For me, “Courage” is not only the definition of a heroic reaction to overcome fear for the greater good in rare crises, but courage is always available as the spontaneous action of letting go of time to express what is in my heart and reclaim my innocence now. It takes courage to let go of time—my thinking—and to stop judging what is happening now, as perceived through a lens of survival that has been clouded by memories of continual self-defense and desires for more security in the future. It takes courage to embrace life in the present moment, armed only with a true understanding of my ever-present feelings, and respond—without prejudice—to the reality of the unknown happening now.
The courage to let go of time is spontaneous as flipping a switch within to shine the laser light of present awareness on the past and dissolve my memories devoid of love: the scars that remain from lack of understanding and unfinished experiences that still cause emotions of shame, guilt, grief, fear, anger, and pride—now. The courage to accept my past but not to identify with it allows for the healing of my scars and reclaiming self-love—to be enough now. Love enough to transcend my ego, my memorized self-defenses disappear and uncover my naturally creative, heartfelt intelligence—my meditative state of mind happens. When the light of awareness dissolves my ignorance, the memories of negative emotions disappear, and life energy (Love) can flow freely as the positive feelings of willingness, acceptance, reason, compassion, joy, and peace—are projected into the world.
My courage becomes evident and grows when I take on the responsibility to maintain my awareness: remembering my true Self is the observer of my thinking, the witness of letting go of time that dissolves my separate, resistant self-ego, to stay present (sober), and face life happening now. Courage is facing the truth without trying to suppress, express, or escape my negative emotions when triggered in my current environment—whatever it is. When I let go of time, I am letting go of what I know, the self-ego, which is the definition of fear. My fear is not of the unknown—what is arising in the present moment; fear is rooted in losing what I do know: losing my possessions, my identity, and my existence—my ultimate fear of death, the loss of time.
Courage is not the absence of fear, but fear disappears when I let go of psychological time to understand the cause of my fears, which exist only in my thinking—my past that I project into the future—none of which is real.
Courage is letting go of time and surrendering the past, my self-ego, attachment to what I know, and becoming totally aware of being enough to meet the unknown of the present moment—and it is always the present moment.
As courage is not the absence of fear, sobriety is not the absence of addiction. Still, addiction disappears when I stay present and face the distorted perceptions created by my past that cause cravings to suppress, express, or escape my current environment. Sobriety is letting go of time to shine the laser light of awareness within to dissolve my memories devoid of love, like the emotions of shame, guilt, grief, fear, and anger from past use in my addiction. Staying sober is taking responsibility to maintain the light that dissolves my cravings in understanding the root cause of my emotions to heal my scars and reclaim my self-love—to be enough for life happening now.
Just like fear, addiction disappears with the awareness that my thinking is not my true Self. When thinking-in-time is transcended through awareness of reality: being present to dissolve emotions from the past and understand my feelings arising now with heartfelt intelligence—meditation happens—the unity of mind with heart, the [w]holiness of understanding my connection with the universal energy source, the choiceless, effortless action-of-being in harmony with the constant movement of life.
Like fear and addiction, when letting go of time, the self-ego disappears, thinking stops, the separation of duality ends, and being aware of connection is enough, for only Love remains—my Higher Power.
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