What Is Your Ideal Lifestyle…
Discover What Is and What is To Be on Your Journey of Life…
Click the two cards below to see what Present and Future you have drawn. Then click again to get the description and recommendations for your specific situation. Watch for follow-up emails with even more information to guide you…
Be sure to write down the names of your two cards, so you can access additional information later.
Passive Income Lifestyle
This card will tell you how things are now…
Destiny Point
Purpose
Overview
Everyone has a reason for being here in the physical world. The problem is that many of us aren’t really aware of our true Purpose. Instead, we follow our inner desires and passions (which are often influenced by ego-minds that want us to show up so as to conform to the expectations of the world), and end up in places and situations that we didn’t really have in mind. This is because we were following a default purpose instead of a true spiritual purpose.
In Destiny Point, we dive deep into the concept of Purpose and discover ways to know with conviction why we are really here. Then we take our understanding and apply it to all of our choices, agreements, and commitments going forward.
Situation
Recently, you have been experiencing a kind of aimlessness or pointlessness in your life. You have been questioning yourself and wondering why you are doing a lot of the things you are doing. You are likely noticing thoughts like the following in your mind:
- What is the point of this job | relationship | life | etc.?
- Nothing about my life makes any sense right now.
- I can’t figure out which way I’m supposed to go!
Depending on the frequency and intensity of these thoughts and stories, you may be feeling some hopelessness or despair, or possibly even some mild depression. Your condition may well be related to a disconnection from your Purpose for being.
Recommendation
Having a powerful connection to your Purpose can do wonders for improving your outlook on life. Your Purpose serves as a type of internal navigation system that can guide you in every area of your life; as such, it gives you a way to focus your energy and ensure that everything you think, say, do or feel is aligned in the best direction for your life. Being disconnected from your Purpose is much like turning off your internal navigation system. You end up driving blind, so to speak, which makes it very hard to get where you want to go. In truth, your internal navigation system is never really off-line; you may just be in a situation where you are not paying attention to it.
Reconnecting to your Purpose can be pretty straight-forward.
- Bring awareness to your situation—awareness of what is going on around you and within you. Notice, in particular, all the ways that your behavior is out of alignment with your Purpose.
- Notice whether you have deviated from your Purpose because of any external factors. Are you allowing yourself to be lured away by other things that may seem more interesting? Are you perhaps being manipulated by an unconscious desire to do things that others want you to do, even though you know they aren’t necessarily right for you? Have you perhaps forgotten your Purpose altogether?
- Whatever you discover, be gentle with yourself, and honor yourself for having the courage to be honest with yourself.
- To reconnect to your Purpose, you can do this short visualization. In a seated position with your eyes closed, allow yourself to breathe slowly and gently. As you become more relaxed, see yourself sitting at the top of a hill that allows you to see in all directions. Imagine that the world below you is exactly like the world of your deepest heart’s desire. See the people below interacting with one another in a way that supports your vision of the ideal world. See that everyone’s needs are all met, and that your world is in total harmony. Now, ask yourself this question: What part to I play in creating this world of my dreams? How do I show up to make it a reality? Allow the answers to bubble up into your awareness, knowing that they are written indelibly in your memory. Allow yourself to come back to the present moment.
- Take some time to journal your experience. Write down the words that describe the world of your dreams. These will typically be inspirational adjectives, and you may have many of them. Then write down all the things you saw yourself doing (action words) to bring that world into reality.
The combination of vision and action that you harvest from your visualization is the core of your Purpose for being. Write it down, anchor it into your body, and bring it consciously into your daily life. Let it inform everything you think, say, do or feel from this moment onward.
For more information about this topic, please see the full program at Life Mastery Way (and remember the name of your card).
Easy Do-It-Yourself
This card will tell you how things are now…
Destiny Point
Purpose
Overview
Everyone has a reason for being here in the physical world. The problem is that many of us aren’t really aware of our true Purpose. Instead, we follow our inner desires and passions (which are often influenced by ego-minds that want us to show up so as to conform to the expectations of the world), and end up in places and situations that we didn’t really have in mind. This is because we were following a default purpose instead of a true spiritual purpose.
