Editors Note: Our Guest Author Arjuna Ardagh is an awakening coach, writer, teacher and Founder of the Living Essence Foundation. The article posted below was written by Arjuna exclusively for Finerminds readers.
I met David in Brighton last November, he attended a weekend seminar I was teaching there. The South of England in November is always a rather depressing experience: I think it rained every single day of my six-day visit. People look down at the ground, hurrying on their way to the closest warm refuge. But David’s story was a particularly sad one.
At the beginning of the seminar I asked everyone to grab a partner and to tell their partner why they were there for the weekend: to set intentions. When they were all done I asked a few people to take the microphone and to share what they discovered with the rest of the room. Dave was one of those who volunteered.
“I’m new to all this,” he said, “Never been to no seminar in me life,” he went on in his London accent. His strong shoulders, simple innocent manner and rough hands told us that he was a working man.
“I came ‘ere coz me mate said it might ‘elp. I work in building, see, wiv’ concrete. Jus finishin’ a job right now on the new electric company plant, and then I ‘aint got no more work. Building work’s almost at a standstill in England… I dunno what to do,” Dave’s chin began to tremble with emotion. “Got me a fine wife at home. Luv ‘er her to bits, I do, and three great kids. But work’s been slow for several months now, and I’m desperate. Don’t even see ‘ow I can get me kids Christmas presents this year.” Now Dave was not just feeling emotional, he was actually crying. Somebody nearby passed him a tissue. He was clearly extremely embarrassed to have broken down in front of a group of strangers.
“How many people have had feelings similar to this lately?” I asked everyone else present. About 80% of the hands went up in the air. What happened next for Dave was something of a miracle. Both his sad story and what came out of it are signs of our times. All I did was ask him a few simple questions.
“I don’t know that there’s much I can do right here in this seminar to get you another job,” I said, “unless anyone here happens to be building a power plant?” This time no hands went up. “There’s probably not much we can do to shift the circumstances in this moment, but we can certainly shift the way you experience them.” Dave was sitting upright in his chair now, the desperation of his situation clearly made him ready and available. “So I want to ask you, Dave, what are you experiencing in this moment now?”
“Me ‘art is beating fast,” he said. “Feel a ton of tension down ‘ere,” he said, with a hand on his solar plexus. “There’s tension in me belly. Me throat’s dry. Feels like I wanna run or hide.”
“Great,” I said, “So that’s what is true in this moment. And I want to ask you, when you feel this tension in your belly, would you say that you are experiencing it?”
“Yeah,” he said, “Certainly am, mate.”
“Good. And would you say that you’re experiencing it intermittently or completely?”
“No, it’s really there.”
“Great,” I said. “So just say the phrase, ‘I’m experiencing tension in my belly’.” He repeated my words, now fully engaged. “Good. Now I simply want to ask you to shift the attention from the tension in the belly to whatever, or whoever, it is experiencing it. Just take the attention from the tension to the ‘I’ or the ‘me’ which feels it.”
Dave looked confused for a moment. His brow wrinkled, as most peoples’ do when they are asked such a question. “Dunno what you mean, guv.” he said.
“That’s okay, Dave,” I said to him. “The tension is being experienced, right?”
“Yeah,” he said, now more reflective.
“Generally our attention is fixated on to what we’re experiencing, but we completely overlook who it is that is experiencing it. So just now, let your attention shift from the what to the who. Dave looked into my eyes with the innocence of a child. I looked back into his, feeling an inspired certainty that his innocence as well as his desperation were the fertile ground for a breakthrough.
And then something extraordinary happened.
It was as though a light went on inside of Dave. His eyes completely changed from begging to being luminous. His face shifted from trembling anxiety to laughter and joy. “Oh, my…,” he said, “what’s ‘appning?”
“You tell me,” I asked him, “what is happening?”
“All the tension’s gone,” said Dave. “I feel this huge space. There’s, like, a whole lot of peace coming over me.”
