Spiritual growth and consciousness often feel like esoteric concepts, only to be achieved through intense meditation or solitary retreat. Yet, the essence of spiritual awakening is closer than we think. It’s in the mundane, in the hustle of our everyday life, and it can be actualized through a practice as simple as relaxing and releasing opinions or mental clutter for short bursts of time. This practice, executed repeatedly for two to five seconds, can ignite an experience of presence, beingness, or what we can term ever-present awareness. As we prioritize these moments of relaxation, this awareness slowly becomes predominant in our experiences, like a changeless screen onto which life’s fleeting perceptions play out.
Often, we perceive this awareness as a background, yet it’s more than that. It’s the essence, the fabric of our existence that also forms the foreground. Just as a movie displays the transient scenes of life, we, the viewers, remain unchanged. We witness our hands moving, emotions fluctuating, stories appearing and disappearing, and even our practice of brief relaxation. The key to understanding is that this awareness is already present. No matter what we do or try, it is always there. We are continually witnessing our present experience.
This perpetual consciousness can be seen as a completely trustworthy space. The more we trust it, the more it yields to us. It doesn’t ask for anything in return; rather, it’s about our readiness to receive the boundless benefits that reside within this always-present consciousness. These qualities can’t fully bloom into our conscious experience unless we relax our conscious mind and open ourselves up to the vastness of its nature.
True relaxation seeps in when we start becoming unworried. As we learn to let go, we gradually recognize the ever-present okayness, the all-encompassing field of clear, alive existence or love. This conscious awareness transforms us, informs how we perceive ourselves, and alleviates our worries and fears. For, in this state, we understand that the sublimeness of what is ever-present, precious, and indestructible is always already okay. As we carve out mental space to recognize this basic space of consciousness, we make room for spiritual growth and consciousness to flourish.