Beauty’s Way

Chapter 1

The Beauty of Awakening (an excerpt)

Waking up to truth

Before exploring the many exquisite facets of our awakening, we must first acknowledge where we have been chronically fast asleep—and I don’t mean the kind of sleep we all need in order to regenerate and recharge on a nightly basis. We have become dull sleepwalkers in our collective and personal ignorance of certain key truths, without which we are destined to remain in a state of sadness, loss, despair, craving, and on the whole, suffering. Such a state is gray, cold, lifeless, heavy, and energetically dense. Awakening is all about returning to our natural state of love and joy and following a path that forever puts us back on the perennial course of love when we detour into fear’s dead-ends.

While walking early one morning along a mountainous road in north central Costa Rica, I was surrounded by lush green hills and cows pondering the abundance of a new day’s grass. A light, refreshing rain began washing over me. By the side of the road, were many weeds and dusty plants, thirsting for wetness to soak in and nourish them in their low-to-the-ground lives. In the midst of the weeds, I found, to my delight, a beautiful little pink wildflower, brimming with the simple ecstasy of existence. She was so small that I had to kneel down in order to get a better look at her, and I was awed by how such a tiny part of existence could be so intricate in beauty. I observed the various shades and hues of pink at her bubble-like core, a hundred fragile tendrils making their way up to bright yellow nodules at the tip of each one. This little flower was clearly an exquisite gift of life, beautiful simply for beauty’s sake, growing from the weeds and what seemed to be insignificant plant life on the side of the road. What a perfect metaphor for awakening.

This gorgeous little sparkle of life speaks brilliantly to how each of us has the capacity to transform through the grimy muck of our human lives, extracting exactly what is needed from the dust and ashes in order to arrive at our vibrant blossoming beyond the surface. Each of us is called by name to become the unique and precious flower of creation that radiates our true essence. If we are open enough to see things as they truly are, we find that we are often longing for that which we already possess. The Buddha found nirvana in his own way—under the bodhi tree, after years of extreme seeking for some sort of inner peace and freedom in the midst of the pain of human existence. He was gracious enough to dedicate the rest of his time on this earth to teaching the awakened practice of liberation in mind, body, and spirit from the suffering that inevitably comes from mental and emotional patterns based in fear and ignorance. Jesus, too, knew the truth of love that would set us free; and it was to this end that he taught, healed, prayed, and lived his life in a way that would forever remind humanity that life and love are far more powerful than death and fear.  Amma, a modern saint of a woman, is hugging people into awakening on a daily basis. She is an inspiration to us all, proving that the loving power of the heart is truly what is needed in order to offset the tragic direction in which our world has been heading, blinded and paralyzed by fear.

Awakening is a pervasive, archetypal leitmotif that runs through a variety of spiritual and psychological traditions. There is an undeniable, collective yearning for a peace and happiness that transcends what we know and experience in the messy drama of everyday life. For the most part, we seek to escape the pain of our realities through addictions and obsessions that lead us farther away from our ultimate goal of peace. What originally promises to offer us everything we could ever want or need in order to save us from pain, ends up causing even more suffering and does nothing to heal the original wound. Ah, the bittersweet symphony of life here on earth. At the end of the day, many of us are often left with a lingering sense of emptiness and futility. As things go from bad to worse, we often give voice to the slightest glimmer of a hopeful thought:

“There must be another way.”

“There is,” Life whispers.

“There must be a better way.”

“There is,” Life sings.

And finally, we are brought humbly to our knees, and we stay there long enough to genuinely pray to a Higher Power, a Greater Force, a Spirit that hears and answers us as we find that we are willing to do whatever it takes to change our lives:

“God, please show me the way.”

And she will …    

Beauty tips for awakening

1)        What is your story of awakening? What dream of fear in your life do you feel you need to awaken from? How might you express your awakening journey in words, a painting, a dance, or a dish you prepare, or a sculpture you form, or in whatever creative endeavour calls out to you from the depths of your soul?

2)       Take a moment to recall some of the peak experiences in your life when you felt most awake. When were they? Where were you? Who were you with? How did you feel? Enjoy a few deep inhalations and exhalations, savouring and giving thanks for those moments that still live on in your cellular memory. As you do this, you open the gateway for more of these beautiful moments to grace your life.

3)       Practice awakening. When tempted to give in to the dream of fear in one aspect of your life today, choose to awaken to love instead. Example: If someone hurts or attacks you in some way, big or small, how can you perceive them and the situation differently? How can you awaken love rather than giving in to the unconscious conditioned response of fear? Notice which perception feels better to you: the fearful or the loving, the judgmental or the compassionate, the angry or the centred response? Awakening is possible in every single moment, in every conscious breath, in every beat of your pulsing heart.

 Tomorrow morning, be aware (as an objective witness) of how you wake up from sleep. Do you get up with a jolt following a blaring alarm, unconsciously and robotically feeling pushed into life? Do you slowly and gently move from sleep to a wakened state with a big luscious stretch, tenderly entering into the day? How is your manner of waking up from sleep in the morning similar to your general way of doing your life? Something interesting to ponder. And remember, you can always practice waking up in a way that feels good, honouring who you are, where you’re at, and whatever reality you long to create in this life.