So I’ve been on the road about 5 weeks now, driven over 4600 miles, and have been living life in experimentation mode by applying various principles I’ve come to know and seeing how well they really work in this whole “real life” thing. I’ve made amazing friends partying at Mardi Gras, photographed a cheer and dance competition in Texas, skied in New Mexico, camped along the Rio Grande, hiked down into the Grand Canyon, had an ostrich bite my camera, been homeless in Colorado, discovered how every state has is very own distinct vibe, experienced the most ridiculous and consistent degrees of synchronicity, met amazing friends all over the country, had the universe repeatedly bring me all that I want including exactly the type of weather I want when I want it, been given free food and lodging all over the country… Quite honestly this is the most exciting and simultaneously the most terrifying thing I’ve ever done.

I’m learning SO much. There’s lots of things I’m learning that I didn’t know before and many things that I’m finally actually GETTING. To use an analogy, let’s say you’ve done martial arts for a while and your instructor keeps telling you, “Hands up! Keep your hands up!” and so you know that your hands need to be up but when you’re practicing, your hands subconsciously keep coming down. It isn’t until you actually spar against an opponent and get clocked in the head that you finally GET IT that your hands need to be UP!  This is a lot like that. As is often said, life is our greatest teacher… There’s a lot of things that I “knew” didn’t work, and if you were to ask me before, I’d tell you that no, such-and-such doesn’t work. If you asked me now, I’d be like “nah dude, really, that shit DOES NOT WORK!!” It’s that transition from mental understanding to gut-level understanding.

This has also been a very emotional experience in that it’s forcing me to really look at myself. I’m basically free to go where I want and do what I want (within reason… a 4 wheel drive or all wheel drive vehicle would be super handy for going up into the snowy mountain peaks and camping in the backcountry, for example, buy I digress…). One thing I wanted from this trip was to really shed light onto the remaining unconscious portions of myself. See, I remember Adyashanti talking about when his awakenings first started, and they also began in the nonabiding form as I am experiencing, when he was going through his process he’d sit down in a coffee shop for hours writing and writing about his beliefs and exploring any area within him that would still go into division. This has been a big part of my journey here. It’s really taking what I’ve learned and applying it all. Jump in with both feet and apply the law of attraction, for example. Apply the ability to surrender and let go when your ego gets bruised and you face your inner darkness head on. Do all the stuff you need to do because now it really matters. It’s crunch time and the pressure’s on.

Freedom of Experience

To what degree do I want to experience freedom? I’ve thrown up a tent and camped in state parks and enjoyed being out in nature. I’ve slept in my car and enjoyed waking up in new places and not having to tear down a tent in the cold mornings. I’ve stayed in hotels and loved the big comfy bed and the little kitchenettes that allow me to cook. I’ve stayed on friends’ futons and enjoyed the free lodging and social life. What is the most harmonious expression of freedom that I’d like to experience? Let’s go out and try a lot of different things and see what they’re like!

Now I’m looking for a more permanent home to throw down some roots. It seems that this country really caters to those with a home and address. Where do I want to live? I can live in Denver, a big city with lots of different regions all over. I can live in Boulder which is a smaller town with a great spiritual vibe and amazing outdoorsy people. I can live up in a small mountain town like Nederland which gets a lot more snow and has more unplowed roads. Heck, I can even go live in a tipi on a sustainable farm! So many options! What do I want? What does my heart say?

Go dive into the unknown and follow that intuition… Let’s see where it takes me.

Spontaneity vs. Planning

What degree of structure do I want in my life? What works best? What feels best? What is most enjoyable? You can try going out somewhere in the world where you literally have NOTHING that you need to do. No plans. No nothing. Just show up and here you are. Where does your intuition lead you next? Completely and utterly spontaneous, allowing synchronicity to be everything.

Do you want a full schedule with lots of things to do and times to be at certain places?

Do you want to be generally open with only a few things scheduled to give your life some sense of  structure and direction while simultaneously being open to change direction on a dime?

I’m finding the last option to be most enjoyable for me. Complete and utter no plans doesn’t feel so good. I like having a next step to head towards in life and a few things on my to-do list. I like having an overall purpose for my life within which I allow the flow to occur. What do you like?

This is something that has been really valuable, to really let go and actually try out lots of different ways of being in the world and find what feels and works best for YOU. This is probably something that each person needs to find out for themselves…

Intuition

Intuition is SO bang on. It’s been my go-to option whenever it comes down to make a decision. Virtually every decision now is simply a matter of asking my intuition. What does this feel like? How does that option feel? Eventually you really start to develop the ability to discern between the feelings of expansiveness, openness, joy, excitement, and subtleness that usually comes with the intuition’s yes versus the sense of closure, downness, no, stopping, almost shut down that comes with the intuition’s no. Honestly one of the main challenges is getting the mind to align with the intuition. That’s really where the main challenge seems to lie, in getting the mind with all its logic and reasoning to surrender to a simple feeling that doesn’t explain itself.

