The more I get into spirituality and meditation, the more I’m realizing how simple it is to live in peace. One morning I woke up at 4am, got up to finish some work and went back to my bedroom to read. As I was reading I felt a massive depression hit me. Like big dark clouds covering the sky within seconds. In the past I would always distract myself from depression, and it worked! I would play video games, watch TV, talk to friends, eat food, I would do anything I could to avoid the dreadful feelings of loneliness and depression. But this time I became curious. I quickly realized what I read in “the Power of Now” nearly 3 years ago: there are 2 perspectives, the pain, the body or the ego and the awareness, the spirit or the consciousness.
This “enlightenment” or “spiritual awakening” that everyone is buzzing about is simply just that realization. The final “aha” moment where everything clicks and these teachings become a way of life rather than an idea.
I decided to meditate on this depression and simply become aware of it. During this meditation I got to know myself more than I ever have in my entire life. I finally understood awareness, and how we can live in alignment with that, to experience peace and bliss at any moment. I call it “Awareness Matching”, the idea of living from that place, with the balance of being human of course. I will try my very best to explain how to practice this in a couple easy steps. Before I begin, I have not looked into eastern religions whatsoever with the exception of Taoism, but I’m guessing their philosophies are most likely similar to this.
1. Recognize the traits of your awareness.
Awareness or consciousness has a few obvious traits you’ll find during meditation. First of all, awareness is always present, it doesn’t say “oh he’s sad right now? I’ll be back when he’s feeling better.” Consciousness is all in, regardless of what is happening, why you think we distract ourselves so much? We simply want to shift our awareness to something less painful. So awareness is always accepting of what comes, it has no preferences, has no judgments. It cannot label, it sees everything as one, it sees no wrong, it sees no right. Everything just is. To many, I sound crazy, and I’ve been told, but once these facts really sink in, you will never have to feel bad or offended or hurt or scared ever again or at least no longer than a few minutes. We are human and these emotions are natural, but if we practice this idea of awareness matching, we can escape the bad emotions and let the good flood in.
2. Adopt the traits of your awareness.
Einstein said ”I want to know God’s thoughts — the rest are mere details.” By God, I do think he meant the universal intelligence that makes the world go round, that beats your heart one hundred thousand times a day, that digests your food, created the earth and every living and non-living thing on it. If you can learn to think like this universal intelligence it has been said that God is love. In so many religions from across the globe, the theme of God being love has come up countless times. Love is peace, it is joy, it is every emotion and the best emotion at the same time. Now if you can learn to live from this place you will again, always be in control of the way you feel. Which is a lovely thing.
So adopt the traits of your awareness, which is God, which is love. Begin to see the world without the filter of judgments and labels. Depression is no worse than sadness, it all just feels. Loneliness feels, joy feels. At this moment, any negative emotion fades and bliss to the forefront. Accept what comes, throw away all expectations and “go with the flow.” You will never be let down, better yet, you will be met with miracles and wonderful surprises if you simply allow life to carry you.
Finally, just stay in the moment, this present moment right here. I highly suggest checking out “the Power of Now.” It’s a wonderful read and it is the my favorite book about the present moment and how it is the key to reliving any and all suffer from your experience of life.
All of this is easier said than done, and I wish I could explain this better but even I am still practicing this. Getting better and improving each day, but it will always be a learning experience.
Cameron Dube, HUMBOWL
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