In Destiny Point, we dive deep into the concept of Purpose and discover ways to know with conviction why we are really here. Then we take our understanding and apply it to all of our choices, agreements, and commitments going forward.
Situation
Recently, you have been experiencing a kind of aimlessness or pointlessness in your life. You have been questioning yourself and wondering why you are doing a lot of the things you are doing. You are likely noticing thoughts like the following in your mind:
- What is the point of this job | relationship | life | etc.?
- Nothing about my life makes any sense right now.
- I can’t figure out which way I’m supposed to go!
Depending on the frequency and intensity of these thoughts and stories, you may be feeling some hopelessness or despair, or possibly even some mild depression. Your condition may well be related to a disconnection from your Purpose for being.
Recommendation
Having a powerful connection to your Purpose can do wonders for improving your outlook on life. Your Purpose serves as a type of internal navigation system that can guide you in every area of your life; as such, it gives you a way to focus your energy and ensure that everything you think, say, do or feel is aligned in the best direction for your life. Being disconnected from your Purpose is much like turning off your internal navigation system. You end up driving blind, so to speak, which makes it very hard to get where you want to go. In truth, your internal navigation system is never really off-line; you may just be in a situation where you are not paying attention to it.
Reconnecting to your Purpose can be pretty straight-forward.
- Bring awareness to your situation—awareness of what is going on around you and within you. Notice, in particular, all the ways that your behavior is out of alignment with your Purpose.
- Notice whether you have deviated from your Purpose because of any external factors. Are you allowing yourself to be lured away by other things that may seem more interesting? Are you perhaps being manipulated by an unconscious desire to do things that others want you to do, even though you know they aren’t necessarily right for you? Have you perhaps forgotten your Purpose altogether?
- Whatever you discover, be gentle with yourself, and honor yourself for having the courage to be honest with yourself.
- To reconnect to your Purpose, you can do this short visualization. In a seated position with your eyes closed, allow yourself to breathe slowly and gently. As you become more relaxed, see yourself sitting at the top of a hill that allows you to see in all directions. Imagine that the world below you is exactly like the world of your deepest heart’s desire. See the people below interacting with one another in a way that supports your vision of the ideal world. See that everyone’s needs are all met, and that your world is in total harmony. Now, ask yourself this question: What part to I play in creating this world of my dreams? How do I show up to make it a reality? Allow the answers to bubble up into your awareness, knowing that they are written indelibly in your memory. Allow yourself to come back to the present moment.
- Take some time to journal your experience. Write down the words that describe the world of your dreams. These will typically be inspirational adjectives, and you may have many of them. Then write down all the things you saw yourself doing (action words) to bring that world into reality.
The combination of vision and action that you harvest from your visualization is the core of your Purpose for being. Write it down, anchor it into your body, and bring it consciously into your daily life. Let it inform everything you think, say, do or feel from this moment onward.
For more information about this topic, please see the full program at Life Mastery Way (and remember the name of your card).
Easy Do-It-For-You…
This card will tell you how things will be in the future…
Dark Forest
Shadow
Overview
Each of us has parts or aspects of ourselves that we try to keep hidden from the rest of the world. We do this—consciously or unconsciously—because we have a negative belief about those parts: they are somehow unacceptable, inappropriate, bad or wrong. And what’s worse, because these parts exist within our overall makeup, we inadvertently come to believe that we are somehow defective or broken.
As we learn in Dark Forest, the truth is that our Shadows are actually very powerful aspects of ourselves, and if we simply take the time to meet, engage, understand and eventually embrace them, we will have a much deeper and more intimate knowing of who we really are. And this has only positive implications for the kinds of lives we are destined to live.
Situation
Conditions are coming into being that will trigger unconscious resistance in you. You will find yourself looking for ways to avoid certain people or circumstances, and you may not be fully aware of this tendency. You may hear an inner voice warning you of some kind of unspecified danger, or strongly suggesting other activities that will keep you away from this situation.
