3. Practice Body Awareness

This involves bringing your attention into your body. The following is a brief explanation of one way to do this. 

• Notice and observe your breath. Begin to breathe a little more slowly and deeper than usual, but in a manner that is comfortable for you. Move your inner awareness to various parts of your body from head to toe and to wherever you feel drawn to in the body. Observe with curiosity, kindness, self-compassion, non-judgement, and non-attachment to whatever you are feeling and sensing, and to any thoughts that arise. Letting it all be present. Accepting whatever arises with unconditional love and care for your magnificent self. 
• Being present in this way allows for detachment from and space around thoughts, feelings, sensations, and situations which helps to relax into greater flow and well-being.
• Doing all of this helps to slow, quiet and still analytical thinking. As the brain relaxes, there is a shift from the sympathetic nervous system (fight, flight, freeze, fawn/survival/stress mode) to the parasympathetic nervous system (rest and digest/growth and repair/relaxation mode). The ego/inner critic subsides. This all also helps to create a sense of openness and flow within and to receiving intuitive guidance, assistance, and support as you join with loving Source consciousness.
• So it is very centering and grounding to take moments of pause to tune into your body. These can be short periods of time of about 5 minutes or for a longer duration of  15 or 20 minutes. Start with what works best for you.

Inner body awareness helps to build overall self-awareness and is also key to discovering where you may be draining your energy. Gaining this insight can then help you to make helpful shifts so that you can strengthen and build your energy and resilience and also be more in tune with your body and its messages.

4. Pause and Become Aware of Your Surroundings and Senses

Bringing your awareness to what's around you in the space you are in, also helps to bring you into the present moment and with staying rooted and grounded in the now. Inner stillness invites intuitive guidance in.

Take moments of pause throughout the day to do this practice. Start with 5 minutes. These moments need not be long. When you first begin to practice this exercise, you may like to try it when you are alone and seated in a more quiet place where you can fully relax and won't be disturbed. 
The practice is outlined below.

• Simply pause and notice your surroundings. Move your gaze slowly to notice what is around you. You can also take this step further if you like, by just noticing where your gaze lands for a couple of seconds or so, without giving a label or identification to what you are looking at. In other words, look at the various things and objects without labelling what you have been taught that it is. For example, without identifying it as a table, dog, wall, apple, flower, window, tree, person, partner etc. Almost as if you were seeing these types of things for the first time. Also, refrain from labelling anything as good or bad, right or wrong etc. You're simply being awareness/consciousness and observing. 
• Try it out. What do you notice? How does it feel? Perhaps there is a sense of awe or wonder, or expansiveness?
• Perhaps you observe that when you take moments to pause and become aware of your surroundings and senses, any worries about the future dissolve and any ruminating, distressing or judgemental thoughts are gone. That is what living in the now does!
• Viewing the world, yourself, and everyone in this way, through the lens of awareness/Spirit, aligns you to the true Self, Source consciousness, and also strengthens your intuition. 
• Next, you may like to bring focus to your other senses, one at a time. For example, you can take notice of any sounds you hear, any smells, and any sensations you are experiencing on the skin from the air or the touch of your clothing or a chair you are sitting on etc. Again, just notice and observe without labelling the sounds or where they are coming from, any smells or sensations.
• This practice helps to be more open to the vastness and expansiveness within and all around you and to possibilities and solutions. And by not assigning labels or identities, in time you may notice that you perceive the true inherent essence of what you are noticing, beyond its form/physical identity. ​You perceive everything from the perspective of the true Self. So, past the illusion of separation, beyond the stories and any drama. You may have a deeper sense of the aliveness, the Light, the vibration, of what you observe around you and feel your Oneness and connection with all of life.
• Also, after you become familiar with this awareness practice, you may notice it becomes natural to pause during the day, maybe for a minute or so, here and there, and perceive the world this way. These are moments to realign and recharge as well.​

As a dedicated student of the non-dualistic teachings of A Course in Miracles for many years now, the practice of viewing the world/self/others in such a way, through the lens of non-judgement, Love, Oneness, and divine Truth, with the full assistance of the Holy Spirit (aka consciousness, awareness, higher or true Self) has been profound. When I first became a student in 2008, and began shifting my perception of everything, it began to completely transform the way I experience life. And since then, as I continue my path, this practice really simplifies life.

​There is a deep sense of connection/unity/Oneness and a recognition and understanding of the deeper meaning and purpose of everything. It really is beautiful. And in following the teachings and lessons of A Course in Miracles, students join with and therefore build a deep relationship with the Holy Spirit. This naturally leads to boosted and heightened intuition, a greater trust in the unknown, and alignment with Source consciousness.

Our intuition is guidance from the Higher Spirit Self. The mind has two parts/thought systems. Spirit is one and is the voice of love. Spirit knows only our divine Truth that we are perfect love and that only love is real. The other part of the mind, the ego, is illusory. The ego is not an entity nor a thing, but rather just the idea that we are separate from our Source. Its thought system is fear-based and is totally flawed as we are not separate from Source. The ego is the inner critic/false self which judges everyone and everything. Abundance, unity, and wholeness are part of Spirit’s thought system. Lack, separation, and limitation are part of the ego’s thought system.   

