The experience of my open-heart surgery made me think long and hard. And not for a moment or two, but from the day after the operation to this writing. What do I want to do with whatever time my present body has left?
Have we come here to get the guy, get the girl, get the car, get the job, get the spouse, get the kids, get the house, get the better job, get the better car, get the better house, get the grandkids, get the name on the business or on the office door, get the retirement watch, get the cruise tickets, get the illness, and get the hell out? Is this really our life’s formula?
Then I pondered this business of awakening. Is there actually any such thing? Are we making the whole idea up just to give us something to do other than the mundane; other than simply surviving?
So I re-read this book, from first page to last. And I decided that this was its single most important message: “You are already awake. You simply do not know it.”
I see this as my opportunity now. My moment not to seek to be awakened, but to commit to behaving in a way that reflects that I already am—with every thought, with every word, with every gesture, action, choice, or decision, from this moment forward.
Now is the perfect time for our advancement, as individuals and as a species. And this doesn’t have to be a drudgery or a burden. It can be a joy. Expressing the highest and grandest part of us every day will feel wonderful. All we have to do is get our fear and negativity out of the way.
Let’s try it. Just for a week. No, just for a day. Let’s watch what we think. Watch what we say. Count the times that our thought and words (about anything) are negative. Count the times that they add positive energy and good vibes to the moment, or deplete the moment of these.
Then let’s accept the invitation of Divinity and say this to ourselves in front of every encounter, every interaction, every anticipated experience with another: I have come that you may have life, and that you may have it more abundantly.