Exploring Awareness

Episode 43: Loving Awareness and the Freedom it Provides

When one is mindful, a quality of "deep awareness" opens to wonderous opportunity for discovery and freedom. We call this now a BIG FUN JOURNEY. No longer are we just acting like robots running on autopilot, no longer just reacting to painful or pleasurable events - we are seeing the big picture, taking things apart and looking at them as they are and responding in new and authentic ways. Cultivating the ability to be aware of everything in the present moment leads to a FELT SENSE of a deeper place experienced as love, peace, joy and generosity. The term Loving Awareness is a good term increasingly being used that captures the felt sense of living in the world with awareness. Loving awareness comes from loving the present moment as resisting only causes more problems. Loving awareness allows us to move from reaction to response, and as it becomes more and more part of life, a realization emerges that loving awareness is the source of self-compassion, and unconditional love for all.

Episode 42: Thoughts are important, but do they define who you are?

As we explore the various methods and issues in mindfulness and awareness, we often hear about how " you are not your thoughts". This is often said by experienced teachers to people starting out - and to the thinking mind, this does not make any sense whatsoever. If a mind is thinking, what else could it be? Defensiveness and fear arise if we start to entertain an idea that who we are isn't who we "think" we are. This whole idea can seem threatening if you haven't been meditating and practicing exploring awareness. In this episode, Frank and Lisa take this "idea" apart and use the exploring awareness concepts to bring it to awareness. Bringing all thoughts into awareness, even the thoughts about how this doesn't make sense, opens up a new sense of self that is experienced beyond thoughts. When you have realized this opportunity in human experience you too will realize that - I am not my thoughts. Nothing is going to be lost AND a new authentic freedom grounded in peace, love, joy and generosity will be there waiting for your return.

Episode# 41: The Art of Healing

Your body is constantly wanting to heal itself, but the question is "how" to heal. Healing is a return to balance and wholeness - exploring awareness brings imbalance into view reconnection to a balanced core bringing a sense of healing. In this episode, we discuss the difference between curing and healing, and explain how using mindfulness meditation techniques to open to awareness unleashes a wellspring of healing energy – for self-healing and guiding others to their own healing.

Episode #40: Are you a Human Doing or a Human Being?

We "do" lots of things- that's what life seems to be all about. Many of the things we do are fun, some are not, and some just need to get done. The never ending list of things to do is always there, even if they are not written down. Meditation is probably somewhere on that list -may be near the bottom -making it seem unlikely, time consuming, and difficult to fit in the schedule. However, the essence of meditation is not a "doing" but is "being"- and "being" never goes anywhere. Sure, it can be clouded over by "doing" but "being" is a natural state. Meditation then becomes a way to become familiar with that sense of "being". Exploring the awareness of "being" clears the clouds of obstruction and allows the present moment to be what it is, even during all of doing of the things that need to get done. There is an opportunity here to wake up to the truth of being. No matter what the conditions are in the world, opening to a shift in perspective away from identifying with all of those conditions to an identification of pure presence and of pure being may provide the answer. This creates a feeling of "don't know" which could be the source of all wisdom- as Socrates famously observed, "I know one thing, that I know nothing."

Synchronicity and Intuition

When you explore awareness, fun things can happen! In this episode, we discuss Synchronicity- a concept made popular by psychiatrist Carl Jung who said that synchronicities are "meaningful or even miraculous coincidences that occur in your life" which are "experiences that seem far more significant than day to day encounters." Yet, to see them happen in life requires a sense of presence, "Synchronicity is an ever-present reality for those who have the eyes to see." A rational, concrete, analytical mind could be dismissive to a perceived synchronicity and discount them as mere coincidence, but presence and awareness transforms a coincidence into synchronicity! Once you start seeing them, you may get a sense that you are more in the flow of life and move around in the world with more intuition as being present and mindful allows one to start picking up on things that weren't noticed before. These qualities are emergent from meditation practices, and the guided meditation in this episode is a way to get started.

Episode 38: Lessons From The First Year-The Anniversary Episode

The exploring awareness podcast is a year old, and in this episode, Frank and Lisa discuss how the podcast got started, and their experiences over the year. "Exploring Awareness" has become a question - an invitation to a journey toward a way of being that includes and then goes beyond thoughts and emotions. All year, the discussion has been about how to apply mindfulness techniques to explore "awareness" and how this leads to connection to the deeper insights into the truth of life. Mindfulness allows us to recognize and accept the present moment, and awareness allows us to transform them into presence. The phase "yes, and" is a good phrase to remember – "yes" to what is in the present moment – good or bad, plus "and" – which is the awareness that transforms and leads to healing. The "and" points to the fact that even if the present moment has pain or fear, there is another way. Awareness is a way.

Episode 37: What Is Your New Year's Intention?

The start of a new year brings opportunity. Instead of the typical "New Year's Resolution", why not consider a "New Year's Intention" of exploring the possibility of another way of being in the world beyond what our current situations and culture offer. Some intentions of course can be practical and make a lot of sense, but here we discuss deeper intentions of connection to core, finding inner peace and moving through the world on solid ground. We discuss an Adyashanti quote- "The truest intention is something that we receive rather than something we create". When we do the work to connect to something deeper and timeless, we connect to the deepest sense of peace, joy, love and generosity- and these then become intentions that emerge from within- from the bottom up – that guide a life that's yours. And, in 2021 and beyond, may all remember that the pure light of yourself is always there.

EPISODE 36: Exploring The Spirit Of Gifting and Giving From A Heart of Generosity

The holiday season is a season of generosity. Through exploring awareness, gift giving can take on a deeper meaning and reflect the core elements within each of us-peace, joy love and generosity. Where does generosity come from? It's a human expression of love and connection expressed through the gifting of a tangible item- chosen or made during a process of attention to what might make our loved ones happy and an in investment of our time and energy to make it manifest. Even how an item or food treat is wrapped communicates something about the intention. In a season where many celebrate the idea that humans have divine origins, generosity is an expression of our divine nature. Despite everything else going on it the world, it's wonderful and marvelous that we have a holiday where we -as interconnected beings- celebrate a common truth and share our own divinity through generosity and gift giving.

Episode #35: Do painful things always have to lead to suffering?

It is easy to say that pain is part of the being human and suffering is optional -but when you are in the middle of it, this can be difficult to hear. In this episode, we break down this concept- with a focus on mental pain. We discuss the mindfulness techniques and exploring awareness concepts that create some space between the painful situation and the reaction to it. We ask the ultimate questions- are you willing to give up your story to alleviate suffering and how does it feel to be connected to something that isn't suffering? A guided meditation is provided so that you may find your own answers. Awareness just could be a generous gift you give to your suffering self this holiday season.

Are you noticing a lack of kindness in the conversation lately? We are all taught to be kind but thinking that you must be kind is different from "being" kind. What if kindness was an innate quality that is already a part of us? Through exploring awareness, we may discover that "loving kindness" is a core element that already exists within, no matter what other people might be saying. A place of "awake awareness" that is not affected by the challenges of daily life, but is already within for us to tap into. How to find this place starts with awareness of the breath, body, thoughts and emotions. Exploring awareness transforms the difficulties trying to be kind or dealing with unkind people into an experience of loving kindness. Through exploring awareness, we can wake up to the truth of our being and discover an innate sense of loving kindness that emanates from the core not from thoughts in the brain. As Loch Kelly expresses in the book The Way of Effortless Mindfulness "Discovery of natural loving kindness is the foundation of a new motivation for compassionate activity that is not based on external rules but comes from the direct experience of interconnection with all of life". Call it the "ultimate truth of interconnectedness".