Wake Up!

 An awake heart is like a sky that pours light.  Hafiz

Oh, I want that! So how do I have an ‘awake heart’? I believe that gratitude is the way to wake up. Gratitude helps me see — it shines light on all that I perceive, if I’m open to it.

What can shining the light on unpleasantness do? Doesn’t that simply amplify the negative aspects of life? I suppose it could, if I just looked at the surface and stopped at the initial discomfort. Can I look more deeply, see with more perspective, grasp what could be if those negatives were be cleaned up or turned around? Can I be awake to possibility?

I believe it takes practice. The easiest daily practice is to consciously find the many things for which I can be grateful in this moment, and to name them. Express gratitude for all that I have, and feel the peace that brings.

When I see that someone else has more, can I find an honest sense of happiness for them? Experience tells me that the answer is Yes!, but I have to actively choose that until it becomes my first response. I have a spiritual teacher who asks me to silently congratulate them for their abundance. I do that, when I’m awake enough to have awareness in the moment. Those moments are much more frequent as I continue my practice, and I find that the more often I say it, the more honestly I mean it. I can allow myself to feel the joy in another person’s blessings, without it diminishing my own. 

When my heart is awake, there is no darkness which can obscure my joy.