Awareness

Beneath the judgment layer of the mind
is the witness who sees what is going on
without judging it.

The witness neither resists thoughts
nor identifies with them,
but simply observes them as they come and go.

When we get quiet, we become the witness.
Thoughts come and go, but we know
that we are not those thoughts.

We rest in something larger than thought,
You can call it awareness.
You can call it silence.

It is the place from which thoughts spring
and to which they return.

There, mind is clear, like the surface of a lake
when there is no wind.
There, mind is at peace. 

Paul Ferrini 

 

Melanie 2012

 

At Light Tree we have been sharing ways that we stay with awareness, especially when the world calls us to anger and judgement over situations that appear to be unfair. Certainly there are no shortages of opportunities to practice! 

We have come to see that it is futile to keep joining the victim-hood merry-go-round to keep the story going. The sooner we recognize what is happening and move on the better. Why keep mucking around in the pain for longer than we have to? Yes, we may need to feel the bodily sensations as fully as we can, but then we move on.

When this happens and we begin to turn our confusion and misunderstanding over to Spirit there is not always the immediate relief that we might hope for. But if we stay with our forgiveness practice we join the flow of life and choose not to join with the obstacles that appear on our screen.

 

We keep choosing love over and over until we suddenly realize there has been a shift. Just when we least expect it healing occurs and we have crossed the stream that seemed as if it was blocking the way. We laugh when we realize that we had almost convinced ourselves that we will drown this time for sure.

Nope, just another bad dream that seemed real at the time. We have become the witness and are not a victim of the world we see….What a relief.