Why Beyond the Story

“A glimpse is enough to initiate the awakening process, which is irreversible,” writes Eckhart Tolle in his book A New Earth: Awakening to Your Life’s Purpose (2005/2016, p. 7). There are so many glimpses of awareness in my life experiences. Some of those times, I took no action and dismissed what I had learned that could have ended pain. Sometimes it was because of the roles that I was in, which conflicted with other people’s roles, and sometimes it was not remembering joy as motivation. Sitting in pain and not speaking up mirrored the helplessness that I felt, but not who I was. I often ignored what I had just learned and did not do what I could have done to move through it. Sooner or later that ignoring would cause me an extreme amount of emotional pain that seemed to come from out of nowhere. Now, after getting to know myself when I am connected to the pain of what is happening around me, I stop blaming others and stop to think, what am I avoiding and not paying attention to? This refocus has allowed me to figure out what I need and not blame others for my lack of getting things done and staying present. I have come to see that we are all focused on getting what we need or want— that this human experience works more harmoniously when we are getting it done together. Figuring out how was what eluded me for a while.