We become what we think

Thinking is an ongoing, independent function that is on “automatic-pilot” most of the time. The thoughts come uninvited and their content appears to be random until something happens that grabs our attention. Let’s imagine an ordinary day where we get up and the usual thoughts about daily preoccupations, work and planning are floating through our mind. We don’t notice anything out of the ordinary until that unpleasant phone call/conversation/e-mail that triggers a whole chain of negative reactions. All day we catch ourselves thinking about the it, about what we should have said, how the words were unfair and hurt our feelings, how we never feel we are understood or can get our point across etc. While driving, in meetings, trying to concentrate at work and while shopping for groceries - we keep trying to mentally rewrite the script of what should have happened or what we should have said or what we are going to do and say next time we get a chance.

Once the mind has sunk its teeth into a situation, it will continue to chew on it ad nauseam. We are stuck in a cycle of thoughts that keep spinning and influence not only our physical well being (stress symptoms) but it significantly changes our mood – and rarely for the better. We have a hard time concentrating and are generally lost in thought, which means we are anything but present in the moment. We quite literally become what we think: frustrated, worried, resentful, anxious….

When we know how the mechanism works, it becomes possible to break it in 3 simple steps. The key is AWARENESS.

1. Notice: something is off; I am feeling uneasy, worried, anxious etc.
2. Pause: Take a deep breath, step back and watch the situation you are in. Put a PAUSE between the situation and your reaction.
3. AWARENESS: with AWARENESS you CHOOSE your next action/words

Wanting to choose consciously rather than live on automatic pilot, wanting to drive rather than be driven is a sign of awakening of AWARENESS. An inner knowing is nudging us to listen more closely to a voice that comes from beyond the mind. In Meditation we reconnect with that voice. We open to the part of our Being that is infinite and peaceful, the source of AWARENESS. The practice of Meditation allows us to live from that source and be free from the dictates and conditionings of the mind.

Glimpses of an Extraordinary Reality

We all have them. Now and the sky seems to open, time stands still and we know a wonderous sense of peace and perfection that defies words.

It may happen in a situation of deep communion with nature, in the smile of a newborn baby or in a moment of shared intimacy. The magic may last a few seconds, minutes or days - in whichever way we are graced with such an experience – it leaves a deep mark in our soul.

For many, such a glimpse or awakening results in an increased hunger to experience this sense of fullness and perfection again and again. It is a gift and an invitation for those who wish to discover and embrace that dimension in themselves, and it may become the beginning of a spiritual journey that seeks to live in that state of consciousness fully and permanently.

The ancient Indian scriptures refer to this experience as the fourth state of consciousness or the enlightened state (the three human states of consciousness being the waking state, the dream and the deep sleep state) .

Unlike other regular human experiences, the glimpse or awakening is a grace that cannot be reproduced at will. Just as we cannot decide to go to sleep by an act of will. We can only put on our pajamas, crawl into bed and close our eyes, thus creating all the conducive conditions for sleep, and then hope for it to happen…

In the same way, a spiritual practice, Satsang and Meditation are a preparation, an alignment of body and mind that creates the conditions for the opening and experience of that space or state of consciousness.

When we get together in Satsang and Meditation, our attention is guided to that space. Through the power of the shared knowledge and practice, the space opens up as a tangible experience or another glimpse. Sustaining a personal practice becomes easier when we meet in Satsang and inspire each other on a regular basis – it is like taking a bath at the source and letting that source sustain us until we get a chance to dip in again.

As the practice of meditation becomes regular, glimpses are added to more glimpses. Their frequency, builds an energy that is carried into all aspects of life. This energy has the power to transform the experience of life and Self profoundly. What used to be a rare glimpse of an extraordinary reality becomes the awakened state of consciousness in which we live every moment of this life.

Awareness Is First

As he does so often, my teacher recently captured the essence of spiritual knowledge in this one sentence: Your body is not holding awareness – Awareness is holding your body.


For many, the seeking starts from a point of awareness. We have worked hard to get the new house, the big job, the perfect relationship and the spiffy car, and yet something is missing. We seem to have everything we wanted, but we no longer feel the same sense of satisfaction or fulfillment. And if we do, the happiness is short-lived. Longing for meaning, a need to make sense, or an increased restlessness, are the signs of our inner being’s awaking that will gently (or not so gently…) nudge us to explore new territory.

In this day and age so many avenues are available. Countless modalities, teachings and methods offer everything from material abundance to enlightenment - and everything in between. There is no shortage of exciting new horizons and ways to engage our minds in the quest for purpose and meaning. The methods vary greatly in what they promise or offer, but most of them speak in one way or another of getting in touch with a higher power.

Searching for connection with that higher power, we do so from the perspective of a separate, independent human being who is looking for something outside of himself. We seek to make contact with something bigger than us, somewhere “out there”. Guided in our quest by the information we have received throughout our lives by the different channels of society, the starting point is generally something to this effect: “If I am a good human being, then maybe I’ll be rewarded with divine grace. If I do the right thing, maybe I’ll deserve to feel the presence of God. Maybe I will be able to feel and hold that awareness in my body and mind”. The premise being that the human body/mind as a separate entity will create or act in a way that opens the connection to Awareness (another word for higher power, Self, Knower, Universe, God).

The path of Awareness offers a radically different approach. It starts from the Vision that Awareness is first. It is the source of body and mind, and therefore Awareness is not separate from them. As a ring is still inherently the gold it is made of, the human being IS that Awareness, even though it now appears as a human form.

It means that we are not going to become divine at the end of a long process or if we are a good person. We ARE, we always have been, and we will forever be that divine being, the Awareness.

The practice is not to become That, but to remember that WE ARE THAT.