The purpose of life is to be alive. Not to gather objects, achieve, accumulate successes, or forge your body to fit a mold. It’s simply to be alive. To touch, feel, sense, hear, see and live in a dynamic flow of whatever arises in the moment; to accept the wild and crazy thoughts that go through your mind, your animal nature, your wisdom, the fears that arise and grip your chest, the laughter that brings tears, and the joy that takes you beyond yourself. To be alive is to meet and accept every part of you.
The first step is to be aware of your unrest, unhappiness, and longing for something richer, more balanced, and meaningful.
The second is to Show Up for life in a myriad of ways. With curiosity and fascination, to go beyond your prescribed life and explore the world beyond your usual rituals, beliefs, and habits – bringing electricity and spark to your life, challenging yourself, having fun, meeting new situations. You might sign up for a class, travel to a place you’ve never been, go to a lecture on an unfamiliar topic, seek counseling, or take a day off for pure pleasure.
In third step, Pay Attention, you go deeper into the experience of inner self-awareness on a moment to moment daily basis. You notice when you are tense, afraid, hungry, tired, or in need of comfort, You attune to what energizes and delights you, as opposed to what drains or feels lifeless to you. You notice when you want to be with others and when you seek solitude. Paying attention is grounded in the body and expressed through these questions: “Does this feel right for me?” “What do I really want to do?” “What is my body telling me?”
Step four, Live in Reality, is about sorting out the past from the present. Is this flare of anger connected to my childhood or is it appropriate to this current situation? Am I feeling relaxed and clear— like a grownup— or am I uneasy and afraid like a child? Am I seeing that person for who he is, or as a stand-in for someone else? We ask ourselves, “What is really true?” Truth and integrity shine together in this stage, opening the door to deeper and more spontaneous, enjoyable relationships.
Step five, Connect With Others, lies at the heart of our journey. Genuine connections ease anxiety and help assuage our essential aloneness. They provide the secure base from which we can venture into scary places, celebrate our joys, and take risks, knowing someone is there to either cheer for us or catch us if we fall.
In step six, Take Action, we move from thinking to doing. Taking action becomes the process of how you live on a daily basis — from taking care of your body to signing up for a class, completing tasks, speaking up when someone is hurting you, getting out of bed early to take a walk, watering the plants before they wilt, throwing away the excess stuff that clutters you life. It’s about movement, flow, energy, shifting, and shaking up the status quo. It’s about becoming more of who you truly are.
The final step, Let Go, means that we stop grasping at all that is temporal – mind, thoughts, body, life situation – and experience being one with aliveness that penetrates all things. Instead of being the “doer” we become an expression of life that flows through us. From this relaxed place creative ideas and clear answers will often arise and help you come out of confusion and longing and make the desired changes in your life.
This journey requires a readiness to be altered, surprised, and sometimes astonished. If you bring this willingness to these steps you will open the way to breaking free and getting unstuck. Everyone can do it – it’s a matter of following a well-tested path and persevering.
Exerpted from Charlotte Kasl’s book, If the Buddha Got Stuck, with permission of the author.
mented world reflects the divisions within us. When we have a fluid, unified experience of body, mind, and spirit it is reflected in a unified perception of all sentient life.
Charlotte Kasl will be leading a workshop January 2-4. Click for more info.
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