Recommendation
When your Shadow activates, it works behind the scenes. Since it represents a part of you that you disavowed or disowned at an earlier time in your life, it tries to stay out of sight. This Shadow initially came into being because of an unconscious negative belief you took on when you were younger—likely as the result of a painful or traumatic experience—and it adopted whatever coping strategy you discovered for dealing with similar experiences that appeared to be creating the same kind of pain or trauma.
The situation today is that, even though you are much older and wiser than when you experienced the childhood pain that started this dynamic, you are still unconsciously using the same coping strategy—even though it almost certainly no longer works for you! Your Shadow is still alive and well behind the scenes, and whenever it detects a situation even remotely similar to the one that happened when you were a child, it automatically goes into self-protection mode and starts implementing its innate coping strategy. Meanwhile, you are still trying to live your life and do the things you do, but your Shadow—in its zeal to keep you safe—somehow takes over and manages to run the show, sometimes creating chaos in the process.
The solution here is for you to raise your awareness and bring your own Shadow into the light. You must remember that your Shadow is trying to create one of the four core states: Being, Serenity, Love, or Oneness. It is simply using a strategy that no longer achieves the desired result.
Create a safe and quiet place where you can relax and know you are totally safe. Do the following:
- Bring your awareness to the Shadow within you, and let it know that you are here simply to provide love and support.
- Speak to the Shadow as if it were a small child, and invite it to come closer so that you can hold it in your lap. See yourself as a loving parent who is trying to soothe his/her own little child. Just be totally present for this child, without judgment or condition, and make yourself available to listen to whatever the child has to say. Some of the following questions might be helpful:
- What do you imagine is going to happen?
- Does this remind you of something else that happened to you at a different time?
- What happened to you as a result of that similar situation?
- How did you feel because of what happened to you?
- What did you come to believe about yourself or the world because of that situation?
- And so you adopted the strategy of <describe the strategy> because it kept you safe, right?
- Once you have answers to these questions, you (as the adult) can now begin bringing some loving support to the small child. You might say something like the following:
I am really sorry that that happened to you, and that there was no-one there to protect you when you needed protection the most. I am proud of you for finding your own way to keep yourself safe. That really worked for you for a long time, so thank you for doing that. It just shows how resourceful and thoughtful you were. But I am here now. I am an adult with adult powers, and I can do things that I could not do when I was a child. I am here to keep you safe and protect you. You no longer need to take care of me—that is my job, not yours. So, I release you from your job of trying to keep me safe, and I thank you from the bottom of my heart for all you have done for me. - You may find that the child will release some tears, and you might do the same. Just let that happen, and allow the love to flow between you.
- When you are ready, release the child, and allow him/her to go off and play, like a child should be able to do.
- Take note of how you are feeling, and embrace the full power of who you really are.
After this process is complete, you will be much better prepared to deal with future situations that trigger the pain and reaction of old wounds.
For more information about this topic, please see the full program at Life Mastery Way (and remember the name of your card).
Assetizing…
This card will tell you how things are now…
Ayuwi Circle
Relationship
Overview
Imagine a world in which you are completely alone. No other people. No animals or plants. No other life of any kind. And no inanimate objects of any kind, either. Sounds pretty desolate, to be sure. And yet, if you think about it for a moment, you might ask yourself this question: in the absence of all these things, how would you know who YOU really are?
It is a perplexing question, one well worth considering, for it brings us all face-to-face with a head-slapping realization: that we need all those other things (people, animals, inanimate objects, and so on) in our lives so that we can relate to them. And by relating to all those entities, we get to experience ourselves for who we really are.
That is what Ayuwi Circle teaches us: that Relationship is the single most powerful tool available to us in the physical realm for fully expressing and experiencing who we really are. In other words, relationships—all relationships—are sacred!
Situation
You are struggling in your relationship with someone close to you. The two of you are having difficulty communicating, and some of your interactions have been devolving into confrontation, argument, or unpleasant finger-pointing. This is causing you a lot of personal discomfort and upset, and you are not sure what to do about it. Perhaps you are even entertaining thoughts of terminating the relationship altogether.
