Spring in the Neighborhood
I have a beef! You might ask, what is the connection between the breath, our authentic voice, and an epidemic lack consciousness? I am reminded of the days years ago when thrillers at the movies were about zombies invading our planet and communities. I often feel as if this invasion has actually happened and it is us. We have become unconscious zombies with our electronic devices. Take a look! The next time you are out in the great outdoors walking down the village or city street, notice how many people are walking along with their noses and eyes and thus, their consciousness, devoted to the electronic device in their hands. Notice what you see when you walk by a coffee shop or restaurant and glance inside. Of course, you can’t do this if you are buried in your own smartphone. If you take the challenge, however, you will likely see many people interacting with their smart phones or other device even when another person is sitting across the table. This phenomenon respresents the present culture.
I will attempt to address just one basic problem with our lack of consciousness. One dictionary lists consciousness as “the state of awareness of one’s own existance, sensations, thoughts, surroundings.” As we are glued to our electronics, whether sitting in our home, a restaurant or walking down the street, we are most likely NOT in awareness of our own existance, sensations, thought, or surroundings.
I find this culture the most unsettling when on a beautiful sunny day I see so many folks walking around missing out on what is happening about them. Not only are they missing out on the beauty about them, they also are putting themselves in danger by being so unaware of their surroundings. This is another discussion.
Finding, using, and embodying ones authenic voice involves becoming aware. We become aware of our physical, mental, emotional, spiritual selves. To do that we need to engage in the moment. We need to discover what pleases us, look outward, notice how we relate to the world. STOP! Lift our heads out of the smart phones, the computers and the other divices. We must notice how it feels to look out into the world, to stop searching the internet or reading the chatter that appears on social media. Being conscious we discover what sets our soul afire and what makes us come alive. Then, as we walk down the street or around the neighborhood we notice flowers abloom; we notice the house with the new paint job. We become alive and engaged. It is possible to discover and hear our authentic voice. To facilitate the learning we must listen and look. As we stop for just one moment, we can notice if we are holding our breath; if so, we can allow the breath to revive us. AND, even in the rain of spring, we can notice the new growth about and within oursevles as well. We can put a halt to the epidemic lack of consciousness within ourselves.