Why is “Awareness & Discernment” most important for joyful living? Well, first, let’s explore what “awareness and discernment” are, in the context of how I’m using these words.
FYI, this is a PBR (Pre-Broadcast Reflection) that I’m writing about today’s upcoming live stream for the “Holding Space for Love to be Seen,” Broadcast/podcast recording.
Awareness: No, I’m not suggesting the most important thing is the awareness of this or that social issue, or the awareness of what you want or don’t want. I’m pointing toward the awareness of… “Right Now.” This is to be awake to the life that is being lived in the present moment.
In contrast, there is the life we live in the past and future, which is to not be aware of Life at all, but rather it is to have our attention stolen. Stolen by what we imagine is missing, or by what we imagine is fearful.
AWARENESS, in this context, is about being able to DISCERN the difference between what is imagined to be happening and what is really happening.
The challenge here is that for most of us, our human conditioning has not nurtured this quality. In fact, the conditioning has gone in the opposite direction, placing an unwarranted (and misguided) value on thinking about the past and future, as it relates to connecting with joyful or peaceful living.
There are false assumptions and errors in perception that are passed down generationally and shared among human beings. These false assumptions, as innocent as they are, are not accurate reflections of reality; meaning, they do not see what is really happening, they are seeing a projection and then confusing that projection for reality.
Simply put, we are not AWARE of what is actually happening. Rather, we are lost, consciously, in a dream about what is happening.
Spiritually speaking, this has been pointed to for thousands of years throughout a thousand different spiritual traditions; all attempting to communicate the same invitation. The invitation is to… Wake up from the dream of what you imagine and SEE what is actually happening.
In shorter words: Be Still, and Know.
For the human journey that seeks more wellness, joy, peace, love, and all the other qualities we desire to experience, there is the required path of unlearning. This is the great unraveling of everything we think we know, which is really nothing more than assumptions based on a false premise.
In this path of unlearning, there is the requirement of humility and the invitation of opening your heart.
For many, humility is the hardest part; it can seem overly scare and unsafe to acknowledge just how deeply we… “Don’t Know.” Especially, if we’ve built a life and identity around what we think we know and what we think/believe to be true about ourselves, others, and life.
For others, opening the heart seems too dangerous of an option because, in their (innocent) misunderstandings about life, opening the heart has only seemed to lead toward more pain. This is incredibly understandable, given the confusion about life that has been passed down to us. However, this trepidation to opening the heart is based on a misunderstanding about what is real and true.
As we become more aware of the present moment, and increase our capacity to discern the difference between reality and imagination, then… Joyful Living is the natural and effortless result. Joyful living is automatic.
This natural consequence is also what is completely missed, in the social confusion about life and being human. The assumption, which must be unlearned, is that joyful living is the result of “doing” something, achieving something, or… “Not doing” something. This simply isn’t true, for this assumption assumes that Joy (or whatever is craved) is not fundamental, is not already part of life, and exists in something you call “the future.”
There is no future in reality, and not past for that matter, there is only NOW.
In this NOW, beyond the confusion, is everything that is craved. The only question is… “Do you see it?” This ability to SEE it, IS your capacity of Awareness and Discernment.
That is why… Awareness & Discernment is the most important thing, as it relates to joyful living. Because, it’s already been given to you, and the journey of being human is a journey of waking up to this extraordinary fact of Life.
