One thing about becoming more conscious after awakening (and sometimes prior) is we become more aware of our narratives and programming. We see through and discard some of this. Things we once considered important can lose significance, like material possessions or status. We may go through a downsizing or reevaluation of our life, depending on how out of dharma we are. Or we may not.
We often shift into a more detached, observing mode, and some of our former motivations and goals can fall away. Occasionally, absent motivation can lead to being a bit dysfunctional for a time, like being unable to earn a living sensibly, for example. We feel great, so everything seems fine. Whatever we need shows up as needed. Hopefully, you have a good support network if you have such a period.
Gradually, we shift more into going with the flow, allowing life to unfold as it does, and letting go of the old habits of trying to control. Life itself becomes the driver. However, this has its limits too. For example, sometimes you see the awake become laissez-faire to the extreme. Without constraint, anything goes. If it feels right, go for it. We can lose sight of consequences.
This is particularly true with values. We often find that some of our values were programmed rather than considered. They can fall away in the light of awareness.
Yet we still live in society. We need values and ethics for clean relationships so we can live in relative harmony.
Also, our intuition becomes much more powerful and there can be a growing sense of truth. Yet we remain human and can still have unseen trauma and other shadows that distort perception. We always have blind spots. Information still needs to be tested against consensus reality. We can’t assume our insights are always “truth.”
Let’s not be oblivious, eh?
With a little guidance, self-insight, and understanding, we can minimize these pitfalls of the transition into our true nature.
Davidya
Very important points!
Thanks for reminding!
You’re welcome, Michael.
Good one. I’ve gone through phases like this.
Thanks, Rick. And yes, I have as well.
Adyashanti’s book End of Your World covers the territory well, though the title is a bit dramatic.
The Lose Significance link above links to some articles I wrote about the book.
Self-policing is a practice of mine but “back up” is ALways more than welcome 🙂
Yes, having peers is valuable, so you get feedback if you’re being dense. 🙂
Regarding shifting more into the flow..
I thought I already knew what the Flow meant and maybe I did on some level, but now that part is starting to get experienced more viscerally. I realized that all the post-awakening healing and expansion I’ve been going through, still on some level was about “healing ME to be more awake”.
The remedy I found was devotion. I like the word “God” but not any particular form. More as something vast and incomprehensible that the mind doesn’t need to understand.
It’s helping the heart to open. Just giving everything to That resulted in a surrender and a relaxation where the “me” that was being healed and worked at just started to disappear. After getting over the biggest blockages of fear and trust, a Flow started coming into my experience – but this made only sense to me after reading a few of your articles about devotion, followed by some about The Flow. Also a talk from Lorn helped me see what’s this “new” thing in my experience.
Now being in the “Flow” is a bit of back and forth, depending on what needs my attention, but it’s also easier to see what the blockages are by asking “what am I not willing to give to God at this moment?” Or “what is so important that I need to solve it instead of surrendering it?”
Hi O
Yes, stepping into the flow takes time. It’s not been the habit. Slowly, resistances fall away and results bring trust in the process and it goes deeper.
And yes, using the heart as devotion can help that process. The heart can open up massively, too.
At first, it can be like the hand of God, then God can become apparent more directly. But there’s huge variation in how that unfolds and what we’re comfortable with.
You may find times where flow becomes more direct, like we’re being pushed into a direction in life. We’ll get nudges at first and discover surprising support for a new direction. But if we don’t head the signals, the push gets stronger. I’ve had that recently with the push into somatic therapy. Not a direction I would have even looked at, but here it is. 🙂 Grad school was like that too.
Happy these articles helped.