Your life is going on and on and on. This is a good thing of course and your brain is designed to keep it this way. Part of your brains function is to simplify as much as possible and to help you feel good which it is very good at. Now you may think that you are always feeling as good as you want this is because your brain sees keeping things the same as more comforting than change. So even what may not be good for you is perpetuated. Your brain is very good at keeping everything the same, in fact it helps to enhance whatever has already been experienced. The way the brain sees this is, you must want it – you chose it, even if not consciously.

The easiest course for your life is for more of the same and that is likely what you have been experiencing. This of course may be all good if you are totally satisfied with everything. But if you want anything about your life to be different, that’s not what your brain is in charge of. When your day is completely full of what you already think, feel and do where does the new come in? When your unconscious and conscious though are consumed with what is now going on, which I assure you they are, all of your attention is there as well. Your day to day life is essentially a habit that continues to feed and support itself, keeping you locked in as it is.

What happens is that you can become blind to other things, that are different. How this affects your life is this – You can become so involved with your repeating thoughts which increase in importance by default that you are not even aware of what you are not doing, what you are missing, and what is deeply important to you. I ran across a video that illustrates this. Pay attention to the guy speaking and do what he instructs you to do. Perception

This attention blindness keeps us doing what we have done and away from what is different and unrelated. You’ve heard the saying, “you can’t see the forest through the trees.” You may not see things that are right in front of you because your attention is already taken up with something. When focusing on the trees that are right in front of you, you are not able to see the scope of the entire forest and it’s varied landscapes.

Many of the things that you have grown to think are important because of your continual involvement, may not be so important to you at a deeper level. As you focus your attention on something it’s importance increases just from the increased presence of the involved thoughts and actions. With this higher level of importance your brain gives it more attention too making it even more prominent in your conscious and unconscious thought, thus many other things are completely shut out of your awareness.

It is important to know that you can really only focus on one thing at a time. When you are ‘multi-tasking’ you are actually jumping quickly back and forth from one thing to another. There is only so much of this that your brain is capable of doing. Plus, there is the time utilized factor. There are 24 hours in a day and when you have allowed the repetitive thoughts to inhabit those hours you are awake, there is no more time for other, new thoughts. You can easily use up your day pretty much thinking about the same things as you did yesterday and the day before. So where does new thinking fit it?

Essentially your life is easily consumed with what you have already experienced, have thought about a lot and have established feelings for. This is almost too simple. Allowing your daily life to continue on in the same way, as your brain helps you do, you are actually preventing yourself from seeing and experiencing anything new and different.

You do however have the ability and the right to make changes in your life anytime you want, you must choose to first and then follow through with persistence and determination to override what is already established in your mind. Your real power as a human lies with your ultimate command of your thought. Just because your brain functions the way it does does not prevent you from aver changing any of it. Where the problem lies is that most of us have a pattern of allowing our minds to perpetuate the same thoughts and experiences over and over rather than making frequent changes. Making frequent changes and adjustments to your thinking can become part of your normal operating system once do do it for a while. Your brain will support this just as it has supported anything else you have focused on.

To change any of your repeating life experience you will need to assert your command of your thought and make choices about what you do and don’t want to be your life experience. Just be aware of how your brain works, it wants to keep you comfortable by keeping things as they are.

As you work on change you may experience some of the following:

• Un-supportive ‘Mind Chatter’,
• Negative thoughts,
• Doubt and worry,
• Challenging your ability and self-esteem,
• Brain fog, clouding your thought,
• Anxiety,
• Distraction,
• Short term gratification,
• and more.

Don’t let this stop you, you don’t need to remain blinded by your existing life experience. Realizing what may occur up front you will be less likely to be influenced by it. Determination, persistence and the belief that you are fully capable will help you learn to make the wanted adjustments to your thought and what you focus on. It’s your mind, use it to your benefit.

Are you a done with yourself or are you continuing to discover more about yourself, seek personal growth and development?

You see it all around how science keeps going, discovering more and more about the world and universe we exist in. As technology improves, which is change, science is able to understand more about our universe plus obtain more ways to describe it all. For example, this picture of a supernova remnant was not possible just a few years ago even though the object was there.

