Awareness:
“The moment you become aware of the ego in you, it is strictly speaking no longer the ego, but just an old, conditioned mind-pattern. Ego implies unawareness. Awareness and ego cannot coexist.” ~Eckhart Tolle There resides in all of us an actor, and an observer who has awareness of what we are doing, and how we are interacting with the world around us. Who is controlling your awareness?
The actor takes actions to guide our destiny, these decisions are based on our Samskaras, and our belief systems.
The awareness within us is seldom in charge of our actions. Many prefer to identify with the part of us governed by our five physical senses. We allow this limited part of us to give us an accurate view of the world around us, but if we chose to guide our awareness from within we would have a completely different understanding.
Do you remember your first kiss?
I remember my first kiss. Her name was Becky, she was so pretty. She had baby blue eyes, and long dirty blonde hair.
Becky loved using makeup to enhance her appearance. Special awareness was paid to her eye shadow, she used a few different colors to achieve the look she desired. Her lips were colored a slightly different shade of red than her natural lip color, nothing too drastic.
We were teenagers sitting on a bench in a nearby park to our homes holding hands. I still remember the smell of her perfume as I gazed into her eyes talking about the movie we had just seen.
I couldn’t help but lean forward, and kiss her lips that she had just applied a fruity flavored lip gloss to a short time earlier. She didn’t resist, and kissed me back with equal passion.
I think my mind drifted off into an abyss of nothingness as tingly sensations coursed through my body.
Bring your awareness now to your first kiss for a moment.
What was their name?
What did they look like?
Where did it happen?
We all remember our first kiss.
We all remember our first job as well.
My first job was working in a Ponderosa restaurant bussing tables and washing dishes for fifteen cents an hour over minimum wage. I started working there shortly after I got out of high school. It was a sloppy job, I went home smelling like garbage most nights.
I remember whomever was in charge of buying the drinking glasses was much more focused on cost than quality.
These glasses had the habit of exploding after we removed them from a hot dishwasher, and placed them in a plastic rack that held two dozen glasses for easy transport to the cashier area for customer use.
Of course the management team thought we were just being careless until they saw the glasses break into a plethora of pieces with their own eyes. Their awareness of what was happening changed their mindset.
Luckily the drinking glasses were made of safety glass so cleaning the broken glass wasn’t too dangerous.
It wasn’t long after I started working at the restaurant that Becky started working there. I hadn’t seen her in a couple of years prior to that. She was in a relationship now, and even prettier than before.
It is a small world, and life goes on. After I stopped working there, I never saw her again. Even in this modern age of social media I have never tried to find her. Sometimes the past is best left in the past.
Be aware now of your memories of your first job.
What was your first job?
How long did you work there?
Do you still keep in touch with your former co-workers?
The older that you are the less likely it is that you still call any of them friends.
There is one thing that is certain, I for a brief moment took control over your awareness.
I made you think about your first kiss. You saw that person clearly, and tasted their lips again, didn’t you?
I then directed your awareness to your first job. I made you remember it, your experiences there, and the people that you worked with.
If we are not aware of our thoughts, and are not directing them as a good pilot should, then outside forces such as people, circumstances, and events will take over our awareness, and lead us down a path unbecoming of our true nature.
It is human nature to allow our emotions to guide our thinking and determine our awareness. We must rise above that which we believe is our true reality and embrace the awareness of our true selves.
All too often we allow our memories, samskaras, and our interpretation of the life experiences of others, and how we would react if we found ourselves in a similar scenario to guide our thinking.
Yes, as amusing as it is to the observer within us, we not only react in a negative hostile manner to experiences from our life choices, but we also adapt our own awareness of the experiences of other people and allow ourselves to react equally as hostile to situations and life experiences that didn’t even involve us.
How is that for an anomaly?
If we are ignorant of Buddha’s teachings, of Anatta no-self, and of the impermanence of all things, than directing our awareness inward will be more challenging.
Do not let outside forces determine your reactions. These reactions (samskaras) will determine your future not only in this lifetime, but the next lifetime as well.
Do not let the behavior of others disrupt your inner peace. The only answers are within.
Who is controlling your thought process? Is it you, or is someone else determining your awareness?
Come join us on Facebook Click here...
Previous Blog Article:
Coronavirus Pandemic Panic
You Might Also Like:
Awareness-quotesKeep Moving Forward Quotes - 49 Quotes For When Life’s Challenges Get Rough.
The Monkey Mind
Six ways to stop Overthinking:
Bodhidharma Quotes - 51 Bodhidharma Quotes to Zen up your mind
What is Nirvana
Enlightened T-Shirts
Embracing Nirvana is a participant in the Amazon Services LLC Associates Program, an affiliate advertising program designed to provide a means for sites to earn advertising fees by advertising and linking to Amazon.com.
All links on this site are subject to being sponsored content for which we will receive financial compensation.
