Resolutions. Did you make them? Are you going to lose that weight, stop that smoking, quit the Haagen-Daz, not yell at the kids, and stop running red lights? Did they work last year? Just who is doing the resolving? You or your ego?
Examine the weight scenario. You are twenty pounds heavier than some insurance company’s chart says you should be. It is very tangible. Measurable. Your ego convinces you of all the wonderful things in store for you should you lose this weight! You will be more attractive to others. Maybe even find that special someone. Maybe rekindle an old flame. The ego assures you that all of this is certain, should you just lose the twenty pounds! The ego doesn’t care about genetic predispositions, body types, the seeking of emotional comfort through the ingestion of food or a lack of simple awareness. It just sees the latest cover of Vogue.
The problem is; you are not the ego. You are not now nor have ever been the thoughts telling you that you must look a certain way. You merely HAVE these many thoughts and are truly separate from them. Your choice to be unaware and not detach from these thoughts leaves you with no choice but to take them for reality.
Without that simple awareness, you will tend to be drawn into warring thoughts. That is how the ego keeps you in the trap. Constantly caught up in your thoughts. One voice saying “You have to lose that weight; just look in the mirror!”. The other voice responding ” I can’t have just one, it just tastes so good and I can’t stop myself”. Back and forth the battle is waged in your mind. You are not the mind. You have a mind. All the while the true self, where peaceful acceptance resides, recedes further into the background.
With increased present moment awareness, you will be aware if you are truly hungry or if the craving is merely a need for something else. Staying aware, you can now take action to fulfill those needs. By staying in the here and now as much as possible, you will be aware when you are comfortably full. You will know which foods you actually require at that particular time depending on your nutritional needs. Awareness will be curative.
Although regular meditation is certainly a recommended and very fruitful path to increased present moment awareness, it is not even necessary for those who are able to remember to remember. Just try moment by moment to be aware. Not even trying, for that presumes effort which the ego uses as an entry point. The ego needs you to strive and to force.
If you don’t strive the ego is threatened and disappears. Being requires no effort. You are. Period. Simply be. Be aware. Be aware of what is right now. When a thought rushes in and swiftly takes away your awareness, just realize this is so. That is all you need concern yourself with. Observe the thought and remember to remember.
Remember to return constantly to the here and now. This is where you truly are you. This is who you truly are. This is where you find peace. You are weightless here. Stay awhile.