Recommendation
The first thing you must do is decide how important this relationship is to you; the more important it is, the greater your desire to find a path to mutual healing. One way to gauge the degree of importance it so notice how upset you are about the situation; the more pain you are feeling, the greater the likelihood that you value this relationship a lot.
Answer the following questions to help guide your next steps:
- How important is this relationship to me?
- What is it about the current circumstances that has me most upset?
- How have I contributed to the current situation?
- Am I trying to make myself right in this situation? Am I trying to make <other person> wrong in the process?
- Have I been trying to get <other person> to change who he/she is? Am I willing to live with the possibility that s/he might never change?
- What actions can I take now to create a space for healing to occur?
You might not like some of the answers you come up with, but at least you will have raised your Awareness about your own part in the situation. If you do value the relationship and wish to create healing with the other person, then you can set the following intention for yourself, and maybe even communicate it to your relationship partner:
I really value this relationship and I want to empower both of us to be fully active participants in it. I want to create space for both of us to be heard, no matter what might be going on for us. For my part, I commit to speaking my own truth without in any way holding you responsible for what I might be experiencing. I also commit to listening to your truth from my heart, without condition or judgment.
If you approach your relationship partner with this kind of intention, you will quickly begin the process of mutual healing.
For more information about this topic, please see the full program at Life Mastery Way (and remember the name of your card).
Automated Modeling
This card will tell you how things are now…
Peaceful Heart Meadow
Acceptance
Overview
Our ego-minds spend a great deal of time trying to keep us safe—sometimes in ways that, on close inspection, may seem quite dysfunctional. We often find ourselves trying to make sense of our circumstances by putting our own spin on things—that is, we analyze, explain, justify, or interpret our situations without really making any effort to accept them as they are. In other words, we unconsciously tend to reject what is in favor of our own story or thinking about what is.
In Peaceful Heart Meadow, we begin to learn about the first Key Skill: Acceptance. As we become more aware of what is, our first priority is to accept it as it is. That is, we suspend our judgments, conclusions or stories about it, so that we can grok it more clearly for what it really is—rather than for what we think it is.
Acceptance is not about agreeing with anything; it’s not about condoning anything; it’s not about believing in anything. All of those actions—agreeing, condoning, believing—require you to analyze, explain, justify or interpret what is, which puts you back into your ego-mind, and disconnects you from your innate ability to accept. Acceptance is simply about being fully aware of what is and acknowledging it as such—in other words, Acceptance is Awareness without Story. If you get out of your head and into your heart, you engage your natural power to accept what is. Once you have accepted it for what it really is, then and only then can you actually do something about it.
Situation
Something unpleasant, painful or tragic is happening in your life right now, and it has triggered many different reactions within you. In essence, your reactions are just variations of your overall rejection of the situation, and your rejection of what is merely increases your pain and discomfort without in any way changing the situation. Your desire to reject what’s happening may be quite understandable, because the situation itself is causing you pain and distress. Perhaps you are having thoughts like these:
- This situation is completely unacceptable; I have to find a way to make it go away.
- This can’t be happening to me…again!
- If I accept this, then it means that I’m agreeing with it. I simply can’t allow that to happen.
- I don’t like it; I don’t want it; I don’t choose it. I refuse to allow it into my life.
Recommendation
If you’ve ever had a massage, then you probably remember a time when your massage therapist found a place on your body that felt painful to the touch. And when that happened, you probably had an instant reaction to tense your body and protect yourself from the pain. Interestingly, however, if you allowed yourself to consciously relax the muscles and accept the temporary pain of the therapist’s touch, then pretty quickly the pain subsided and the movement of the therapist’s hands actually relieved some deep-rooted tension, and therefore provided some much needed healing.
Think of Acceptance in the same way. Your current situation may be unpleasant or painful, but you can alleviate that pain significantly simply by acknowledging it, relaxing into it and allowing your breath to carry it away.
