FINDING PURPOSE
Author’s ‘Practical Guide to Awareness’
Why do most authors write a book? It may be due to inspiration, motivation, life changes, contract requirements or all of the above.
I wrote a book titled “A Practical Guide to Awareness” because I was led to do so. The book is a step-by-step guide to finding fulfillment through self-awareness.
Apparently, I could no longer ignore the little voice in my head. The voice was whispering to me practically my entire life. As a native of West Palm Beach, I grew up knowing I was going to write a book — I just wasn’t sure what it would be about.
I went on to a career in public relations, had a family and settled down, thinking that was it for me.
Flashback to December 2014: I receive an email with information regarding a “Conscious Writing Retreat” in Glastonbury, Somerset, U.K. The originator of the email was a group I had joined a few years earlier, the International Association of Conscious and Creative Writers, founded by Julia McCutchen.
Previously, I did not have time to engage in writing prompts and exercises meant to inspire my creative spark. However, on this day, I was pulled in, and my gut instinct told me to follow through on signing up for the retreat.
I followed the inspiration and wound up in England that spring of 2015 participating in what would prove to be a life-changing experience in every way.
To describe the process as “transformative” is the most accurate way to understand how the process affected me, my business and my family.
I arrived as one person and left as a totally different entity with a new way of looking at the world. How did that occur? You may be wondering…
“Conscious Writing” is a process to help align one’s self with one’s creative consciousness. The purpose: To help you write what you are meant to be right.
Maybe that sounds strange, but it works. Trust me.
I have explored the principles of self-awareness since the 1980s, when I read Brian Weiss’ book, “Many Lives Many Masters,” and began attending his workshops. I have traveled all over the world as part of my own spiritual practice.
On the first day of the writing
retreat in England, I wrote the outline for “A Practical Guide to Awareness.” The words flowed easily, and I started writing the book within the gardens of the Glastonbury Abbey ruins.
In January, I self-published the book.
Want some tips to help you discover your true purpose?
Here are a five steps toward awakening from “A Practical Guide to Awareness:”
Perceive your perfect world
Try to sit in a quiet place and visualize your dreams.
See your perfect world. Assemble pictures that depict an ideal world for you.
These images represent how you see yourself. They will help you clarify your needs, and once you know what you need, you’ll know yourself better — and can take action to make your dreams come true.
Create space
Create space in your daily life that brings you to awareness — meaning, create space to pay attention to your thoughts.
This can be done through affirmations, meditation or even by the practice of recognizing the commitments in your life.
Creating time and space for our thoughts forces us to review our responsibility to ourselves and others with calmness and patience — and before any issues arise. We then see what may cause a problem later on in the day or month, and we can reconcile it more easily.
Care for yourself
Self-care is most important because in order to care for others, we must be happy and healthy. If not, we cannot fulfill our commitments to our family, friends and colleagues.
Put your needs first by recognizing them. Then put those needs ahead of any other.
What is it that starts your day off on the right foot? A cup of coffee on the porch? A walk in the park? Meditating for five minutes?
Do it. Like being thirsty for water, being thirsty in your soul can lead to unhappiness.
Consider how your continued unhappiness affects others in your life.
This is what it means to be self-aware. Practicing self-care leads to enhanced energy and greater happiness.
Practice mindfulness
Take a walk. Do you notice what surrounds you?
Try describing to yourself what is in the present moment.
We can only be alive right now in the present. It is all we have. Being aware of the present allows us to be open to all possibilities.
Try it without electronics or technology or being preoccupied by the future, for 15 minutes — then try it for a longer period, and pay attention to everything around you. Note how you feel afterward.
Commit to awareness
If you feel that something is missing in your life, then begin to apply a few of these practices.
Opportunities for awareness present themselves in many forms.
Be open to change! Stay alert to what makes you feel excited, happy and grateful. Whatever leaves you feeling positive and contributing to something greater than yourself, pay attention.
That is the beginning, and the answers will appear, if you are seeking.