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You may have heard of the term ‘awakened’, ‘evolved’, ‘consciously awake’, or something along those lines. They’ve been buzz phrases in recent years, often spread by well-meaning people seeking spiritual enlightenment. But what do they mean?
Let’s skip the mumbo jumbo. To be awakened does not mean you wear a man bun, no shoes, dance naked around a fire, go to Burning Man, listen to reggae, and drive a van with hippy slogans painted on it.
To be awakened is quite simply a mindset, and you can be awakened, whether you’re a hippy on the east coast of Australia, or a stockbroker in downtown Manhattan.
The way of an awakened man, in my view, is all about how you think, self-awareness, and the alignment of your soul with your values and purpose. As Abraham would say, it’s all about being “tuned-in, tapped-in, turned-on”.
How you think
Mindset. Tuned in. What do you focus your thoughts and attention on? The awakened man lives a conscious life, and to do that, your mind needs to be clear.
How you think, how you shape, control and guide your own thoughts, goes a long way to living an awakened life. But to me, it’s also more than just positive thinking.
The awakened man asks the right questions, and doesn’t just assume the status quo. He dives deeper into his own mind, his motivations, and the way his thought life shapes the way he lives, thinks and acts.
When you are tuned in to your own thoughts, you can more clearly see the path ahead of you, as well as the obstacles and attitudes that may be blocking you or steering you in the wrong direction.
Self-awareness
Tapped in. How do you show up in the world you live in? How do your actions and behaviours affect those around you? Are you aware when you are angry, pissed off, sad, excited, happy, frustrated, etc? Or are you oblivious to yourself?
The tapped in man is aware of what he is feeling, and how those feelings shape his decisions and way of life.
When you are self-aware, you understand how your own personal energy works. For example, let’s say something has happened and you’re disappointed or even feeling angry about it.
Do you take it out on your family or partner when you get home? Do you understand where your feelings and emotions are coming from? Do you grab a beer and wash down your emotions with a few swigs of ale. Or do you just withdraw and shut everyone out.
Self-awareness also means not deflecting or blaming others for your own shit. Being awakened is not about being flawless or perfect. But it is about knowing yourself well enough to take responsibility for your own way of life, attitudes, behaviours, and standards.
Being tapped in, self-aware, means knowing what’s going on inside of you, and not letting it get the better of you.
Alignment and values
Turned on. What makes you tick on the inside? What is important to you? What turns you on?
One thing is for certain — if you don’t know what your values are, you can’t live by them. And if you can’t live by your values, you probably won’t be in alignment with who you really are. And if you are not in alignment with who you really are, you’re probably not living the way of an awakened man.
How do I know this? I’ve been asleep. I’ve been awake. I’ve gone back to sleep. The way of an awakened man is the constant practice of consciousness, of being aware, of living a deliberate, purposeful, meaningful life. And if you don’t practice, you will nod off again. What do I mean by that?
When you nod off, even though you are still living, you become entranced in a daily routine of nothingness and habitual patterns that end up shaping and controlling your life — you live, breathe, eat, shit, sleep and repeat, but you don’t engage, you don’t exchange, and you don’t really live.
Values and being in alignment with them, helps us make something of our lives. When you value loyalty, for example, the choices you make will be in alignment with that value. When you value honesty, your words will tend to mirror that. When you value spirituality, you will practice aligning yourself with a higher power. When you value health and wellbeing you will put healthy things into your body.
So to sum it up, the way of the awakened man is the way of living a conscious, purposeful life, through your mind, your heart, your body, and soul. An awakened man seeks alignment in all aspects of himself, to be the absolute best version of himself he can be, to love deeply, to speak truthfully, to live meaningfully and to be forever evolving — to be awake to yourself, awake to the possibilities, awake to making the changes you need to make, to live the life you were put here to live.
From the thoughts of Eckhart Tolle, “life isn’t here to make us happy, life is here to make us conscious”.
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