Find a quiet place where you can follow this simple process to help you return to a place of acceptance:
- Take some deep breaths to ground yourself and bring yourself into the present moment. Bring attention to your emotions, thoughts, and physical sensations. Avoid any judgments, interpretations or conclusions as you do this. Just keep breathing gently and maintain your perspective as an observer.
- When you feel sufficiently present and relaxed, allow your inner observer to take a closer look at the issue that has been triggering resistance. What is it about this issue that agitates you to the point that you want to push it away? Does the issue bring up any self-judgments or stories that challenge your ability to stay present? Again, avoid any judgments as you do this; simply observe the situation and what it brings up for you.
- Bring the energy of compassion and forgiveness to yourself for the way you are reacting to the situation. Imagine that you are wrapping yourself in a big, unconditionally loving hug. Remind yourself that everything about you is perfectly okay—including any reaction or feeling you may have had up to now.
- Take a few more deep breaths, and simply release your energy of resistance. Imagine that you putting all the resistance energy into an expanding balloon; imagine opening a window in your heart and allowing that balloon simply to float off into the distance. Watch it disappear over the horizon, never to come back into your body.
- Take a few more deep breaths, and see yourself accepting your situation exactly as it is. It is neither good nor bad, right nor wrong; it simply is what it is. In your mind’s eye, see yourself examining the situation from all angles, maximizing your awareness of everything it contains.
- Take some time now to honor yourself for bringing yourself back to a place of acceptance.
At this point, you have really completed the exercise. Give yourself some time to let the process anchor within you. After sufficient time has passed, and you believe you have fully accepted the situation for what it is, you will find yourself better equipped to decide exactly what steps you want to take to move forward.
For more information about this topic, please see the full program at Life Mastery Way (and remember the name of your card).
Cash Pumping In…
This card will tell you how things will be in the future…
Karma Crossroads
Choice
Overview
One thing that we all have available to us in every moment is Choice. It may not always seem that way, though.
Sometimes, some of the alternatives available to us may be completely unacceptable for any number of reasons, so it may seem that there is only one viable option, even if that last remaining option is distasteful—in which case, it is usually the least of all evils. When this happens, we may think that we really have no choice at all—or that we are forced into something we didn’t really want.
In other circumstances, we may be making our choices unconsciously. In this case, we may be operating on “auto-pilot”, making decisions without even being aware. The problem here is that, when we aren’t aware of our choices, then we are certainly not aware of their impact, and we may not realize how our actions are affecting the world around us.
In Karma Crossroads, we look at the concept of Choice in a new way, and we learn how to make our choices both consciously and responsibly.
Situation
New circumstances are approaching which will require you to make some potentially life-changing decisions. Your past tendency to put decisions of this type off until they “resolve themselves” may have worked to some degree for you in the past, but that approach is not going to work for you this time. If you apply that strategy in this case, the unintended consequences could create a lot of chaos—not to mention unpleasantness, pain and/or suffering—in your life.
Recommendation
Even a decision to do nothing is a choice—and it may be exactly the right choice for you under certain circumstances. But be clear: doing nothing is simply one of your available options. As long as you have examined all the options and evaluated their possible outcomes, then you are making that choice consciously—which is really the most important thing for you.
In order to prepare for whatever might be coming your way, you would be well advised to practice making all your choices as consciously as possible. The more important the situation, the more important the choice process. For every situation that shows up in your life, practice the following:
- Examine and enumerate all the relevant options that are available. Write a list and make sure you haven’t missed anything.
- For each option you have noted, write down all the relevant pros and cons you can think of. Include as much detail as you can for each one.
- Run through the option list again, and this time, for each option, rate your level of enthusiasm on a scale from 1 to 10, where 1 is “not so crazy about it”, and 10 is “can’t wait to get started.”
- For each of the most highly rated options (i.e. the ones you rated at 6 or higher), make a list of all the possible consequences that might come to pass if you make that choice. Notice whether you would be willing to take responsibility for that consequence or not.
