In days of old, before cell phones were ubiquitous, guests in hotels could schedule a telephone call to wake themselves up in the morning. A wake up call was a necessary evil, a loud ring to jar you out of dreamland and get you going on your day. It was unpleasant, but helpful, courteous in intent, and it kept folks on schedule. In the spiritual realm, waking up is recognizing a higher state of consciousness. How do we schedule a spiritual wake up call to interrupt the deep sleep of our waking lives?
Ring, ring, this is it. You’ve slept long enough, and it’s time wake up. With ordinary sleep, it can be easier to wake up than to fall asleep. Waking up from being asleep sleep is automatic. Spiritual awakening can be elusive. It is something we have to work at. Although it is possible to wake up suddenly, it can take years of practice to experience a sudden awakening. As you work you way toward that sudden awakening, practice gradual awakening.
Your life trajectory is leading you toward awakening. Everything you have experienced in your life so far has been part of that journey. All the great stuff and all of the horrible stuff has been a necessary part of the path. The fact that you are reading this post, means that you are on the right track. When you want to eat an apple, it helps to be by an apple tree. Like in popular psychology where the first step in helping yourself is admitting that you have a problem, the first step in waking up is recognizing that you are asleep. There is no shame in sleeping. Being asleep is an essential part of waking up.
In a nightmare, it is always a welcome insight to recognize you are dreaming. That shift in perspective can transform the whole dream. If you are a lucid dreamer, you can turn the dream around and become a butterfly and flutter by, or a transform yourself into wizard to summon the sun and calm a raging storm. With a lower level of awareness, when you suspect you are dreaming, you can activate the dream escape hatch wake yourself up. When you become lucid within a dream or wake from a dream, you go from one realm of consciousness to another. When you awaken spiritually, you go from your current perspective to a new one. The new perspective completely contains the current one and fits seamlessly into your life. However, the new perspective is more spacious. It can handle everything that has happened and there is plenty of room for new possibilities.
To set up a spiritual wake up call, you don’t even have to pick up a phone. In fact, it helps to put your phone down. All you have to do is set you intention. Bring your attention to your breath and notice how you are dreaming right now. You don’t have to imagine that your life is something other than it is. Breathe consciously and be present, right where you are, in the dream you are living.
Think about all of the characters you play in all of your life stories, child, friend, spouse, parent, student, teacher, seeker, sage, healer, patient, beggar, thief and judge. Notice all the hopes and dreams you’ve entertained at various times in your life. Notice your hopes and dreams for your future. Bring your attention back to your breath and listen to the ambient sounds where you are. Hold you attention on your breath and hear the world nudging you awake. Your only hope and dream for your future is to be awake for your life.
If you are a little groggy and annoyed, that is how it is when someone disturbs your sleep, even if you invited it. That is the transition from sleep into wakefulness. Use that feeling to wake yourself up whenever it comes. Anger, anxiety, annoyance, joy, love, gratitude and all your other nuanced emotions can each call you to the present moment and remind you of your intention to awaken. Your breath is always there for you. The world is full of sounds. In every moment, it is calling you. Every time you notice yourself noticing, your perspective widens, you wake up a little bit more and, in that moment, you have the opportunity to become a wizard, or a hotel concierge to give yourself a wake up call and transform the world. Ring ring.
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