On Spiritual Awakenings

Tags

awakening, awareness, new year, renewal

On some mornings, we awaken and we are full of energy. We may not be able to explain why we are so energized, but we can feel the difference as compared to those days where we wake up all tired and wanting to stay asleep a bit longer. 

Some years are like that too. Twenty twenty is one of those years where I seem to have awakened to a new energy. Or maybe I just feel that way because I have forgotten about how I woke up to twenty nineteen and the years before that. Or maybe it is all the cumulative effect of the “work” that I have been doing in the past year that is now fueling this new awakening. Or maybe all this new energy is a result of the natural optimism that comes with the canvas of a brand new decade and a new set of coloring markers. 

For some, new awakenings comes slowly, in stages, like a slow burning log on a fire which occasionally sends forth a crackling spark.  For others, new awakenings can come suddenly, like flashes of lightning illuminating a dark forest during a thunderstorm. No matter how they come, the integrated energy delivered to us in the time span of the awakenings, is more or less equal. 

How do we know that we are ripe for a new awakening? One way we can feel an awakening is through the arrival of a new sense of clarity. A new clarity inspires newness of vision, hearing, feeling, sensing, intuition, and awareness. A new awareness leads to an elevation of our purpose, of our role in the world, and of our acceptance of accountability for our own awakening.

The result? In being open to it, a new awakening can bring  us face to face with a new commitment to goodness in our words and thoughts, healthiness in our mental and physical diets, and kindness in our actions. It inspires us towards growing our own inner peace, and we take another step towards awakening to all that which awaits us beyond the  circle of time, space and causation. Arise, Awake, my friends! 

Kumud

P.S. Join us Sunday January 5th 2020 at 9amET in our first gathering of twenty twenty as we welcome the new year and a new decade of awakening. I will bring some questions to keep us awake, along with some tea and cookies. Namaste – @AjmaniK

To new awakenings – an offering of light… (2020)

Why Spirituality – I Wonder

Tags

awakening, awareness, happiness, joy, spirituality, wonder

For those of us who have been in and around the weekly conversations with the #spiritchat community on topics related to spirituality and spiritual practice, the answer to “why spirituality” may be plain as daylight. Many of us may even think the question to be irrelevant, or take the answer for granted.

Yet, I have been wondering about this question over the past few days, with a sense of wonder, with a sense and spirit of inquisitive, curious, scientific examination.

So, let me share my sense of wonder with you, and ask the short question – “why spirituality”? What is it about your ‘spiritual practice(s)’ that sets them apart from the rest of your daily life? How do you integrate the results and outcomes of your spirituality into solving the challenges of life and living? Has your approach to ‘spirituality’ changed as your life situation(s) have changed? If yes, how so?

I have often found that the answer to the question, particularly the question that is borne of wonder instead of being borne out of doubt, is already present in our awareness. Over the past few weeks, in preparation for spring, I have been doing some ‘house cleaning’ of my books, media, music and notebooks. During one such episode this week, I came across a few books that were given to be by my mother over my past few visits to India.

As I was sorting through them, one of the ‘bookmarks’ that I came across was a trifold brochure called ‘why spirituality’! The brochure, published in 2011, contains a few quotes from the then leader (Chariji) of the ‘Sahaj Marg’ foundation (http://sahajmarg.org). It contained not one, but a few answers to my sense of wonder. Let me share some of them with you in the quotes below – maybe one or more of them will resonate with you.

“Spirituality is the need for an inner existence. The whole idea of spirituality is to revive in us that which is sleeping in us – the true inner being, the Self”

Why Spirituality? It is a path to an awakening within. It is a yearning for something more than the routine of daily, worldly life. In spirituality, life becomes a wondrous journey to uncover that inner Self. Wonder leads to a wondrous journey. Yes!

“As a bird needs two wings to fly, a human being needs the two wings of existence, the spiritual and the material, to lead a natural and harmonious life”

Why Spirituality? For harmony, for the restoration of balance. Balance is restored by integrating a spiritual practice into daily life. A practice that blends into our daily living like sugar dissolves into tea.