When you have completed this process, you will have a very good idea which option is likely to produce the most desirable outcome—and whose unintended consequences you’d be most willing to accept. In this way, you are much better equipped to make a conscious, well-informed choice for which you’d be willing to take full responsibility.
This may seem like a lot to do for every choice that comes your way, so use it only for choices that feel really important to you. Also, the more you practice this process, the more efficient you will become, and soon the process will become for you more like a powerful meditation than a chore.
For more information about this topic, please see the full program at Life Mastery Way (and remember the name of your card).
Awakening
This card will tell you how things will be in the future…
Base Camp
Awareness
Overview
When you are about to set out on a journey, before you can ever hope to know how to get where you want to go, you must first be very clear about where you are right now. In other words, you must make sure you know as much as possible about your current situation, conditions, environment and circumstances.
This is Awareness, the foundational skill of Life Mastery Way. Because it is so important, we learn about it first at our centering and grounding station, what we call Base Camp. Your objective is to bring Awareness into every aspect of your life and, as much as possible, keep it present in every moment. This means being aware of what is going on in your surroundings, and also within you—that is, your emotions, thoughts and sensations.
Situation
You are going to be experiencing a situation that could create some chaos in your life. If you are not prepared, you may find yourself shaken off-center, ungrounded, and possibly disconnected from who you really are. This could have unpleasant and undesirable consequences in all areas of your life.
Recommendation
No matter what might be happening in your life, the more Awareness you can bring to it all, the easier it is to deal with whatever shows up. That is because Awareness helps you to be more present—emotionally, physically, mentally, and spiritually. As you deepen your practice of Awareness, you tend to invite calmness and serenity with you wherever you go, which means that you also tend to be less reactive when chaotic events show up.
In preparation for whatever might be headed your way, take time each day to pause whatever you are engaged in so that you can return to a full Awareness of What Is in the present moment:
- Notice without judgment what is going on in your surroundings. Are you indoors, or out in nature? What do you see, hear, taste, smell and feel? Are there other people or animals? What are they doing? What is the loudest sound you can hear? What is the quietest? Pay attention to as much detail as you can observe.
- Bring your attention within. What sensations are you feeling on and within your body? Are you feeling cold or warm? Are you hungry or thirsty?
- Notice the quality and intensity of your emotional energy. Identify your primary emotional state. Does your emotional state seem related to the physical sensations in your body?
- What thoughts are passing through your mind? Are they somewhat inert or passive thoughts, or do they seem to carry a lot of energy or urgency? Do you find yourself thinking judgmentally about your situation or about someone in your life?
Remember to remain the Observer in this practice, and release any judgments you may have about whatever is going on.
With practice, you will elevate your Awareness to a much higher level, you will find yourself much better equipped to face whatever situation shows up in your life, and you will discover that you will approach things with a lot more equanimity.
For more information about this topic, please see the full program at Life Mastery Way (and remember the name of your card).
Igniting…
This card will tell you how things will be in the future…
Karma Crossroads
Choice
Overview
One thing that we all have available to us in every moment is Choice. It may not always seem that way, though.
Sometimes, some of the alternatives available to us may be completely unacceptable for any number of reasons, so it may seem that there is only one viable option, even if that last remaining option is distasteful—in which case, it is usually the least of all evils. When this happens, we may think that we really have no choice at all—or that we are forced into something we didn’t really want.
In other circumstances, we may be making our choices unconsciously. In this case, we may be operating on “auto-pilot”, making decisions without even being aware. The problem here is that, when we aren’t aware of our choices, then we are certainly not aware of their impact, and we may not realize how our actions are affecting the world around us.
In Karma Crossroads, we look at the concept of Choice in a new way, and we learn how to make our choices both consciously and responsibly.
Situation
New circumstances are approaching which will require you to make some potentially life-changing decisions. Your past tendency to put decisions of this type off until they “resolve themselves” may have worked to some degree for you in the past, but that approach is not going to work for you this time. If you apply that strategy in this case, the unintended consequences could create a lot of chaos—not to mention unpleasantness, pain and/or suffering—in your life.
