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Working to Awaken - Page 2

© M. Williams

If our labor is to help us break out of the state of unconsciousness in which we habitually function, we must, first of all, approach it in a positive frame of mind. Negative begets negative, so if we bring negativity to the job, we generate more of the same, which only serves to further obstruct our awareness. If we concentrate on how much we dislike the work, for example, those discontented rumblings in our mind will grow stronger on the energy we give them, until we find ourselves caught up in a vortex of negativity...and a far cry from our goal of objective awareness.

Likewise, if the mind is filled with distracting thoughts of past events or future possibilities-if it is busy reliving last weekend's trip to the beach or anticipating tomorrow's hectic schedule, let's say-then the work in which we are physically engaged becomes mechanical. We end up merely going through the motions and become conscious of our actions only when jolted back into the present by some outside disturbance.

But we cannot count on a constant bombardment of such disturbances to keep us a state of wakeful being. For this we must focus our complete attention on the task at hand, because when the will is engaged the consciousness follows. Only when we cease to work in a negative and distracted state of mind and begin to apply our will to the task can we experience the flowering of consciousness that can be gained from our labor. Then even the most physically challenging job gives us great satisfaction.

The key to applying the will lies in focused observation of our own actions. That is to say, by sensing the body and paying attention to what it is doing, by observing ourselves at work and not withdrawing the mind from the activity, we can anchor ourselves in the present. The toil becomes a moving meditation by which the mind chatter is stilled and the consciousness is focused on objective reality. Feelings of resentment vanish when we are completely immersed in our actions rather than in our thoughts, and time no longer passes us by as we become aware of it and of ourselves in it.

So, while I may not look forward with joyful expectation to the jarring cacophony of my alarm clock each morning, when the actual work begins I nevertheless happily surrender myself to the undertaking in anticipation of the heightened awareness of self and present reality it promises and the sense of peace that such awareness inevitably brings.

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