“Yes, Dave,” I replied, “that spaciousness, that peace, that’s not just something you’re experiencing. That is who you are. Perhaps you just never had the need to go find yourself before.”
Dave looked around the room. “What do you see?” I asked him. He hesitated as though the answer would seem foolish. “Go on,” I said, “what do you see?”
“Myself,” he whispered.”
“That’s right, Dave. This isn’t poetry. You’re not going crazy. The packaging may be different, but just a little deeper, this is all the same spaciousness and peace looking back at you.” The other people in the room could feel it, too. The whole room had shifted. “If you take this home to the kids,” one of the women said to Dave, “it’s going to be the best Christmas present they ever got!”
What happened to Dave is commonly called an ‘awakening’. It went on deepening and deepening throughout the weekend, and we kept in touch afterwards as well. Dave’s whole life reorganized itself around this shift in consciousness. When he went back to work on Monday he couldn’t shake off the heightened energy and humor he felt. People loved to be around him. He found other work quite easily, but by this point it didn’t even matter so much, because he realized what that woman had said was true.
Dave’s deeper presence, just one flight deeper than his usual procession of thoughts and feelings, is an infinitely greater gift to his children than anything he could ever buy in a toy store.
It’s become something of a cliché these days to say that we live in uncertain times. Everybody feels it. Economically, socially, politically, everything’s changing very fast. It’s easy to get caught in a sense of doom and gloom. If we’re attached to things the way they used to be, this could feel like a terrible time, like the world is falling apart. But something else is happening too, just under the radar, and Dave was a good example. Not everybody has a shift quite as dramatic as Dave’s. He was in dire straits, but millions and millions of people all over the world are experiencing shifts of consciousness into what we could call “awakening.”
This simply means that people just like you and me, ordinary people with jobs and children and relationships and mortgages, are coming into a recognition of who they are, and what life is, deeper than the stories that our minds keep telling us. A few years ago I interviewed almost two hundred of them, and surveyed 13,000 more, and wrote about it in my 2005 book “The Translucent Revolution.”
Awakening is not so much a matter of changing or improving the story of a ‘me’, but seeing beyond it. In this sense it is the next step beyond personal development. It means recognizing that while you and I do have personal lives, they are fleeting and changing. We can also recognize and drop into something much deeper, more peaceful, humorous and generous. And mysterious! And, more important, we can actually live our lives from this deeper dimension. Millions of people today are finding out how.
In a moment of awakening we move beyond fear. We move beyond ideas of how things could be or should be. We relax deeply into how things are, and in this capacity we discover our ability to respond to life in a fresh and innocent way. We discover a huge arena of possibilities and opportunities waiting to be met.
For more than thirty-five years this kind of shift in consciousness has been my passion. I studied with many great teachers for many years. And for almost twenty years I’ve been helping people, not only to drop into awakening in this way, but to discover how we can live our lives from this depth, even while remaining fully involved in the affairs of the world.
The great news is that these days it is really quite easy and simple to taste awakening in this way. In fact, the more challenging and unpredictable things get: economically, socially and politically, the easier it seems to be to break the trance of the mind and to wake up.
I am an Awakening Coach. That’s what I do. I help people to shift out of the feeling of imprisonment in the mind, and into the living of a much deeper potential. My commitment is to do this in ways that are simple, easy and graceful, which integrate smoothly into day-to-day life.
I have prepared a thirty minute MP3 for you to download, with “Five Simple Tips For Dropping More Deeply Into Awakening”. You can use these to experiment with how easily you can shift your state of consciousness during your day. I look forward very much to getting to know you better, and exploring the vast possibilities of who we are, and what our lives can be as we wake up together.
To listen to “Five Simple Tips For Dropping More Deeply Into Awakening” Click Here.
Arjuna Ardagh is an awakening coach, writer, teacher and public speaker. He is the author of seven books and many audio and video products, including the 2005 bestseller The Translucent Revolution, and his most recent book Leap Before You Look. He is the Founder of the Living Essence Foundation, in Nevada City, CA, a non-profit organization dedicated to the awakening of consciousness within the context of ordinary life.