Recommendation
Even a decision to do nothing is a choice—and it may be exactly the right choice for you under certain circumstances. But be clear: doing nothing is simply one of your available options. As long as you have examined all the options and evaluated their possible outcomes, then you are making that choice consciously—which is really the most important thing for you.
In order to prepare for whatever might be coming your way, you would be well advised to practice making all your choices as consciously as possible. The more important the situation, the more important the choice process. For every situation that shows up in your life, practice the following:
- Examine and enumerate all the relevant options that are available. Write a list and make sure you haven’t missed anything.
- For each option you have noted, write down all the relevant pros and cons you can think of. Include as much detail as you can for each one.
- Run through the option list again, and this time, for each option, rate your level of enthusiasm on a scale from 1 to 10, where 1 is “not so crazy about it”, and 10 is “can’t wait to get started.”
- For each of the most highly rated options (i.e. the ones you rated at 6 or higher), make a list of all the possible consequences that might come to pass if you make that choice. Notice whether you would be willing to take responsibility for that consequence or not.
When you have completed this process, you will have a very good idea which option is likely to produce the most desirable outcome—and whose unintended consequences you’d be most willing to accept. In this way, you are much better equipped to make a conscious, well-informed choice for which you’d be willing to take full responsibility.
This may seem like a lot to do for every choice that comes your way, so use it only for choices that feel really important to you. Also, the more you practice this process, the more efficient you will become, and soon the process will become for you more like a powerful meditation than a chore.
For more information about this topic, please see the full program at Life Mastery Way (and remember the name of your card).
Focusing…
This card will tell you how things will be in the future…
Base Camp
Awareness
Overview
When you are about to set out on a journey, before you can ever hope to know how to get where you want to go, you must first be very clear about where you are right now. In other words, you must make sure you know as much as possible about your current situation, conditions, environment and circumstances.
This is Awareness, the foundational skill of Life Mastery Way. Because it is so important, we learn about it first at our centering and grounding station, what we call Base Camp. Your objective is to bring Awareness into every aspect of your life and, as much as possible, keep it present in every moment. This means being aware of what is going on in your surroundings, and also within you—that is, your emotions, thoughts and sensations.
Situation
You are going to be experiencing a situation that could create some chaos in your life. If you are not prepared, you may find yourself shaken off-center, ungrounded, and possibly disconnected from who you really are. This could have unpleasant and undesirable consequences in all areas of your life.
Recommendation
No matter what might be happening in your life, the more Awareness you can bring to it all, the easier it is to deal with whatever shows up. That is because Awareness helps you to be more present—emotionally, physically, mentally, and spiritually. As you deepen your practice of Awareness, you tend to invite calmness and serenity with you wherever you go, which means that you also tend to be less reactive when chaotic events show up.
In preparation for whatever might be headed your way, take time each day to pause whatever you are engaged in so that you can return to a full Awareness of What Is in the present moment:
- Notice without judgment what is going on in your surroundings. Are you indoors, or out in nature? What do you see, hear, taste, smell and feel? Are there other people or animals? What are they doing? What is the loudest sound you can hear? What is the quietest? Pay attention to as much detail as you can observe.
- Bring your attention within. What sensations are you feeling on and within your body? Are you feeling cold or warm? Are you hungry or thirsty?
- Notice the quality and intensity of your emotional energy. Identify your primary emotional state. Does your emotional state seem related to the physical sensations in your body?
- What thoughts are passing through your mind? Are they somewhat inert or passive thoughts, or do they seem to carry a lot of energy or urgency? Do you find yourself thinking judgmentally about your situation or about someone in your life?
Remember to remain the Observer in this practice, and release any judgments you may have about whatever is going on.
With practice, you will elevate your Awareness to a much higher level, you will find yourself much better equipped to face whatever situation shows up in your life, and you will discover that you will approach things with a lot more equanimity.
For more information about this topic, please see the full program at Life Mastery Way (and remember the name of your card).