If I am here, and I mean if I am truly here, as in present and mindful and alive and in the moment, then I have to understand what it means to be in the moment. This means I have to understand my attachments or what it means to let them go.
I say this because there is an artform which I like to call mindfulness. I swear this is beautiful.
This is alive and well and possible within all things (a least I think so).
However, this is not to say that it is simple or that no training is involved. No, this is a practice. This is a process which we learn to enjoy and perfect over time.
There is a personal level of awareness, which we call enlightenment. Hence, this becomes an achievement that allows us to be free from the bondage of self-doubt and overthinking.
This is a great thing to do.
And yes, this is a great accomplishment.
This is what it means to be free. This is what it means to be aware.
Next, this is what it means to improve our levels of awareness because, ultimately, this is what allows us to enter the freedom of personal understanding.
Once I understand myself, then I am understanding of who I am.
This means no one can say anything about me that I am not aware of or willing to say about myself. Even better, this means that I am not leached or chained to an idea that limits me.
I can go. I can change my direction.
I can learn a new skill or create a new tool to update my abilities.
I can change my ways and I can change my thinking.
I have come here to sit with you. I am here to breathe and sit, and to look, listen, feel, and process this new version of self.
I am alive, present, and accounted for
and I couldn’t be happier.
I am here to remove myself from “self”.
But what does that mean?
This means that I am looking to be selfless. Better yet, I have come here to be freed from the hinges of critical opinion and freed from the prison which I call the prison of emotional and self-persecution.
I am here to let this go.
I am here to resign my old positions and let go of the stations where i used to stand guard and fight the wars that never really mattered.
If I am here, and if I am truly here in the sense that I am looking to surpass my own limitations, and understand how to let them go, then I have to understand what my limitations are.
I have to address my biases and my biased thinking.
I have to unlearn my programmed assumptions.
I have to rewire my thinking to an updated version of my best possible self.
Even when I reach my best possible potential, I can allow myself to grow even further, and find my next best level and make this consecutively so.
I like those words.
My best possible self.
But what does that mean?
What does the word empowerment mean?
What does this means to me?
What does it mean to be mindful and aware?
What does it mean to be enlightened?
I have news.
Being empowered does not mean that fear does not exist. This does not mean that all is easy and there are no obstacles.
No, or at risk of being too cliche, to be empowered simply means to turn “problems into possibilities and obstacles into opportunity.”
Maybe we need to fully understand what it means to be enlightened or empowered before we take the next best step.
And that’s what this is – this is a step towards a personal and emotional transformation.
There is something I said to you the other day.
I am as I think I am.
But what does that mean?
Obviously the answer is simple.
If I believe that I am unable to grow or if I believe that I cannot improve then, yes, I am unable to do these things. Therefore, I am unable and incapable of surpassing my own limitations.
This means I can only go so far, which means that I am only as good as I can believe.
This is life when we fall short of our best possible potential.
But what if our thoughts are not true?
What if I can grow?
What if I can improve or, at minimum, what if I can feel better?
What if I can do better?
What if I have yet to tap into my best resource, which has always been me to begin with?
What if I am far more capable than I ever believed?
Then what?
We have talked about being the puppet of our pasts.
We talked about what its like to suffer or be enslaved by our own painful and habitual thinking.
We have biases and trained assumptions. We have thoughts and ideas that stem from a hardwired beliefs or keep us stuck in the past. We have trauma bonds that we refuse to stop, drop, or let them go..
But what if these ideas are inaccurate?
What if our training is inaccurate?
What if freedom is no different from a software update and we are just a click away from our next best life.
If I am here or if I am truly present, then I have to understand what it means to be here and present.
I have to understand and find ways to stop, drop, and let go of my unhelpful thoughts.
I have to be “in the now” and not wasting my time on my past or projecting and living in the assumptions of my future.
So, let me get back to the question at hand:
What does enlightenment mean?
Does this mean to be aware?
Or does this mean that we live in a heightened state of awareness, and that consciously speaking, we are understand that life is life. We acknowledge that there is light and darkness, or that life and pain happens. Rather than succumb to this or be victims to an addiction of thinking, we underrated that we can be free from the burden of self.
Thoughts are just thoughts
Ideas are ideas.
Feelings are feelings and emotion is the chemical aftermath of all the above.
Enlightenment:
I see this as meaning that we are enlightened, as in aware, which is one step closer to the freedom from our thinking. This means we understand the difference between rational and irrational thinking.
There is no more critical judgment and no more sinking into the cesspool or drowning in our own emotional quicksand.
