Letting Go of Fear!
Reply
Author Archives: Saina Fernandez
When Mind Keeps You Stuck in a Loop
Featured
Today in this blog I want to address the topic and notion that most of us have believed all of our lives, that we are the mind which includes thoughts and emotions. This is one of the most prevalent seemingly built-in beliefs because of societal upbringing and conditioning. Our language plays a huge part in fortifying this “I am the mind” belief. For instance, I am angry. I believe this or that. Just saying I believe is one of the ways we mistakenly identify with the mind believing it is us. When we say we are an emotion, we are declaring we are the mind because the mind is both thought and emotion.
So, once we see this insane loophole what can we do? One small trick that is helping create some space from this identification of the mind as what I am is by saying phrases like “I am using the mind to believe such and such.”
See the mind is a tool. It is not who or what we are but as long as we think, believe, and feel as if we are the mind then we will automatically succomb to the believing of the thoughts that the mind generates. This is why it seems like we are caught in a trap and can’t walk out. The other factor is the fact that believing itself is an act of the mind. The mind generates the thoughts out of nowhere and then believes them. We get entranced and hypnotized into this whole mind matrix when identification occurs.
By remembering as much as possible or continuously I am not the mind and that the mind is a tool yet a tool that can be used by Spirit is how we break free! It is possible and yet it may take time and practice with this technique of taking a step back from the mind by saying I am using the mind to believe____________. But it is a helpful distancing. Just enough of a space to see that you are the one noticing and aware of the mind. When you see that you are the Awareness and not the mind and the thoughts and emotions that it generates there is freedom in that gap. In that freedom, a new choice can be made. The choice is whether to keep “using the mind to believe” a thought or not. This is real power. The power to choose again.
I could have easily titled this blog “Who is the Believer?” Believing we are the believer is also insidious and yet another way the mind keeps us stuck believing all of its beliefs aka lies that it generates. There’s another secret to disidentifying from the mind and its automatically generated thoughts, see through the power of inquiry that the thoughts are lies. Once you see what the mind is doing enough times and this could take hundreds of times seeing how the mind lies, then what you can uncover is the ability to say whoa wait a minute, I don’t have to use the mind to believe that thought. Just because a thought comes into your mind doesn’t mean you need to believe it. Byron Katie says that you are either questioning your thoughts or believing them. So, here’s where choice comes in, the choice to inquire and set ourselves free from the tyrant that is the mind in its current state of affairs, typically wrong-minded or just to keep letting the mind use us and stay stuck in the loop of insanity and suffering.
I invite you to see all of this for yourself. One way to see what the mind is up to and how we so easily fall prey to whatever the mind is saying is by noticing the thoughts that are there in the mind in the first place. Just for one day on a piece of paper jot down everything the mind says. Then you will get to see for yourself what’s been flying underneath the radar.
After that just keep noticing what’s arising in real time. Then practice inquiry if you feel guided to do so. A free helpful resource is http://www.thework.com. There are plenty of free resources to help you in this process. Again, the secret is to have an awareness that what the mind is telling you is false. See this again and again and eventually the jig is up and the mind can’t trick anymore. Once the mind is truly seen for what it has been doing for decades and to just about everyone on the planet, then you can from that point choose to allow your mind to be a tool to be used by Spirit for Truth. This can potentially lead to Spiritual realization, Liberation, and the felt sense of Bliss, which by the way is your True Nature.
Wait, What? How Did I Miss This?
Featured
As I am diving deeper into the direct path of meditation, there are a couple of extremely helpful books. One of them is The Seven Steps to Awakening. One of the gurus, the great master, Ramana Maharshi, shares that Self-Inquiry is one of the greatest tools to help one Awaken in this lifetime. How I have interpreted this is how self-inquiry is seemingly always interpreted as asking, “Who am I?” And sure this may be one of the ways and helpful in some way. But the real breakthrough for me was what unlocked within me when I finally read the introduction before the actual quotes began in the book.
On page 12 of The Seven Steps to Awakening Michael Langford describes Self-Inquiry as Self-Attention, Self-Abidance. This is what awareness watching awareness really is, it’s paying attention to the Self and that SELF is Awareness.
Now, if you tie in the blog that I just did on how Aliveness is Awareness then you have what I am feeling right now which is a huge insight into Self-Inquiry, that up until now hadn’t ever unlocked for me! The insight that is brand new is seeing that paying attention to the LifeForce, the Radiant Aliveness Within, is awareness watching awareness. And since there’s only one awareness, this is true for all.
What are the implications of this discovery? Well, it radically changes how I view Self-inquiry. It’s not just about asking, “Who am I?”. It’s how we both wake up and stay awake. It’s how we abide, it’s how we stay ‘centered in bliss’. And most wonderfully, it makes this practice of awareness watching awareness come alive, it’s juicy and vibrant! The scintillating Life-Force cascading in around through and beyond is where it’s at, in this state of fullness, meditation is no longer a chore. It’s both the doorway to the Infinite and how one abides serene and true.
Aliveness is Awareness!
