AWARE – conversing with the nature of reality
Day 8 of 30 Days of Adventure
Today, let's explore the conversation of who we are relative to how we relate to our environment.
An intimate and nourishing conversation (with anybody or anything) requires our attention.
This “conversational nature of reality” as poet David White puts it, is the drama of vitality—it is something we have all been shown, willing or unwilling. In finding this meeting point between self and other, Whyte realized that in fact reality lies “at this frontier between what you think is you and what you think is not you.” What an adventure is it!
DAVID WHYTE
In Galapagos, I began to realize that because I was in deeply attentive states, hour after hour, watching animals and birds and landscapes—and that’s all I did for almost two years—I began to realize that my identity … actually depended on how much attention I was paying to things that were other than myself—and that as you deepen this intentionality and this attention, you to broaden and deepen your own sense of presence.
What's your role within the conversation of reality?
Do you see yourself today as the river or the channel of the river? It is kind of asking yourself “Are you more yin or yang?”, or more one than the other? As the river, we know ourself as flow. As the channel, we know ourself as a guidance for that flow, banks that funnel the energy and direct it.
Listening, touching, creating, and living in a way that heightens our attention brings us into this conversational nature of reality. It manifests as imagination, reverie, and expanding of consciousness. No pandemic can stop our “hidden discipline of familiarity” in “alertness,” as long as we ease into the conversation with the “grand array” and the “swelling presence” of everything.
I bask in the presence of what is.
I appreciate all that was.
I allow what is wanting to come.
My attention illuminates.
My awareness reveals.
My expression creates.
Sit for 5 minutes and pay extra close attention to the conversations within your environment.
- What grabs your attention and why?
- How does the wind weave its way through space?
- What sounds are bouncing off each other?
- What aromas are in the air?
- What changes do you notice since the last time you observed this space?
- How does the conversation of your existence affect your environment?
Over to you!
What is one thing that inspires you to pay more attention amidst your adventure?
We'd love to hear in the community comments!