Since the part of the mind we choose to follow at any given moment effects how we perceive ourselves, others, and the world, listening to Spirit’s guidance (our intuition) enables us to experience and enjoy life from Spirit’s true vision of peace, love, non-judgement, harmony, and freedom.
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How do you know if specific thoughts and ideas in your mind are guidance from Spirit or the ego? When they are from Spirit, they are loving, gentle, kind, and uplifting in nature. Any guidance that Spirit offers always results in positive outcomes for our well-being and anyone else concerned. Spirit gives us solutions on how to forgive and eliminate fear and judgement, and brings us clarity. We may feel a burst of joy when we receive inspiring ideas. If the thoughts and ideas are unloving, judgemental, or condemn anyone including the self, then they are from the ego.

The guidance received from Spirit may not always necessarily be what one wants to hear at the time. If there are expectations of what it should be, to match what you think you want, this is judgement and a control mechanism of the ego. If Spirit’s guidance is then ignored, it may lead to some confusion and doubt.

If unsure if the guidance is from Spirit or the ego, you can ask for clarification from Spirit and wait awhile. Let go of thinking about it for some time and to clear the mind, trusting that Spirit will bring you the clarification in divine timing. When we spend time being in silence and the mind becomes still, the intuitive guidance comes through clearly. Also, Spirit’s guidance will most likely stay the same a few days later, but that from the ego can change, even often.

We have so many thoughts that arise in the mind each day. Each moment, we always have the choice which inner voice to listen to. When I made the choice to listen to and follow only Spirit and have stayed committed to doing so everyday, the voice of the ego became much weaker. Like a muscle that gets stronger when we exercise it, when we are dedicated to listening to and following our intuition, the stronger our communication with Spirit and it becomes our clear, dominant, guiding light. ​

Forgiveness is a gift we give ourselves and it sets us free. When we choose forgiveness, we release the past, and can enjoy living in the eternal now.

Judgement takes many forms. Blaming others or the self for one’s experiences, believing the self or others to be inadequate, guilty, or undeserving, and making comparisons, are just a few examples of judgement. Love and judgement cannot coexist. Only one of these is active at any given moment. Forgiveness is the means to the relinquishment of judgement.

When we truly forgive, we do so at the level of the mind where it is needed, since all arises from the mind. By forgiving the self, another person, or a situation, we are not indicating that a specific behavior or action is ok, but rather we see through the illusion of the world and its seeming separate identities and stories, to the love that is truly there beyond all form. The non-dualistic spiritual principles of A Course in Miracles teaches that the path to inner peace and love is through this true form of forgiveness. All are innocent, and only the love that we are, is real.

We can always, at any moment, make the choice to love, and abandon judgement. Everyone is doing the best they can based on their state of awareness about who they really are. Those who lack self-love and are unhappy deep down, can extend to others only what they feel for themselves and what they believe to be true. Forgiveness though, does not mean that one should tolerate or be subjected to the unloving nature of a situation or behavior of another.

A very helpful tool that you can use is to bring your conscious awareness outside the illusion/world and to perceive a situation as an observer looking in. This makes it easier to detach from a situation and bring your awareness to the stillness within. Like watching a movie, you observe the characters with relatively no strong attachment. Taking such a perspective when observing the stories happening in your life, results in a greater understanding and compassion for the various characters.

Spirit, our inner teacher of peace, always assists with forgiveness, we just need to ask. Our true essence is light, free, and unconditional love. Forgiveness uplifts your vibration and permanently disconnects you from suffering. Nothing on the level of form, outside of the mind, needs to be done, unless there is specific guidance from Spirit to do so. Forgiveness and commitment to the daily practice of non-judgement accelerates the undoing of the ego, which cannot survive without judgement.

Forgiveness is an act of nurturing unconditional self-love. Forgiving another is really forgiving yourself. When the painful life stories and characters are forgiven, whatever was based on divine, unconditional love, always remains. Those that were not rooted in divine love naturally fall away on their own. This creates an opening for more of that which is based on love to come into your life.

In Oneness,
Maya Bringas

~Freedom comes when you remember the magnificence of who you really are~
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~Published in the September issue of Sibyl Magazine: For the Spirit and Soul of Woman. As it is a paid subscription magazine, I also share my monthly articles for Sibyl Magazine for 2018, here on this page. To find out more about Sibyl Magazine and to read wonderful, inspirational articles on the topics of spirituality, conscious living, mind/body/spirit, for a low annual subscription fee, you can visit their website here. 

If you enjoy these empowering articles, please share them with those who may be interested in the content. Sharing is both a blessing to others and to ourselves.

In Oneness and Light,
​Maya Bringas

~Freedom comes when you remember the magnificence of who you really are~

Be sure to try the exercise at the end of the article to align with your sacred heart and true divine essence which is LOVE! I enjoy doing it daily and it is a simple and wonderful way to stay aligned to the divine love that we are throughout the day. Feel free to share your experience using the exercise in the comments section below.

This article was published in the February 2018 issue of Sibyl Magazine: For the Spirit and Soul of Woman.​
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If you enjoy these empowering articles, please share them with those who may be interested in the content. Sharing is both a blessing to others and to ourselves.​