Observations on the Spiritual Path: This Moment Is Sacred

I hope you won't think it's tricky of me to say that almost every moment can be claimed as a moment of sacred awareness. There's a simple process I use to do this: 5 Steps to Sacred Awareness.What matters most, initially, is your willingness to notice, to experience the feeling of ah! Right now, fix your eyes on a point somewhere nearby that doesn't offer any particularly interesting visual content. Notice how it feels to look outside at nothing, and then gradually begin to turn your attention inward. Don't change anything. Just notice.

If your awareness changes from noticing into watching, allow that to happen. If you feel a little bit stupid, you're definitely on the right track. If you feel a kind of childlike fascination, this is one sign of watching. Don't worry if you think nothing is happening. Nothing never happens. Just keep watching, and see what does happen.

This is where I discovered the difference between watching and looking for something. They're two very different activities. When I'm looking for something, I stop watching and begin to imagine what might happen. But that little moment of expecting and hoping shifts my attention.

If I stop watching, I will miss the awakening. And I don't want to miss the awakening!.So now then, right here, right now, just continue to let yourself feel a little bit stupid, a little bit simple, and empty. Maybe at this point you feel a sense of uneasiness or drowsiness or boredom creeping in, and you want to stop watching. If you do, that's okay. But if you are able to keep watching, in a little while you'll be awake! When you awaken, you realize something.

When you awaken, your awareness opens up in a way that reveals something to you (maybe it's simply the realization that you haven't heard your own breath or your heartbeat until just now). Now choose. What are you inspired to do right now? Listen to the sound of your breath and heartbeat for a few moments? Write in your journal? Call a friend to say something you've been putting off saying? The choice is less important, in my experience, than the act of choosing.

Choosing, when done in response to sacred awareness, in response to an awakening, gives me practice taking action with faith, in accordance with divine inspiration. A sacred visitation is a gift of inner inspiration. Choosing to claim that gift allows you to unlock its power?the power of grace?to propel yourself forward on the path. Claim this moment, and victory is yours.

.Ceci Miller is the author of Sacred Visitations: Gifts of Grace that Transform the Heart and Awaken the Soul, endorsed by Chicken Soul Author Marci Shimoff, Mars/Venus author John Gray, and bestselling author John Bradshaw. The book's touching, often magical, stories guide readers beyond mere memoir into the profoundly personal world of their own sacred experiences. Ceci's workshops show participants how to practice the 5 Steps of Sacred Awareness.

A student of meditation since 1976 Ceci's heartfelt stories of spiritual experience and contemplation--shared in articles, books, and public talks--have inspired meditators and seekers throughout the world. She is the author of two children's books and has co-authored and edited numerous books for adults. To hear Ceci read an excerpt from Sacred Visitations, or to hear her interviews with people about their spiritual experiences on the Sacred Visitations Podcast, go to http://www.SacredVisitations.

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Observations on the Spiritual Path This Moment Is Sacred