Simple but not Easy Steps to Awaken
by Marajen Moore

1. Unconditionally love and accept wherever you're at on your life journey.
Without being hard on yourself, start by simply noticing your thoughts, especially those self-limiting,internal voices (the 'shoulda's, woulda's and oughta's) lurking around in your mind. For an exercise, try naming and counting the number of self-sabotaging conversations you've had in the past hour. What do you discover?

2. Hide absolutely nothing from yourself.
Take a refreshing, non-judgmental inventory of yourself. What's really true about where you're at now with your life? Include both the awesome and the hard truths. Isn’t it curious how often the awesome stuff is harder to acknowledge? Try this exercise with a light touch, from a place of wonder and humor rather than taking yourself too seriously. Take a deep breath (or perhaps a sigh of relief.) What is it like to simply be who and where you are? What is it to accept your humanness?

3. Take full responsibility for yourself.
Where you are at now is a result of all your choices. Accepting full responsibility for where you're at now releases you and others from expectation, guilt, and blame. We are each responsible for our own life. Regardless of how much support or adversity is available, no one else can change or live life for you. Are there areas you need to take charge in your life?

4. Allow your feelings the freedom to move through responsible expression.
Joy? Sorrow? Anger? Feel these feelings as they come up. Notice their effect inside your body, especiallyon your breathing. Relax your breathing and give your feelings the space to flow. Express your feelings—without getting hooked in their story and without blasting or directing this charged energy at another. (For example, if anger comes up, try pounding a pillow, exercising, or vocalizing in private.) A key is to experience the feelings and allow them to move on without analyzing or suppressing them.

5. Express where you're at with someone you can trust.
When something is keeping you from being in the present, share or vent what’s coming up in you with someone who will really listen to you, without trying to respond, judge or fix you. Notice what opens up from letting up old baggage. Discover what is available to you in this new space.

6. Be at choice.
Take a good look at those self-limiting beliefs and habits. Could any of them be from outdated conditioning from when you were a child? No one is to blame not even you. By becoming aware of these old destructive beliefs and habits, you're less at their mercy, more at choice and better able to play with options.

7. Relax! Let go, you're doing the work of a champion!
Take a deep breath and experience what this moment has to offer.

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