This is how life is, ever expanding in its awareness of itself. Plus, the increasing awareness of humans to what is already there. Much of the change seems to not exist or that the change is very slow, but it is there. Everything in the universe grows and changes we are certainly not excluded. We have the ability to continue to change and grow throughout our entire life, including our final change here, death.

But at the same time there are so many people who are ‘checking out’ so early. Getting tired, feeling aches and pain, feeling beat down - telling themselves they are wearing out -that it’s too late. I’m not trying to tell you that pains should be ignored, but how you look at them can have a huge affect on the power they play in your life.

The biggest factor to your growth is your thinking. What you think about your life and your growth determines what you see, feel and do. If you see possibilities - you will see them, and if you see the ‘end’ in your mind, you will see it in your life. If you think you are too tired, sick or whatever - you are.

Time to check yourself:

· How are you the same today as you were 10 years ago?
· How are you different?
· What are you doing that you thought were not possible for you a few
years ago?
· Do you look at things in the same way you did several years ago?
· Do you see possibilities for your life or feel hopeless?
· Do you feel that your life continues to move on or do you feel stuck?
· Are you open to new ideas and concepts or do you want to keep things
the way they are?
· Do you feel your problems hold you back, sap your energy and nix your
motivation?
· Are your dreams alive or have you given up on what you want in your
life?

Can you change any of this? Well yes you can - much of it. Many times we let one thing affect all of our life. We allow our attitude and outlook to be clouded when one thing has happened when we don’t need to. Certainly there are situations where something may temporarily set you back but it does not need to be for all time. Only you can determine if you are temporarily off or if it has been too long. You will need to ask yourself honest straight questions about it. The easy answer is of course, “I will just suffer a little longer” but maybe not the best!

The truth is that a broken foot does not come with a bad attitude, that’s our choice. A marital separation does not come with resentment that carries through all of your life, that’s our choice. Because something did not work out for us does not mean nothing ever will, that’s our choice to think so. The thing to be careful for is that when something that appears negative happens don’t allow it to affect all of your life any more than is necessary.

Ask yourself some key questions that help enhance your self awareness so you discover how you think and feel about everything. There is always more out there for you if you allow it and if you are open to recognize it. When you are clouded by negative reactions it may not seem so, but you can always change and grow. Your outlook on life is a choice - yours. You are never done, unless you choose.

John Halderman - More on daily life actions to support a better life,
http://www.effectivepersonaldevelopmentblog.com

By Jarett Sabirsh

A quick word of caution before we begin. This article is for serious students of spiritual truth only. The traditional orthodox Christian reading this, or the atheists out there, or those with strong unrelenting opinions and perceptions, or those with strong likes and dislikes, or those who automatically think society is based on truth, or those who think their current thought processes are already the highest level of truth, may not be ready for this article.

If you’re not ready, or not interested, that ’s solely your choice, and there ’s nothing wrong with that. Just a friendly warning.

Nobody can be faulted if their level of consciousness hasn’t yet evolved to the point where they see Enlightenment as being important, attractive, and meaningful. But eventually, Enlightenment is the goal that replaces all other goals.

As you read this article you’ll notice that certain words are capitalized when “normally” they wouldn’t be. The reason they are capitalized is because of the context in which those words are used. We capitalize the words “God”, “Divinity”, “Buddha”, “Silence”, “Awareness”, “Reality”, “Truth”, “Love”, and so on, because of what they represent. If however, your mind has a hangup about which word is used in describing that which is unseen, formless, and beyond words, this article is perhaps not for you at this time.

Ignorance is everywhere, and it ’s nothing new. The average person doesn’t have a clue as to what Enlightenment is, many spiritual seekers have misguided ideas about what it is, and many spiritual teachers also don’t have the correct understanding of what it is.

But because “I” personally have stood on the brink of Enlightenment (but feared to follow through) “I” have a much greater understanding of what it is, and how to get there, than most others. So no, I’m not Enlightened, and even if I was, I couldn’t say that I was because there would no longer be an individual ego/mind, and if there is no ego/mind, there is no individual “I” to claim anything.

If this is completely beyond your current level of understanding, keep reading and it should become clear what is meant.

First, we need to understand exactly what Enlightenment is. So to clear matters up, we’re just going to spell it out in a very simple, clear, and lucid manner.

