More Thoughts from Chapter 4

I really like Michael's TV analogy:  You can get so lost in a TV program that you do not even notice someone walking in the room (i.e., you lose the awareness that you are someone watching TV and you become identified with the TV program).  This is similar to how you can move from an awareness of Self to being absorbed by and identified with the thought, feeling or situation that just occurred.  He takes it a step further saying that if the tv engaged all 5 senses as well as your thoughts and feelings than you would be completely lost.  This is what happens in our lives...a thought, feeling or situation happens and and we forget who we really are.

"Then the consciousness which is capable of being aware of anything, makes the mistake of focusing on that one spot too closely."   (T.U.S., p. 35).

When we cling to an experience, we make it a part of our identity and our true identity is lost.  "Remember, your self-concept is just a collection of thoughts about yourself."  (T.U.S., p. 36).  It is not the truth of who you are.

A conscious being allows the thoughts, feelings and experiences to pass through and they do this by focusing their awareness on the fact that they are the one who is aware - instead of focusing their awareness on the objects of consciousness (thoughts, feelings and experiences).

If consciousness can focus on anything, then what do you want to focus your consciousness on today?

An Aware Being

"When you are an aware being you no longer become completely immersed in the events around you...YOU REMAIN INWARDLY AWARE THAT YOU ARE THE ONE WHO IS EXPERIENCING both the events and the corresponding thoughts and emotions."  (T.U.S., p. 31).

At any point in time we can be focused on (or conscious of) a number of different things.  For example, when I go for a run in the morning I find that my consciousness can be focused on: what I am going to do that day, what happened yesterday, what I wish I were doing that day, how my body feels as I run, the scenery... 

Sometimes I can get so lost in a thought that I do not even realize what I am seeing as I run. 

I  feel a shift closer back to my center when I return my focus to the present moment by noticing the beautiful trees and flowers around me or how my body feels as I am running. 

However, I am fully in the "seat of centered consciousness" (T.U.S., p.34) when I move my consciousness to the witness (I am the one who is feeling my body, seeing the trees...).  This is an aware being.  

Michael offers a technique for returning to your center.  He suggests saying "hello" over and over, and, being aware of that thought.  Do not think about the thought, just relax and notice that you hear "hello."

Today's challenge is to return to your center as often as possible by saying "hello" (or whatever trick works for you).

Happy Thanksgiving!

To paraphrase a quote from one of Michael's CDs: I am grateful for "the honor of experiencing life as it it."

Life is a beautiful gift that we have been given to experience...not to criticize or control or adjust...but just to experience.  For someone like me who is a big "planner" and a big "do-er", I find great freedom in realizing that I am only here to experience (and I can leave the planning to God!).  I am so grateful for the realization of this truth. 

On this beautiful Thanksgiving Day I choose to allow myself to experience all of it - the love and the fear, the "so-called good" and "the so-called bad."  Life will show up today as life will show up and I can either fight it or go with the flow! 

As I accept and then release any attachment to what I am experiencing (by moving my awareness to the watcher and releasing what I see with a breath) I am allowing life to change me and to grow me in ways that I may not even be aware of needing.

As Michael said in a letter "let go of all that you see in order that you may be in the One who sees all."

The Big Question: Who Are You?

Some thoughts from Chapter 3.


"Ramana Maharshi...used to say that to attain inner freedom one must continuously and sincerely ask the question "Who am I?" (T.U.S. p. 23)


Michael looks at it this way:  When you were 10 years old and you looked in the mirror you saw a 10 year old body.  When you look in the mirror as an adult you see an adult body.  What is consistent? 


What is consistent is the part of you that is doing the looking, the witness, the watcher.  The same is true of thoughts.  Since your thoughts change than you are not your thoughts.  Who you are is the one who notices the thoughts.

Whenever I notice that my consciousness or awareness has been sucked in to the drama of my life and I remember to ask myself "Who am I?" it helps to put things back into perspective, that is, back into “INNER FREEDOM PERSPECTIVE.”  

It helps me to detach from the drama of my life.  I remember who I really am…ONE WITH GOD.  It helps me get back into my body so that I can sense where I am tense and I can begin to relax.  It helps me to realize that I am more than this human personality. 

We all want to be free… free of the anxieties, judgments, moods, concerns etc. that we experience each day.  Michael says that after we have developed this witness consciousness (as opposed to living from the ego or psyche) then everyday life becomes like a vacation.  Everything from brushing one’s teeth to going to work is a playful experience.  We would just have fun with it all!

Remember today to ask yourself "Who am I?" whenever you feel that you have begun to identify yourself as the EXPERIENCES THAT YOU ARE HAVING, instead of as the ONE WHO IS HAVING THE EXPERIENCES. 

Inner Roommate

To continue with the idea of life as a "wack em" game, if you watch yourself long enough you will notice that there is a part of you that will never be happy or satisfied...a part that will have a problem with everything.  Therefore, it really doesn't make any sense to try and fix your problems in order to be happy (of course we have to deal with situations or so called problems in our life but solving them is not where we will find our happiness).  Adyashanti says that to try to fix and arrange your life in order to be happy it is like rearranging the chairs on the deck of the Titanic! Yet, isn't this what we do, day after day?

Michael terms the part of you that has a problem with everything as the "inner roommate."  I love this analogy.  Imagine if you took the thoughts in your mind and had a roommate follow you around all day long saying these things to you. At the very least most of us would not want to live with a person like that.

The other part of your inner being besides the inner roommate is the witness, watcher or "center of your willful intentions" (T.U.S. p. 17).  

The way to freedom is to transcend the inner roommate by moving your awareness to the witness and letting go of what the roommate is saying, feeling...

I find that situations in our lives can be soooooo seductive.  It is so easy to get sucked back into the drama of daily life and to forget all about being the witness, or, remembering to witness but not being able to let go. 

I am reading another beautiful book "The Naked Now" by Richard Rohr and he talks about how we can't force spiritual transformation or growth.  We need to do our part, but how and when this happens is a part of the mystery of God.  What we can do is set the intention to discover and live as our Highest Self, keep witnessing and letting go, and let God do the rest.

Today's challenge:  How often can you identify your thoughts, feelings, perceptions and reactions to your life as belonging to your inner roomate?  Decide right then and there to not let your inner roommate take a hold of your life.  You are one with God.  You are not the voice in the head. 

"Stand firm in the seat of the witness and release the hold that the habitual mind has on you.  This is your life-reclaim it." (T.U.S. p. 22)