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wow!that was quite nice.
hearing about this construction man having his true moment of awakening.yes, it is good to remind ourselves peace can be there,right there.
This brought tears to my eyes. Trials and challenges are truly a door of opportunity, if we allow them to be. An opportunity to grow beyond. What a wonderful gift for this young man. His innocence and his readiness in being available are key.
thanks and God bless, brendan
Arjuna … THANK YOU!
Your style of writing makes your ideas come alive.
You make shifting to more freedom seem real for everyone.
Allan Kenyon
Personal Development Coach
www,KenyonCoaching.com
I am deeply involved in this great mystery and love to read about it. Thank you for explaining it with crystal clearance
Couldn’t hear the download — speaking too softly.
I really enjoyed reading this article. I experienced my first glimpse of awakening three years ago and I can definitely identify with Dave’s story and better yet I have been able to accept change and move into who I really am. It is awesome to see that this is a collective action that is happening everywhere for a better tomorrow for all.
Thank you for your wonderful presentation. I apprecieate the suggestions of the practices and will aply them to my day.
Thanks again.
We as human beings, are like tiny pieces of infinity growing conscious of itself.At the basic level the function of meditation is to integrate the infinite powers of our imaginations, with our relatively tiny input we receive through our senses.Imbalance between these two can cause dis-ease, both in the mind and the body.We can restore the natural balance between two,through applied meditation.
It show us once again, you can’t change the world or the circumstances but you can change you perception and everything change. A situation can make us or break us. It is up to us.
Thank you so much for this wonderful article.
How wonderful! In all the material I have read or listened to over the past few years, no one has ever made this jump so simple. I almost felt dumbfounded when I discovered through these 5 tips that it is ok to just “be” in the moment. No long processes. Just taking a few moments a day. Ask a question. Feel the truth of the moment. This is the kind of work that will make awakening spread like wild fire and bring the whole earth to a new level.
Thank you so much. =)
There is no noise on this CD and your voice is clear
BUT it’s like it disappears more or less at times,
volumen goes too far down even with my max vol. control on I lost too much of the content in your
speach so I had to give up because I could not keep focusing on your “story”!
Was so eager to listen and learn but could not hear !
The story about Dave is true of all of us and just for a moment realizing who you really are and being present for the moment speaks volumes for us all i will spread the word and get in touch.
I was amazed to see how simply you put something I’ve been trying to explain and I couldn’t. After I started to take my intuition seriously, what flipped me over the top is when I realized I was using judgmental words and phrases and I had thought I wasn’t judgmental. When I dropped them I would see reality. I knew what they meant when they said you would be guided into all truth. Dropping judgmental words for all descriptive ones is a radical and absolute move and you absolutely see reality as it’s totally objective, no ego, bias or assumptions. Looking at your awareness, as you suggest, and the awareness is impartial, I guess. I knew their must be an easy way that everyone could get immediately, like waking up from hypnosis.
When I try to download the MP3 or listen to it directly a message pops up — “The input media format is invalid”.
thank you everyone for your responses
not sure why the audio quality was variable for some of you: try it again as it works for me.
Yes, awakening is coming over all of us like the monsoon rains after a long drought, and it is a great time to be alive!
I look forward to more fine dialogs with many finer minds!
The connecting wheel kept spinning was neve did down load:< I was looking forward to it too!
The connecting wheel kept spinning it never did down load:< I was looking forward to it too!
I couldn’t hear the download it was too low and soft I turned my player all the way up and also the download but alas and I as well was looking forward to the 5 ways.
Beautiful, Arjuna! So applicable for this frightful, yet powerful time of transformation. I will share this with all of those I know. Thank you!
Hi
I have tried to download this on 2 different computers and I get the same message:
“The input media format is invalid”.
Can you please let me know if there is an alternative link or some other way I can listen to this — PLEASE?
I was so much looking forward to it.