Enlightenment is.. the permanent dissolvement/cessation of all thoughts, thinking, concepts, and emotions of the ego/mind. The key words there are “permanent” and “all”. Enlightenment is the ceasing of all concepts, all notions, all ideas, all symbols, all words, all intellectualizing, all emotions, all thoughts, and all thinking.

In order to let all of them go, one must be fully aware of them, and one must be watching them silently rather than being identified with them. When you watch them non-judgmentally and without words or emotions, they dissipate into nothingness. When you watch them, you are Awareness, not the mind, and when you are wholly and completely Awareness, the very energy behind thinking is let go of.

Second, we need to understand exactly what Enlightenment is not. Enlightenment is not the development of psychic abilities, is not astral traveling, is not channeling entities, is not a temporary trance state, is not an artificially induced altered state of consciousness, it has nothing to do with “new age” anything, it doesn’t involve the past or the future, it doesn’t belong to any one specific religion, it doesn’t involve conspiracy theories, it has nothing to do with UFO’s or aliens, it doesn’t involve so-called “ascended masters”, it doesn’t involve playing with the law of attraction (karma), it doesn’t involve visualization, it has nothing to do with vibrations or energy, it has nothing to do with science, it doesn’t involve sex (tantra), it has nothing to do with crystals, colors, or vortexes, and it certainly doesn’t involve codes, mysteries, or “secrets” of any kind.

The surreal is not real. There ’s a reason that Jesus, Buddha, Krishna, Ghandi, Mother Teresa, Plotinus, Lao Tzu, Muhammad, Ramana Maharshi, Nisargardatta Maharaj, Meister Eckhart, and many Zen Masters never taught any of these things. Some of these things are outright false and harmful, others are just simply irrelevant to personal growth, and some of these are quite beneficial to the average person, but when it comes down to Enlightenment, every last bit of everything needs to be unlearned and let go of.

Reality (Awareness) with a capital “R” has no shape or form whatsoever, and is beyond all intellectual concepts. The real Truth is eternal and changeless. It has always been relevant, and it always will be.

Real spirituality involves bettering oneself by ways of selflessness/love and higher levels of awareness/truth that help us let go of concepts and thoughts because it ’s concepts and thoughts that obstruct peace (of mind). Spirituality is not the introduction of even more concepts, unless those concepts help us let go of concepts. Peace of mind is silence of mind. Which means that thoughts, thinking, perceptions, views, attitudes, emotions, concepts, opinions, beliefs, and attachments are the true underlying source of all suffering in our lives.

Many people say “I wouldn’t want to live life without my emotions or thinking” (and that ’s okay if it ’s okay with them), but they don’t realize that’s the ego/mind talking, and if one were even for a brief moment to personally experience exquisite, ineffable, and profound Peace/Silence, one would certainly no longer hold that point of view.

Awareness is the only Reality. Essentially, you are not the mind and body of change (relative truth). You are the still, silent, unchanging Absolute; the Awareness that is aware of the mind and its comings and goings, when a deliberate point of being aware of it is made.

Watch the mind. That Awareness is changeless, timeless, shapeless, formless, and infinitely eternal. It has no beginning or end. It always has been, and it always will be.

If you’re able to watch the mind, then you are not the mind. How many minds do you have? Are you the mind, or are you the observer watching the mind? Only one of them is real.

Just like the heart or lungs, the thinkingness of the ego/mind/brain is going and going all by itself. It has nothing to do with a “you” doing it. In other words, you are not the thinker of thoughts. Take 5 minutes to watch the mind and see for yourself. You can’t control it because it ’s on complete autopilot. You can’t stop it by controlling it, but you can stop it by watching it and losing interest in it.

So, you are not the body and its senses, and you are not the mind and its thoughts. You are the infinitely silent Awareness that is aware of them.

One is not subject to the countless faulty workings of the ego/mind when one stops identifying the automatic random repetitive thoughts of the mind as being “me”. The very nature of the ego/mind can be summed up in one word… drama. And what is drama? It ’s the absence of peace (of mind).

