Thread by @SlowwCo

Q: What does the consciousness / awakening journey look and feel like in real life?

The last 2 weeks I caught up on life to-dos, wrote a best man speech for my best bud's wedding, etc.

As a tradeoff, I've been "living life" vs "examining life."

Here’s what I noticed.

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NOTE:

This mostly comes from reflecting on my best friend's wedding this past weekend.

A full weekend of family and 100+ friends & new faces.

I’m finding it a worthwhile exercise to reflect on "living life" experiences like this. But, after this, I'll work on "letting it go."

THE TEST:

Everything you think you’ve learned / unlearned as it relates to consciousness / awakening / presence / spirituality is tested when you are just "living life."

The seemingly mundane, ordinary moments of daily life.

These moments are where the rubber meets the road.

LIGHTNESS:

If I think about my approach to life before starting this journey (~5 years ago) vs today, I feel a greater sense of calm, peace, serenity, and tranquility at any given moment today.

I’ve always been pretty even-keeled, but this lightness seems to be deeper.

ISNESS:

It seems like this feeling comes from letting go, releasing control, and surrendering / yielding to the moment.

That everything is as it should be.

A sense of "isness" or "it-is-as-it-is-ness."

BE CONSCIOUS:

I’ve always had a preoccupied mind, but it’s getting better.

I caught myself in my head a few times this wedding weekend and snapped out of it each time by simply saying:

“Be conscious.”

ZOOM OUT:

There were a few times when I found myself worrying about myself or my speech too much.

For this, I attempted to “zoom out” and take a macro view of life (reminding myself of universal intelligence, our place among the stars, etc).

AUTHENTICITY:

I feel that a growing sense of self-love and self-acceptance has made it easier for me to just be “in the moment.”

It's quite a relief to not feel like you have to posture or prove yourself all the time.

TRANSCENDING WORK:

I don’t recall the “So, what do you do?” question coming up at all.

When you don’t know what people do for work, you focus on other things like character, simple interactions, feelings, and energy more.

It’s human to human instead of work-role to work-role.

INVESTING ATTENTION:

Anywhere there are countless conversations going on around you (like a wedding), it’s easy to get distracted.

These days I’ve found it easier to give my focused attention to the single conversation at hand.

Less FOMO about what’s going on around you.

NON­-JUDGMENT:

Of the “big three” (non­-resistance, non­-judgment, non­-attachment), I think I’ve made a lot of progress on non­-resistance and non­-attachment.

I think non­-judgment is my biggest area of opportunity and the one where I still need the most work.

ANXIETY:

I still struggle with anxiety, especially when it comes to public speaking (I’m a pretty big introvert but can come off as extroverted).

My best man speech was a blur. I just tried to slow my speaking pace.

Anxiety (too future-focused) is an ongoing battle for me.

STAYING OPEN:

As an introvert, my energy can get drained fairly quickly.

I need to continue working on "staying open” and keeping my “inner energy” up even when the energy tank is low.

When the tank is low, old habits and defaults can become easy (but not good) fallbacks.

SUMMARY:

All of these things may seem small, but they make a world of difference in my experience of life today vs 4-5 years ago.

Lots of good and lots of opportunity areas still.

Spiritual growth is easily one of the most life-transforming things in my life now.

FOR YOU:

If you made it this far, what does the consciousness / awakening journey look and feel like in your experience of real life?

What have you noticed that's going well and what are your areas for improvement?

It's often the unsexy, small stuff that matters most.