Expanding Awareness by Sarah Baiada
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iving life in pursuit of expanding your awareness is a powerful intention which takes courage and commitment to yourself. You can never predict how this will unfold and manifest in your reality. That’s the point. You have to let go of all expectations, because you haven’t read your own book. And new forms of awareness allow us to learn ourselves once again, rediscovering ancient knowledge, timeless ideas, being yourself and connecting with ancient lineages throughout time. We are taught very different ways of interpreting knowledge in this reality and school system. Our society is logic-based, but this misses the fact that those great minds who created the foundations of what we know as science, logic, and mathematics were all mystics. Visionaries, artists, philosophers, poets and wanderers. Awareness is a mystic tradition, a counterculture running alongside the ruling class of the day. We’re losing much of this tradition in the clever marketing of social media and new age movements, where being a seeker of knowledge takes the form of an Instagram-friendly lifestyle. The guru has been replaced by a meditation app and a device that measures your daily movements and cycles. And yet we are ironically more connected and aware of what’s happening in the world than ever before. Our digital global civilization expands our awareness much more quickly, with news and communications in real time. One person’s discovery can be heard across the oceans much faster now than even 10 years ago. Our ability for self-awareness is now mirrored by billions of other
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people and their perception of awareness. This can be quite confronting on our own individual self awareness journey, as we apply differing expectations and mindsets about what this is perceived to be. One tribe’s traditional way of cultivating awareness is different to another. The great news is that we have an overabundance of tools and methods for learning and growth. However, it always needs to be intertwined with self-observation, humbleness, gratitude, endurance and persistence, acknowledgement and grace with oneself. Expressed awareness and personal growth can be demonstrated in a multitude of disciplines and expressions, ideally with respect for the traditional ways of its culture.
The journey of self-expansion follows a similar pattern: first you must acknowledge yourself, your journey and acknowledge the culture that you are learning alongside. With acknowledgement of the space you occupy, and observation for the nature and environment to which you are exposed. Then the clearing begins; of your mind, body and reality of all unconscious contracts and filters you may not have been aware of. Starting with the self