“Happiness is the natural inner condition that we will reach when we have removed all unnecessary things”

Why Spirituality? Spiritual practice leads us to find true happiness and love. Joy is the quality of the inner Self, and is nurtured in spirituality, along with other qualities of the heart – courage, hope, faith, wonder, compassion, tolerance and, most of all, universal love. By following a spiritual practice, we have the possibility to experience universal love, the divine essence, within our own heart.

The brochure holds more wondrous messages. I shared the thoughts above with you, so that perhaps, you too shall wonder with a sense of inquiry – why spirituality? What is this spiritual path that I walk in my practice? How does my spirituality grow my heart and its inherent qualities, and the sense of joy and love within it?

Let the wondering begin. Let us share our wonder, our heart, and our joy and universal love with each other. And I will keep cleaning, exploring, practicing, uncovering more wonder. Namaste.

Kumud @AjmaniK

P.S. Join the #spiritchat community in our weekly twitter conversation – Sunday, Feb 10 at 9amET / 730pm India. Bring your sense of wonder with you, as we share the answers to ‘why spirituality’, over a cup of tea. Thank you!

After the storm, a double rainbow outside my door…

Celebration Awakenings – by Leia Cator @mscator

Tags

awakening, celebration, spirit, spiritchat

We continue our “Summer Series” for our weekly Sunday morning #SpiritChat conversations with our guest – Leia Cator. The topic will be “Celebration Awakenings”. I hope you will join Leia and me on Sunday June 23rd at 9am ET in #SpiritChat on twitter. Thank you.

There is a dance I do every morning with the dawn. We sit together, celebrate the new day and watch the sunrise. A golden hour where I say prayers of gratitude, plan my day. Breathe in the quiet and the unspeakable beauty of the morning. The colors are astounding and teach me how lucky I am to be alive. Most mornings, I take hundreds of photos and share them on Twitter and on my blog. My art is life-affirming, rejuvenating, and I hope inspirational. I have done this as often as I can over the past seven years. The ritual helps me to shine and celebrate what is and what can be. My vision is to better create and share my gifts with aloha.

1. Robert Frost wrote, “I am not a teacher, but an awakener.” What does spiritual awakening mean to you?
2. Should an awakening be celebrated or kept private?
3. Do you think an awakening is born of sorrow or joy?
4. Is an awakening gradual or spontaneous?
5. My celebration awakenings are manifested in the sunrise. Is there something in nature that helps you celebrate?
6. Who do you consider a creative visionary and why?
7. Lao Tzu said, “From wonder into wonder existence opens.” Describe wonder.
8. Must we let go of something in order for our spirit to gain an awakening?
9. Eden Philpotts wrote the universe is full of magical things, patiently waiting for us to discover. What would you like to discover?

Leia Cator (USA) was born under the lucky Honolulu moon and raised in the Waikiki surf. A rare cancer diagnosis galvanized her desire to spend each moment celebrating life with aloha. That was 20 years ago.

A lifelong writer and budding photographer, her work intends to motivate, educate, and inspire the world. In her spare time, she rides a Harley, tries for the Springsteen pit, and catches the sunrise every morning off the back lanai of her home in Asheville, North Carolina. For Leia, life is a celebration of passionate colors…

Connect with Leia on her blog titled, Daily Celebrations!

Update: Here are the questions asked during the chat. Enjoy, and feel free to answer in the comments… The full transcript and statistics are available at http://bit.ly/sc-tr-0623

Q1. Robert Frost wrote, “I am not a teacher, but an awakener.” What does spiritual awakening mean to you? #SpiritChat

Q2. What is the spiritual significance of an awakening? Do we need one? #SpiritChat

Q3. Can Sorrow or Joy lead to a spiritual awakening? Why or why not? v/@mscator #SpiritChat

Q4. What must we let go of, in order for our spirit to gain an awakening? v/@mscator #SpiritChat

Q5. Should an awakening be celebrated or kept private? Why? #SpiritChat

Q6. “My celebration awakenings are manifested in the sunrise.” -@mscator How does nature help you celebrate? v/@mscator #SpiritChat

Q7. What is the role of community in helping us manifest, Celebrate Awakenings? #SpiritChat

Q8. Moving forward, We can awaken our Self by these actions… #SpiritChat