A New Awareness

Through understanding we become aware. Things trouble us when we do not understand them. All sorts of stories appear in our heads as we try to make sense of things and often it is these stories which make us ill. But all that is needed is understanding. When we are aware of who we are and how things work, nothing can trouble us. When we understand, we are at peace.

Everything is a memory. The only reference point for life is our past because that is all that has happened to us. We only have the past to go on when we consider our present or future. When something troubled us in the past, the memory of it got wired into our nervous system. Later in life, when we find the same situation repeating itself, the body automatically acts out according to the memory it is holding. It is an automatic unconscious pattern of behavior, yet it is based on the past and has nothing to do with the reality of now.

Lets take a typical scenario. Perhaps we once went to the doctor with some symptoms and were told that we were suffering from this or that 'disease'. Our body/mind immediately learned what it feels like to have this so-called disease (label) and stored the feelings and reactions away in its memory banks.

Then, one day, we feel a familiar contraction, a tightening somewhere in the body. These happen all the time, sometimes we know why, sometimes they are just reactions to a memory, either way they are completely harmless. However, the busy mind notices the discomfort and out of habit dives into its memory banks to try and understand what is going on. Since the mind only has the past to go on, it puts 2 and 2 together and makes the assumption that this contraction must be a repeat of that 'disease' we were once told we had…and so the story begins. Of course, once the mind/body is convinced that this is the case, it recalls all the symptoms and experiences and starts to play them out. At this point, whilst the symptoms appear to be manifesting, we are convinced that we have the 'disease' all over again.

However, with some new awareness, we can see that this is not the case at all. The symptoms are just a reaction of the body to the story in the mind. The story is just a reaction of the mind to a contraction in the body. The contraction itself is probably just a reaction to a memory, something that flew in and out of the mind so quickly we didn’t even notice it. The entire chain of events from initial meaningless contraction to ultimate symptom is so quick that we don't see it unfolding and we end up getting caught in the drama of believing we are sick or suffering from that 'disease' again. Then, we tend to dwell on the story; we tell doctors, family and friends and in so doing we empower the symptoms even further.

The tragedy of it all is that the symptoms and suffering are based on nothing more than a memory. The mind/body has simply gone into 'repeat' mode because it has no idea what else to do. A memory from the past has created the entire illusion. 

It is important not to believe our perceptions or our symptoms. The experience has no actual foundation. It is just a reaction based on the past. If we don’t believe the ‘illness’ story our symptoms will fade away! The key is to honor them and be the space for them but not believe them. Simply notice them and let them be a part of us. Don’t push them away, don’t pull them in. Just gently notice them. Hold them in our awareness as we would gently hold a new born baby. They just want to be welcomed so they can come home to rest.

Almost 100% of our thoughts, feelings and symptoms are based on memories, on old programming. They are just repeats, therefore they are NOT real TODAY! They may look real, in the same way that when we replay a film it looks exactly the same as it did the first time, however, this time round the only thing driving our repeat film is a memory.

What we need is new awareness. With greater understanding our awareness grows and we become less troubled, less stressed and so experience fewer 'symptoms'. As we grow in awareness, we feel stronger, make better decisions, enjoy life more and reveal our innate loving nature more naturally. We start to live free from the burden of past experience and free from the burden of projecting past experience into our future. Instead, we live in the only reality that actually exists ... NOW.

Imagine how fresh we would feel if we weren't always thinking about the past or the future. If we were totally open to this day as it unravels. If we could just gently wade into the stream that is life and instead of furiously swimming in the direction that we think we're supposed to go, we could simply lie back and let it take us wherever it wants to. How free and peaceful would life be if we just let go of all the stories and lived in the moment of NOW?

The only thing that will actually ever trouble us in our life is a contraction. The rest is all a story. 


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