What About Consciousness?
I came across a quote today from Eleanor Roosevelt that I thought spoke beautifully to understanding our perspective in life. This is often referred to as one's level of consciousness.
"Great minds discuss ideas; average minds discuss events; small minds discuss people." Eleanor Roosevelt.
It's a fairly well-known experience in life to be very caught up in the details of something. To be worried and concerned because you just can't see the way through. No solutions are coming to you about your problems.
And then something shifts. All of a sudden, we can see a bigger picture. You feel more spacious. You can take a deep breath and your shoulders come down. A sense of flow emerges. You realize there was never any real problem to begin with. Things will sort themselves out. Or the obvious solution is right there, in front of your nose, where it's been all along.
I've often seen this phenomenon explained with levels or height and depth metaphors.
At a lower consciousness, we get caught up in the details. There is more urgency, more emotionality. More stress. As we rise in consciousness, we start to be able to calm down, there is less stress, less emotion, and less urgency. At times we realize (hopefully with laughter) that we were making a mountain out of a molehill. Then as consciousness rises even more, we gain more perspective, there is a feeling of spaciousness, expansion, and generally better and better feelings and sensations.
Sydney Banks, the Scottish mystic from BC, called these feelings and sensations beautiful feelings. He said (and I'm paraphrasing) "look for a beautiful feeling; then go live your life”. You know you are at a nice level of consciousness if you have a beautiful feeling.
I’ve found that when people tell me about their problems there are generally three broad levels from where people are stuck.
The first is the personal level, where the problem is about a circumstance, an event, or another person. Eleanor's small mind. There is usually more urgency and emotions here. There is a small amount of the energy of life here. As we rise, we come to the impersonal level. This is the level of ideas. Medium mind. There's a little more room to navigate here, more space to breathe. More life energy to work with. If a person has a concern with their spouse, for example, moving from the personal level to the impersonal level might look like exploring what is the nature of relationship. Not all the things he said and did. This usually reveals insights into the truth of life that when the person sees it for themselves, the behaviour or problem on the personal level looks completely different. Or a course of action starts to emerge organically without effort.
Where I aim for in my work with others is above the impersonal level to the universal. What is just true for all humans? For example, our unending capacity for love and understanding is a universal truth. The fact that not everybody is living from there, all the time, doesn't make it less true.
There are three basic principles that create our experience of life. Sydney Banks articulated them as Universal Mind, Thought, and Consciousness.
"the true dreamer, wakes up, sees the illusion, goes back into his dream, knowing that he is the dreamer, and it is indeed all a conscious state, and it's up to you. It is your life. You are all things. You are all things. We are all things. All things are thoughts. All things are illusion. See this, and you'll walk in what is called bliss, or heaven, or in happiness. You see, happiness comes with understanding." - from the Beyond Psychology audio lecture by Sydney Banks. Here is the link to the full 30-minute lecture if you are inspired for more:
https://audio.com/sydneybanks-digitallyremastered/audio/syd-banks-beyond-psychology-digitally-remastered
So, when I said earlier that "All of a sudden everything shifted", well, what shifted?
Consciousness of course! Humans move up and down in consciousness all day long and often don't recognize how good we are at it. If life feels constricted and tense, slow down, take a step back and clear your mind. You will start to feel a sense of ease returning and more expansion. It's our nature. If you stay with it, you'll feel nicer and nicer.
When we get out of our own way and let our human spirit guide the way amazing things are possible. We become light hearted. The impossible becomes possible.
A wonderful example of the human spirit in motion is Phil Wizard. He is Canada's Olympic gold medal winner in Break Dancing or Breaking. Gravity doesn't seem to apply to this guy. He is truly made of light. If you haven't seen his performance, I highly recommend it. The whole sport is light hearted. Blew my mind! And certainly, raised my consciousness!
Watch Phil here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=g6NlPFdghdQ
What Else Are We Up To?
If you would like to explore with me the nature of the human spirit directly:
1) Immersion Retreat Day:
Have you ever got quiet for just a moment, and everything dropped away. You were just plain happy. For no reason? That is you. That is our potential as human beings. That is a capacity and truth for everyone. Join us in a day-long fun and deeply restful retreat to soak in the amazing feeling of YOU.
For more information and to register, visit our website https://www.drsaraoneill.com/events-1/2024/9/14/immersion-day-2024 or email Nancy at frontdesk@drsaraoneill.com
2) Book a complimentary conversation with me about what you could get out of my transformative work and how you could have a richer experience of life and yourself.
https://calendly.com/sarajoyoneill/30-mins-with-sara-joy
Podcasts:
We Go Deep with Kat and Sara: A mostly weekly podcast with Dr. Kathleen Perry and Dr. Sara O'Neill where we go deeper with the understanding that life happens from the inside out. This is a raw and unedited podcast in a conversational style.
Recent Titles Include:
That's Why We Call It Wisdom
Connection Already Is
The *Bleeping* Randomness and Freedom of Thoughts
Available on Spotify, Apple Podcasts, iHeartRadio, Pocket Casts, and Amazon Music
Wildspire Podcast with Stephanie Benedetto - Bliss & the Bigness of Who You Really Are With Dr. Sara Joy O’Neill https://open.spotify.com/episode/5SgFdNP8x5Oagt6AjxYhC0?si=88bc6551037c449a
Upcoming Podcast Appearance:
In September I will be a guest on a podcast with Shailia Stephens-Würsig who works with entrepreneurs in Germany with this understanding of who we are so they can effortlessly create the companies of their dreams. She also works with the 3 Principles Navikale Alcohol Department at the largest refugee camp (the Navikale district) in Uganda helping to raise funds to aid in their highly effective work of freeing people from addiction to alcohol. Stay tuned!
With Love,
Sara Joy