, without question…

This voice is telling you, “See how bad things are… “or “This is how things should be…”...or “Why isn’t reality living up to my expectations..?!...Things should be different!”?

Thousands of years ago the Greek philosopher

Epictetus taught that, most of your??suffering is derived from what your mind is telling you about the situation but not from the situation itself… And that's an enormous realization and that can be the beginning of liberating yourself, to see that the narrative in your mind is mostly what is causing the suffering…

Sure there are circumstances where an external situation may cause physical discomfort or pain… For example you hurt your leg or your back is hurting…here and now…but again what you tell yourself at that very moment is very important and you must be conscious of your thoughts.

In other words, you can feel pain, but you don’t have to feel suffering…

You begin to realize that most suffering arises from the mental narrative about a situation or about your circumstances but not from the circumstances themselves.

If you focus on the negativity, it will literally block your brain from concentrating on solutions and ways out of the situation.

The Stoic School of philosophy, tells us to have the serenity to accept the things we cannot change, the courage to change those things we can change, and have the wisdom to know the difference..?

So you can begin to practice this every time you feel

Anger or other such thoughts arising in you, blaming people in situations and saying this shouldn't be happening…?

Your Spiritual Awakening or if you prefer your Psychological Liberation, will be dependent on you becoming aware of what your mind is saying, the story that you're telling yourself, about situations but also the stories you're telling yourself about your life circumstances in general.

There are millions of people in this world who will live with a very painful sense of identity, they perceive themself as carrying a heavy “burden”... so they live with this heaviness and they don't realize what this heaviness is actually a narrative that they tell themselves… and they say, “ That's me, all the things that have happened to me are Dreadful things… in the past that people did to me or if circumstances could have played out differently or maybe even , “I’m to blame for all the bad things that I did..” so you get a very heavy identity builds up and that becomes your sense of self and people don't realize it's a it's a story you're continuously telling yourself in your mind…or stories that your family has told you…And you are so identified with a story that you don't exist without it…It’s become your life-story, your identity.?

In reality, your True Self, your Free Self, is? outside of the story… as the Greek philosopher Socrates, or Buddha or all other great teachers taught…

So now when you realize that this is the case, this means that at this point of realization another dimension of Consciousness has arisen in you which is not your mind…?

We could call it 'Awareness' or we could call it 'Presence'..

You could say “deeper or higher dimension” of Consciousness that rises to the surface if you allow it.

If you give it some space…some silence…

This technique of withholding the incessant flow of “inner chatter” is called “Prohairesis” in Greek, and was often taught by Aristotle and the Stoics…

This? ability to know what your mind is doing will transform your life quality…

It’s quite simple…just observe your thoughts, without judgment, and simply say…”That’s interesting…I see what my mind is doing now…” Simply observe it and then say , “Let’s see what would happen if we just ‘turned-off’ that negative judgement…” Approach this experience with curiosity…like a scientist, tinkering with a radio…tuning into another frequency…The frequency of “Inner Peace”, rather than the frequency of “Toxic Stress”...

And then the wonderful thing is when you allow this moment to be as it is, when you lower the intensity of the story, your sense of identity shifts and expands…

At first it will be abit uncomfortable because you used to have this old story.. Of you, your past, your memories, your beliefs, that you were so certain about…

These stories that have accumulated in my the back of your mind from the past, that you’'ve told yourself all these years…

“This happened to me, this is what's wrong with me, this is why I'm not good enough or this person did this to me..” or whatever…?

And now when the awareness arises your sense of who you are your sense of identity begins to shift from being lodged in the conceptual mind…now goes to a deeper place and you realize

who you are in your essence is actually the Awareness itself

and that is a an amazing realization…A personal liberation…

In other words this is a dimension of Consciousness beyond ego-thinking…

This shift in Consciousness gives you a glimpses Who You Really Are. The Observer of the Story, the “Meta-Mind” beyond the chattering mind… This grand Presence beyond your physical brain and body…Herein is your Inner Peace and Clarity, that will let you make the best out of every situation.