When you watch little children at play, they are amazed with every little aspect of life. Everyday events—from a far-off voice on the other end of the telephone, to the crash of a wave on their tiny feet—seem nothing less than miraculous to the average three-year-old. Yet, as we grow into adulthood, we begin to lose that sense of awe and wonder. Too many of us ‘sleeptalk’ through our lives, focusing on the constant drone of the voice of trivial matters inside our head: why is it always raining on my day off, how can they be out of my favorite food, that guy took my parking spot, something is always breaking, its always so hot, so cold, so boring, so late, so early… We get lost in the oh-so-not-important activity of tedious moments.
Constant chatter from the egoic mind limits us, we get bogged down, and we can be dragged into thoughts or habitual ways of thinking that don’t serve us, that don’t excite us, and that can even harm us—depleting our mood and energy. By letting go of constant thoughts and egoic sleeptalking, we wake up. We connect easily to our natural state of creativity and peace—we become enlightened. We wake up to the truth of our Being, our Spiritual Self. When we awaken we feel more alive than when we are living trapped in our ego. The ego keeps us trapped in repetitive thinking without new, creative ideas or ways of expression. A sunset is just another time of day. The person serving my food is just another way to get my meal on time. But when we have a moment of awakening—a sunset is unspeakably amazing, indescribably brilliant and an absolute miracle. The person bringing us food becomes like a dear friend on a mission to serve us, to help us, to become a beautiful moment in our day. We suddenly become awake to endless possibilities, and to a definite sense of connection with all things and everyone.
Going within, slowing our ego, our thinking mind, down to a murmur, allows us to experience the awe and wonder of our true nature, the nature of the universe. The love and joy that comes to us naturally, for no apparent reason is always right here waiting to explode from within us, through us, and pour itself out into everything we do and say and into every situation. It is right where we are always, in the present moment, Now.
What we call miraculous happens when we recognize who and what we really are. The mundane appears only when we are trapped in our limited ways of thinking, stuck in old habits or mind-sets. We may seem to experience the mundane more often only because we spend more time in our small-mindedness. Be like a child—really see what is all around you! And allow everything to surprise and delight you!
– Elizabeth Cantey