Allowing Awareness

"When we are aware of ... being aware, we are freed from identification with form, which is ego, and there arises within us a sense of oneness with the whole and with our Source." Eckhart Tolle

I start a walk out of obligation one evening, as two furry bodies wiggle, waggle, and whine and wait expectantly. I sigh, knowing it will be good for all three of us, as I will my body to find some more energy in the dwindling hours of daylight. The walk starts off on our usual trail of dirt, dust, ants and an occasional “goat head” stuck to the bottom of said furry one’s paw.

Slowly, I become aware of my thoughts. I become “The Watcher” as Eckhart Tolle would say. The thoughts are of the negative sort, and I immediately recognize that I am not “plugged in,” meaning that I am not in alignment with the energy of Source, which we always have access to. I am instead stuck in my human mind in all of its complaints, ego and judgment. I notice that the spring grasses (weeds) have sprung along the trail and hillside, and I look at them with dislike, knowing that they will soon take up residence in my yard and the weed eater will have to come out of storage shed hibernation…

In an attempt to redirect myself, I start to chant “I AM” in my mind and keep focused on the present moment, wrestling with my human mind as it tries again and again to bring me back -laughing at my pathetic use of spiritual practices that some people may see as a man made construct and illusion.

I don’t notice the shift right away, instead it happens gradually. I focus on my breath and listen and watch, listen and watch as I hike up through desert scenery in a spring breeze. I round a corner and see a spectacular view from my hillside perch-rolling hills covered in the spring grasses, blowing gently and in sync with one another. It looks as if you could run your hand over the soft, swaying reeds and I realize in that moment that they are beautiful.

I see that they have just given me a gift of awareness, as I brought myself out of the incessant chatter of my human thought, they were there waiting for me to see them as they really are.

Who decides what makes a weed and what makes a flower? Who decides what is useful, beautiful, and acceptable?

I do, you do, and we all do.

Is it not a concerning notion that most of the time we see our world and those in it from our human, faulty, disconnected perceptions?

It is not just about weeds and flowers. It is about much deeper issues like body image, culture, family dynamics, what we eat, what we wear, who makes decisions, how we parent, educate and discipline.

Do you not see how you could be different? How you could be more in alignment with the perspective of LOVE. How our society or world could change if we were all simply more aware?

-Aware that we are all flawed and opinions come from our ego’s need to control and manipulate our experiences for its own survival.

-Aware that we must drop the judgment towards ourselves and others in order to simply allow our human consciousness to expand and evolve.

It is there that the weeds and the flowers live together.