Thanks
Ewa
Just to let you know — anyone having problems listening to this mp3 file should ensure that they have the latest Windows Media player, version 11, with latest updates.I could not listen to the mp3 recording until I updated my windows media player. Hope that helps.
Could not listen or download MP3.A message “The input media format is invalid” popped up.
I don’t know why but I am extremely interested in this seminar.Is there nothing you can do to sort out this problem?
Thank you for this inspiring and priceless gift of awakening Arjuna. I plan to practice it every day.
The recording was perfect, laud and clear when I downloaded the file to my computer by right mouse clicking on the file url, saving the file, then changing the file extension to MP3 and transferring the file to my iTunes player.
It was initially hard to hear the sound on the browser by just clicking on the url.
I think the idea of integrating your practise into your day is really great. I will be doing these more and more. Thanks a lot Arjuna.
this is truely an awakening. i thank you from my heart… sherry
Arjuna, you are truly a blessing to me and many others. I have read all but your last book and listened to your LET YOURSELF GO cds. Your writing and your cds are so easily understood. Your words and the tools of inquiry you share have been so instrumental in making me aware. Thank you for what you are doing.
Thank you, Arjuna. I greatly enjoy these practices and use others from your book, Leap Before you Look. I used earphones and the sound was great. The audio on my computer was low without the earphones.
Thank you very much.
Beth
That was inspiring,thank you so much.
To switch our awareness from the problem/s to who is observing the problems is powerful stuff.Bringing us back to the power of NOW.
For anyone that has researched the 2012 prophecies you will understand that this thing that Mr Ardagh refers to as awakening was predicted by the Myans thousands of years ago. Many uninformed people have translated the the prophecies as the end of the world, Armagedon. This is not the message that the Mayan’s were giving us. The message is that it is the end of the world as we know it. We will take a leap from the material world of the five senses to a more spiritual world beyond the five senses. A connectivity to Universal Intelligence and a clear understanding of universal oneness.
Everything that is happening in the world today, recessions, controlling governments and religeons, disease, and so much more is the universe’s way of pushing us towards a spiritual mind. People should look at these events with joy and gratitude.
This is a wonderful idea. I can remember experiencing it as a child. Unfortunately I cannot hear the recording.
A heartfelt Thank You.
Isn’t it amazing what truth is. It’s timeless and universal. Ever read the Buddha’s Four-Fold Mindfulness. Well. even if you haven’t read it truth of discovering the reality behind human existence will manifest in the minds of great people and you certainly are one for doing what you do so effectively. Rearranging the order of things to Stop, Listen, Feel, Think and Thank may make your presentation more effective, but it’s only my opinion and I am sure you’ll do your research on how to present the truth more effectively.
Thank you for making a difference our lives by teaching us to look for answers within ourselves by shifting “what is” to “who is.”
May you and all beings be well and happy!
Dave’s story set me through a memory lane where I was also caught in a similar situation a year back — when I lost my job and had expenses to meet and a family to care for. How I went through a life transforming process. It was like I had fallen into hot water. Initially, it burnt but gradually, I learnt to soak in the heat and warmth. I learnt to absorb it and awaken to a new world where materialism was overcome by spirituality and to find peace within myself — to understand that I was not a separate entity but I was a part of the heat and it was a part of me. The end result was my capability increased in manifolds and I am proud of this achievement, this transformation within myself.
Arjuna– thanks for being another messenger of the beautiful, timeless truth– namaste
I was in the room with Dave ‚participating in the weekend ‚and saw the transformation from despair to a radiant glow ‚as for myself after many years with many Teachers, i gave up trying to get it right;…and i just let it all go,…like a balloon deflating…and then the expereince of emptyness,.. fullfilled ! another shift in the mystry…!
I can’t write to much, Cause you make me relax, good night,
Just i want say Thank for your speech, see u soon< If u see a rainbow tomorrow is because I sending to you
lsincerely Paloma
it was very good. some body still can‘t download ? Try right click and save target as…
I can’t download the mp3