There is no more interaction with doubt and regrets.
We understand that life is happening. That’s all, and yes, it really is that simple.
To be enlightened is to stop the complications of irrational thinking.
We replace emotional thinking with mindful understanding. Rather than cling to this or rather than allow our past to have meat hooks that sink into the flesh of our backs, we choose to keep moving rather than settle in sorrows, resentment, or discontent.
What does it mean when we say that we want to be empowered or motivated?
What does the empowerment mean?
More importantly, I had to ask myself, “what does the word mean to me?”
I see personal empowerment as this:
Rather than consider the problems or think about the amount of energy it takes to move, I move.
Rather than procrastinate, I change.
Rather than consider the pitfalls or past mistakes, I choose to attack.
If I am empowered to improve than I am empowered to move, no matter what stands in front of me.
No more obstacles.
No more problems.
There are only opportunities and possibilities.
If I am to be empowered, then I am aware that life is still going to be life.
There will be times when I am working with an advantage and times when I find myself at a loss.
But there is no addiction or connection to the obstacles.
There is no attachment to my so-called problems.
Those are simple items that can no longer intimidate me.
This means that I have chosen to begin.
And again, I am working in the effort business, not the result business.
I am not thinking about my distractions. I am not focusing on what can go wrong or where I can slip or fall. Even if I do slip or fall, I am not owning this as some kind of ultimate failure.
No, not at all.
There is no more self-persecution.
I am done with beating myself up and done with the punishment from within.
Life comes with enough challenges.
I go to a famous line as it was said by The Son of Man: let today be sufficient for itself or “therefore, do not worry about tomorrow, for tomorrow will worry about itself.”
Each day comes with its own news.
To be mindful is not to be unaware of the past or the future. We know the difference between the two.
However, if we are mindful then we understand that yesterday is gone and that neither of us live there anymore. Tomorrow has not happened, at least not yet.
This brings me to where I am now, here, and with you.
I do not want to be burdened or weighed down by my thinking.
I want to be free.
I want to be able to live and to be alive and awake.
I want to let go of my thinking and free from the meat hooks that snatch into my flesh and pull me backwards. I want to be free from all that keeps me from moving forward.
What is that?
What does that mean?
I want to be free from my internal critic and my old narratives. By the way, these are all tasks that are more than possible.
All of this is possible, once I choose to stop, drop, and let go.
It is apparent to me that we need to address our belief system.
Or, at least, I know that I do.
We have to rewire and update our thinking. We have to click that button to update our software .
We have to realize how to change our feelings. Therefore rather than find ourselves stuck in thought, we can free ourselves with the ability of action.
Suggestions to consider:
Motion creates change.
Find your catalyst.
Look at your life.
What do you see?
Look at the unwanted nature of your internal disappointments.
Then ask yourself honestly, is this the life you want, or is this just the life you have?
Answer this.
Next:
When is it your turn to have the life you want?
When is it your turn to give yourself the permission it takes to move?
When are you going to choose to go, be or do what it takes to make the changes you want for yourself?
What has to happen next?
What has to happen for you to make yourself a priority?
Then, what has to take place?
When will you realize that you are always the square root to your own equation?
You are your own driving force and the same as today has to be sufficient for the day, you have to be sufficient for yourself.
You are far more capable than you realize; however, we have to realize that people limit themselves.
We are not here to do this anymore.
I have come up with my own special platform. I call this mine, or “me” otherwise; I call this Ben Kimmel’s Eight Branches of Change. The branches are as follows:
Move, Go, Be and Do to improve the way we Live, Love, Laugh and Learn.
Rather than talk, or think, we move and adjust.
Rather than allow my intimidations to cause me to stall, I choose to adapt and improvise to overcome the challenges in front of me.
There are no more obstacles.
Only opportunities – Remember?
I have lived most of my life by the rules of intimidation.
I have allowed my insecurities to rule my thinking.
I have lived according to my fears, and again, I ask myself the same thing.
To what avail?
Where has fear led me?
This not to say that fear is a bad thing.
No.
On the contrary, fear is an excellent motivator.
Fear is energy. However, energy and motivation is neither positive or negative.
This is only energy in need of direction.
It used to be that I allowed my fears to keep me stuck.
There are times when my fears caused me to run away or to quit before I tried to adapt or overcome.
I believed that I would fail, and therefore, I failed.
Do you see?
Move, go, be and do.
This is the way I can improve the way I live, love, laugh and learn.
These are my eight branches of change.
This is my way . . .
What is yours?
The Written Addiction 