Liberation On My Lunchbreak

Each one of us has the ability to listen to the wisdom of the inner self, each one of us is responding each day to it as it attempts to grab hold of our attention.  We either respond with ignorance, or awareness. Both responses shape our lives in their own unique ways.
It is obvious how an ignorant relationship with the inner divine can impact the quality of your life. There will always be a sense of lack that accompanies that choice, a sense of not being fulfilled, or feeling incomplete. The fluidity of your life will be jammed and your sense of direction and accomplishment will be random. When you are listening though, when you are bringing your senses into alignment for the purpose of understanding the wisdom within, the light that spreads itself across the sky seems brighter. But also, the darkness can seem darker and more frightening. This is why it seems risky; because, in order to truly understand your truth, you must know all of its ways of expressing itself. Beneath it all stirs bliss and joy. The sunlight of awareness allows it to emerge freely from the soil reaching and spreading across the open space that is your life. To suppress it and ignore it is to stifle its ability to flourish. The flourishing of bliss is the unfolding of your purpose and life without purpose, without direction, is closer to a life dying than it is to one living.
Each thing in nature is expressing and exploring its ability to move and thrive no matter what elements it faces. Plants and animals push with a tender balance of grace and force through the field of their own consciousness simply because it is what they were born to do; it is what the Divine asks of them so that it may through each thing explore the delight of living. When we are moved by our bliss, we open the tunnel through which the grace and force of God can pass. When that tunnel is blocked, all forms of dis-ease, mental and physical, manifest. But the dis-ease is also God sliding into and in between the fibers of the most gross and most visible aspects of our awareness so that he can become apparent to us.  The more this is ignored, the more violent this force becomes.
Clarity comes from consciousness, as does the reward of a life filled with joy and happiness. Often in order to bring clarity, we must manage our way through mock and mire. In order to eat from a clean plate it must first be scrubbed. From this lucidity emerges the talents of the divine driver; the heart at the wheel set ablaze like the Sun, and as the sun pierces the sky with unwavering force and direction, so too will this wise warrior hero guide you through the landscape of your life.

from Liberation on My Lunch Break, poems & insights by Jason Galbraith
Without awareness we are lost, we are like robots moving along mindlessly, destroying our lives and the Earth’s gifts. We are reckless and careless, hoping for an afterlife Eden to save us. Lack of awareness lessons our accountability to our body, our families, our wallets and our planet. When we aren’t conscious of our footprint, we are less likely to care how damaging a footprint we leave behind. I see it often in many people; I’ve seen it in myself. We liter our minds with negative thoughts, we liter our bodies with toxic food, we liter our Earth with plastics and aluminum. We use up its resources faster than it can replace them.
Practicing awareness is practicing true love; it is the practice of becoming conscious of your actions and realizing that what you do impacts all life. This is true wisdom, this is accountability. When we live with gracefulness, with compassion for our neighbor and ourselves, we are delivered to the joy that resides in the present moment. When we are aware of the bliss within, we will value the bliss “with out”.

 Awareness Exercise…
Spend the next day or the next week practicing graceful movement. As you make your morning tea or coffee, be aware of how your fingers hold the tea bag as it dips into the steaming water or how the grains of coffee spill delicately off the spoon into the filter. Observe if the gathering grains make any sound. Be aware as you pour your morning beverage into your cup and listen as the liquid gathers and reaches for the top. Feel your hand as it holds the cup and your arm as it lifts the cup to your lips. Feel each muscle harmoniously working to fulfill your request. Taste the beverage. What does it taste like on the front of your tongue, on the back of your tongue? Is it warm or hot, is it refreshing. What are the effects in the body after drinking it? Do you feel more alert, do you feel quenched? Can you follow it all the way down into your belly?
Use this way of looking with every little thing that you do as if you are performing a great work of art. Try it while you are driving your car or communicating with your friends. Try it at work, listen to the keyboard as you type, your pen as you write and feel the pen in your hand. Enjoy the ability to write, and appreciate the mastery that went into making these instruments of communication. Everything has within it a beautiful, artful intention. Touch that beauty and art with alert awareness.