“Every phenomena that exists is a creation of thought; therefore I need but empty my mind to discover that all of them are void.” - Huang Po, Zen Master

Just how does Enlightenment happen? To begin with, you (the mind) doesn’t ever make it happen. It happens by ITSELF when all concepts of the mind are let go of, when the very energy behind thinking is let go of, when the physical chemical reaction of all emotionalism is let go of, when all wantingness and neediness is let go of, and when not even Enlightenment is sought after.

1. This can be done by the completely unconditional and radical forgiveness and acceptance of absolutely everything, as it is right now in this very moment, always. This is the path of non-judgmentalism acceptance, forgiveness, love, compassion, and selflessness.

If there ’s full blown acceptance of absolutely everything as it is, then there ’s nothing to judge, nothing to describe, nothing to define, nothing to talk about, nothing to express an opinion about, no thing to make into something, nothing to express a belief about, nothing to search for, nothing to manipulate, nothing to change, nothing to force, and there ’s nothing to think about at all.

Everything just is, nothing more, and one sees the absolute perfection and beauty in everything because everything and everyone is currently operating at its own level of awareness and/or evolution. Everyone and everything is what it is right now because that ’s exactly what it needs to learn, or unlearn. People really don’t know otherwise, or they don’t want to know otherwise. If they really knew otherwise, they would already be otherwise.

2. Enlightenment can also happen by way of wisdom/truth/mindfulness/awareness, which involves non-effort, loss of interest in all thinking and thoughts, and letting go constantly and continuously. Watching the mind does not mean forceful concentration because concentrating is something that the ego/mind does. Nothing can be forced to happen, as force is the nature of the ego/mind. As soon as you watch thoughts, they disappear. If you try to fight thoughts, you give them more strength because focus and energy is being put into fighting and conflict, which is again, a thing of the mind.

You must be fully aware that nobody becomes Enlightened, and that there is no conflict. You are already that Awareness, you always have been, and you always will be, even when you’re falsely identified with thoughts and thinking. Just like the sun is always there even when clouds are covering it.

If you are already formless unmanifested all-encompassing all-knowing Awareness beyond words and concepts, then there is absolutely nothing to get, grasp, gain, or obtain. You are already utterly whole, complete, and perfect, and there is nothing to search for, not even Enlightenment. You are already That. There is only Self-Awareness, the awareness of oneself as Infinitely Everything beyond physicality.

But don’t try to imagine this with the mind because it can’t be done. Just get out of the way and lose “yourself”. Get out of the way. Let go. Give up. Surrender.

In fact, this whole writing is the consequence of selflessness, silence, surrendering, allowing, waiting, listening, “receiving”, intuition, epiphanies, being, and knowing. It has nothing to do with the intellect/ego/mind, and if on occasion it does, then something has gone wrong.

When the moment arrives, the end is not an end. At the moment of Enlightenment the individual “you” (ego/mind) disappears completely and literally dies. The me, myself, and I ceases to be. At that final moment there is a feeling of “I’m going to die”, and this doesn’t mean bodily death. It means the very essence of what you individually think you are (thoughts and thinking).

The ego/mind fears it ’s own death, but all fear is an illusion because fear is an emotion, and all emotions (physical chemical reactions) are the result of being identified with the ego/mind and brain/body (physicality).

When the mind goes silent it ’s replaced by void, by nothingness, but that “nothingness” is only “nothing” because it ’s formless, non-physical, and unmanifested. In actuality, that “nothingness” is an all-encompassing Infinitely Everything, which is a profound ineffable Peace/Love/Wholeness/Completion way beyond description, which just simply Is. It ’s No-Thing, yet Infinitely Everything, yet beyond both because both are mere concepts (thought forms). All words and concepts are meaningless because they are born from the ego/mind.

“The ultimate Truth is beyond words. Doctrines are words. They’re not the Way. The Way is wordless. Words are Illusions.” - Bodhidharma, founder of Zen

So you see, it ’s all really quite simple once it ’s spelled out. But if you still don’t get it (and you want to), “my” website is dedicated solely to the topic of Enlightenment, and it goes into far greater detail. This was just a brief summarization. The Truths of Life website, as a whole, is much more complete.

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About the Author:

Jarett Sabirsh is a very serious student of truth in all of its relative forms. While being dedicated to helping others, he uses his gift of being able to simplify complicated subject matter to get right to the root of problems. He is the author of The Truths of Life.