7 Ways Mindfulness Can Unlock The Door To Your Authentic Life
“Many people are alive but don't touch the miracle of being alive.”
— Thich Nhat Hanh, The Miracle of Mindfulness
In between work, family and social media, we take few precious moments to reflect upon our lives and realize the importance of mindfulness.
Perhaps, you purposely avoided looking at your life because, if you’re totally honest, it can be brutal. Just think about the tsunami of judgmental thoughts that swamped your mind and caused you a great deal of stress and anxiety.
Not surprisingly, a lot of worries are just byproducts of our society. However, our greater personal dissatisfactions are actually the result of our own internal turmoil driven by confusion.
Are you feeling confused?
You’re not the only one. Notice how confusion is self-evident all over the world.
Research scientist Kathryn Tristan suggests in her book Why Worry that at some time in our lives, half of us in the U.S. will suffer from anxiety, depression or addiction—the very opposite of an authentic life.
But, then something miraculous happens.
On your way home from work or a rushed meal out, the dusk’s rising luminous moon captivates you and you experience a moment of ecstasy and utter peace.
All is right with the world and you weren’t thinking about a thing. You were just alive and brilliantly so!
From mundane to miraculous
What was the shift?
The clouds of confusion lifted. For a moment, you were in perfect balance, consciously mindful of the miracle of life that involves you.
Here's the big picture:
You were being your best, most authentic self instead of listening to habitual, self-limiting thought patterns.
Authenticity emerges when you live not just from mind and body, but from the heart which is your natural state. Done consciously, it is mindful living. It is the mastery of life.
A life lived without a heart and soul is a life filled with confusions. This can manifest as problems in your personal life.
“If quality of life is important to you, mindful living trades confusion for life’s magical moments—every single day.”
In his book, Living from the Heart, Nirmala said, “What you are seeing, smelling, hearing, sensing, and pondering is limited by and filtered through your thoughts. Your thoughts mediate between you and reality and interfere with seeing it more fully and purely.”
According to neuroscience, what thoughts are and what gives rise to them is still a mystery.
Think of thoughts as one of the many useful tools the brain uses to navigate our physical world. By themselves, thoughts are two-dimensional mind fences.
An expanded awareness that includes the heart means a far richer life that is fulfilling, regardless of the circumstances or what you are doing.
Shocking to some, you don’t have to do anything at all to experience an authentic life.
But, ask yourself this:
Would you rather run through a meadow at sunset with fences? Or the meadow of your life unhindered as far as the eye can see or even beyond?
When we live from the more inclusive reality of our mind, body, and spirit (heart), we open our lives to the miraculous on a daily basis.
How to enjoy the miracle of your authentic life
Slow life down each day
Although you're not fully aware of the importance of mindfulness, you’ve been actually practicing it intermittently throughout your life without realizing it. Immersing yourself in nature, going for a walk and even hand-washing dishes are forms of mindfulness.
Recall how you felt a sense of calm and well-being within your body. Notice how balanced your world became. Now, do these things consciously and with your heart. Add yoga and meditation.
Life gets immensely satisfying when we let go of our mental expectations and enter the “Zen” or the flow.
Mind the gap for miracles
“When you allow your thoughts to breathe by paying attention to the gap in between, you move out of reactive-ness to being response-able.”
Thought devoid of the heart and soul is a form of insanity. No wonder so many people are confused.
You have the ability to tap into your highest wisdom and determine whether the glass is half empty or half full.
Minding the gap is how you go from continually making lateral moves in life to sky-high vertical limitlessness.
Whenever there’s a challenge, rather than carelessly and spontaneously reacting, surprise everyone by saying you’ll give it some thought. This means giving your initial thoughts some space to breathe.
Silence without judgment is extremely powerful and contains miracles. It shifts, even breaks, habitual destructive patterns.
Give up planning for 90 days
In Western culture, planning is thought to be one of our greatest assets. Google the power of planning and you’ll be inundated with reasons why a plan is paramount to reaching your goals.
Are you willing to open the door to the even higher power of synthesis the Harvard Business Review calls “strategic thinking?”
Strategic thinking lets go of planning initially, integrating intuition and creativity to allow spontaneity to appear naturally.
Albert Einstein said, “The intuitive mind is a sacred gift and the rational mind is a faithful servant. We have created a society that honors the servant and has forgotten the gift.”
Rather than projecting different possible scenarios, be a blank slate by asking, “What’s next?”
Leaving infinite possibility open is to create a vacuum that life must fill. It’s more powerful than projecting imagined preferred scenarios which contain limits.
Say “I don’t know” often
At least to yourself!
Emptiness is very challenging when you are pressured by society to fill every nook and cranny with busyness. Your brain will be sure to scream it to you every chance it gets.
Emptiness removes all barriers, including you getting out of your own way.
I can tell you, based on my experience as a writer, that the muse is within. Any artist or creative person will agree to that. All inspiration arises from the void of emptiness.
Get comfortable with emptiness and learn to play with unlimited possibilities.
I personally prefer being a blank slate every chance I get. Like the unofficial Buddhist mantra goes, “Empty, empty. Happy, happy.”
I can easily put myself into a state of emptiness by watching trees blow in the breeze.
Open yourself to higher consciousness
In Practicing the Power of Now, spiritual teacher and author, Eckhart Tolle, extols the value of mindfulness by acting as witness to your thoughts. To quote, “So when you listen to a thought, you are aware not only of the thought but also of yourself as the witness of the thought. A new dimension of consciousness has come in.”
Have you tried being a witness to your own thoughts? It’s life transforming.
The beauty of learning to be mindful at any age is that it allows you to express your thoughts at your personal level of truth and authenticity while enabling you to dig for deeper understanding.
Don’t stop there. Yes, keep going. There is always more inclusive wisdom to discover.
“Let us honor one another where we stand, knowing we each travel
a unique journey toward higher consciousness.”
Be bigger than your body
Ask any Zen Master or Yogi and she or he will tell you that your identity is not wrapped up in your thoughts. Yet, it's one of the causes of human existential crisis.
As you climb Abraham Maslow’s Hierarchy of Needs toward self-actualization, you will come to realize that you are much more than your body. Only in the complete synthesis of mind, body and spirit can you see beyond basic survivalism so that you finally begin to thrive!
Know you are enough
Mind, body and spirit realization is fulfillment in and of itself!
There is no greater authenticity than to know who you really are as part of the infinite. Greater is the gift of YOU, boundaries removed.
As a guiding light, you now offer others, by example, the same freedom and opportunity. No longer confused, doing good naturally follows as you move from a place of selfishness to one of service to humanity.
Are your choices today filled with love?
Your authentic life
As part of evolution, aided by the tools of technology, human consciousness is expanding faster than ever. Living multidimensionally in mind, body and spirit will be your brilliant future.
Embodying consciousness, your new, authentic life will change everything for you. Your mojo is now working for you, instead of the other way around.
You will wake up energized in the morning, excited to be alive because you're expressing yourself authentically. You will feel empowered like never before as things you despise begin to disappear. Freedom and prosperity will flow more abundantly in your life.
The importance of mindfulness is now completely clear to you. You will see the world and the Universe supporting you every step of the way.
It got you here, didn’t it?