As I deepen into this meditation path and continue to discover the sensuous delight that is Shakti as she flows as the Life-Force energy. The recent insight that feels helpful to share is how paying attention to this life-energy-essence is awareness watching awareness. The paying attention to is the verbiage used to describe how one’s everyday ordinary awareness is being used while at the very same time, the pulsations of aliveness (Shakti) are what is paid attention to.
I remember back in the day when I was introduced to the direct path meditation called Awareness watching Awareness, sometimes called Being Aware of Awareness, I had absolutely no clue what any of it meant or how to do it. And, finally, after all of these years of exploration and meditation, the truth always reveals itself as Truly Simple.
As this effervescent, Radiant Aliveness, permeates the field, I could see how the inseparable bond of Shiva-Shakti, Shakti-Shiva really dances in a perfect flowing union. Without Awareness, there is no ability to perceive this radiant aliveness, without the radiant aliveness awareness would just be barren and dry. This made complete logical sense to me and it’s how I could reconcile how both awareness and aliveness are crucial to living the embodied Awakening. But the newness is this deeper diving and seeing how Shakti herself is, in fact, Awareness. When I pay attention to how this Radiant Aliveness dances intimately within my own experience, it becomes beyond obvious She is indeed this intelligent Presence, awareness awake onto itself and as I let go more and more of the false identity of the mind as who I am, I can finally stop obscuring the truth that I am Her, She is what I am.
I share this to perhaps shed light on how a little tweaking of the awareness watching awareness meditation can really blow things wide open for revelation. Or, perhaps, just a little soft shift in the direction of no longer being in the dark about how to make this practice lively, juicy, and truly make you want to come back for more.
I also share this in hopes that Life-force can be seen for what it truly is, it is what we are, and this is how we are not separate. This is how we are one. This is the Essence of it all. When this comes Alive within you as a felt experience, Bliss isn’t too far off, or like now as I am writing this, it’s happening!
May you know Bliss, and may you at least taste a glimpse of Reality. Hopefully, this blog is one nano-step in that direction!
When You’re Moving Against the Flow and How to Flow Once Again
Embarking on a new journey with this website, there’s a deep desire to follow intuition. So, today there’s so much motivation to do the next steps whatever those steps may be, however small they seem to be. However, it literally feels like I am swimming in mud. My energy is low and the whole body feels like it just wants to go back to sleep.
So what an opportunity for deep contemplation! My question to my own inner intuition is what is this and can there be anything done about it.
What I received was: S.T.O.P. An acronym for Surrender to Open Peace.
What is this surrender? Just to be here now with exactly what is. In this case a feeling of swimming in mud. What’s it like to fully embrace this dense, heavy, pressing-down energy?
And for the open, it feels like being open to all possibilities and even the possibility of Peace. Perhaps even peace right here in the middle of this energetic happening. What if it’s true, that peace is already here now?
So, what did I end up doing? I went to a park and had an invigorating walk/run. Gazed at sundogs and imagined they were the outer rings of a portal to the sun. Then, I proceeded to swing on the swings for about 15 minutes and felt like a kid again, rejuvenated. The spring was back in my step and the bliss was back in my being. Haha, as if it ever left! It’s only that it was temporarily obscured by the swimming in mud-feeling.
I saw a lady walking by who looked so downcast. I thought to myself she could really use an “embrace your doldrums meditation”. Her demeanor ended up being an inspiration for me for my next meditation to make.
I am realizing that with each meditation I make it’s the step-by-step how-to be “Centered in Bliss”. The first meditation was embracing the gift of fear. That fear is actually a gift from Shakti. Then the second meditation made was how to be with unworthiness. I am walking myself and anyone who wants out of the nightmare and into Bliss to join me. Let’s see how this Living Mystery unfolds.
Featured
About Me
Why do this?
- Because living the life you have always wanted to live is possible.
- Because through diving into meditations that are just right for really can help heal, soothe, and nourish your entire being.
- Meditation can also put you in touch with your own inner wisdom, a guiding force that allows you to take the guesswork out of figuring out life.
- You can also discover your True Desire aka your real Purpose. This can be incredibly powerful, to say the least.
- Meditating in a way that works for your unique expression is fun, and exciting, and makes you want to come back for more.
To help you get started to see if you’re ready for the world of meditation the Radiance Sutras Way (Instinctive Meditation), here are a few questions:
- Do I know why I am here? What’s my purpose?
- What lights me up? What inspires me and helps me feel whole?
- What would it look like to live my life to the fullest?
- How would I show up in the world if I were coming from my True Self (a Sense of Worth)?
If you’ve never asked any questions before, let now be the moment to start asking these bigger questions.
If you don’t know where to begin or you feel overwhelmed by all of the spiritual teachers, teachings, and information and just want the direct path, then I invite you to take a look at this site or contact me, and let’s set up an online meeting via Zoom or Skype.
The first consultation takes about 30 minutes and is absolutely free.
Hi, I’m Rev. Saina Fernandez. I am an ordained Minister through Awakening Together.
I am also certified to teach meditation through The Radiance Sutras School of Meditation, a 200-hour course.
My heartfelt desire and mission is to help those whose hearts are ready to open to bliss and joy to learn how to access the deep well of endless well-being that is your inherent birthright!
I use many spiritual tools and skills to help uncover the blocks to the awareness of well-being already within you.
Centered In Bliss with Saina 