Law of Attraction

The Law of Attraction really works. I mean it REALLY works. I experience so consistently whatever it is that I most strongly think and believe deep down. It’s SO clear…

You are the light, mind is the prism, the world is your rainbow.
-Ash Ruiz

One thing I found amusing was to over and over hear people say “but this never happens!” It’s like everywhere I’d go, restaurants would hand me free food and beer, the weather would be perfect and just as I’d asked, things would just work out for me, and I’d just smile knowing that this has all been created within me and is being experienced due to my own inner alignment. At the same time, I only experience it to the degree that the alignment with inner being is maintained. It’s like a direct 1:1 relationship. Alignment with inner being, loving what is, non-resistance to the present moment, being in the vortex, being in a state of allowing, flowing the energy of Source through you, whatever you wanna call it… this one singular thing is what leads to the unfoldment of all that I desire in ways that are more amazing that I could have ever imagined had I been trying to micromanage or control any of this. It’s like having full creative power of choosing my vibrational state of being and simultaneously having no control over the physical world. The more I surrender control of the world and focus on inner alignment, the more the apparently outer world shows up in ways that reflect my inner alignment. This is really what the LoA is all about.

Happiness

This has been a pretty hard-hitting one for me. I really thought on some level that going out and jumping in to what I perceived to be a life of freedom and travel would bring happiness. It was subtle, but it was definitely here. This has been one false notion that’s been crashing down the past few days, and it’s been a tough pill to swallow. How many times have I thought that going out and “living the life of my dreams” would be what I was looking for? Wasn’t that what life was supposed to be about? It’s the idea that a certain lifestyle = happiness. Nope. Being out here in Colorado doesn’t make me happy. Heck, even manifesting all the stuff that I want doesn’t make me happy. Experiencing synchronicity and being in the flow itself doesn’t make me happy. It really doesn’t. I’m finding I keep placing conditions on my happiness and joy, as if something in life needs to be a certain way so that I can experience happiness and so I go about trying to structure my life a certain way. I keep placing these conditions on myself and finding that they keep come crashing down. They don’t work.

What I keep coming to find is that happiness DOES NOT lie outside of myself, as cliche as that may be. Happiness isn’t found in being loved. It isn’t found in living a certain lifestyle. It isn’t found in finally getting something you’ve always wanted. It doesn’t lie in mastery of a certain skill or achievement in a particular ability, including manifesting everything you want. Not at all…

The way it seems that it works is that happiness is found within, as if we ARE it. Literally. We find that we ARE it when we quit looking to FIND it. This inner being that is along for the journey every step of the way, this awareness that is ALWAYS present no matter how epic or traumatic the experience of life is, this presence that is always always always here, it’s so easy to get distracted from that and get lost in thought or lost in the world or lost in experiences, and yet this beingness is always here. When there’s a turning within, Love is found here. Joy is found here. Happiness is found here. Peace is found here.  Well-being is found here. It doesn’t matter where in the world I am or what is happening around me. It’s like this ground of being is becoming my home, silence is becoming my home, even if I don’t have a physical place to call home.

I wanted to write a book about the Law of Attraction, put together a workshop, collect videos that were especially helpful and so on, and yet what I’m starting to find is that mastery of manifesting DOES NOT BRING HAPPINESS. If I ever do come out with a product on the LoA, manifesting is going to be seen as sooooo secondary to being joyous, to being joy itself.

Byron Katie

The other day I was listening to Byron Katie and she said a number of things that completely blew me away…

Her whole thing is about questioning your thoughts and no longer believing in thought whatsoever, thereby ending your suffering. Her process to help us accomplish this she calls The Work and it’s repeatedly proving itself to be so effective and powerful…

She says that all suffering is a result of believing in thought. Period.  She mentioned that one thing she loves about life is that when someone else experiences pain, she doesn’t. She she experiences pain, the other doesn’t. We *think* that we suffer because of what another says or does, but the reality is we suffer because we believe thoughts that arise within us about what another said or did. If we didn’t believe any of our thoughts, experiences would simply happen and we wouldn’t suffer as a result of them. When you no longer believe in your thoughts, you are in heaven. When asked if she still feels like she’s in heaven even when bad things happen to her, she said she no longer perceives them as bad because she’s done the inquiry and doesn’t believe the thoughts that arise that suggest something is bad. She then went so far as to suggest that what if you went to heaven and took all your current thoughts with you. Would you then even experience heaven at all? The thing is you wouldn’t, and this is the condition most people are in. We all are in heaven right now, and yet we don’t experience it because we believe in our thoughts.

This is something that Adya has mentioned before as well, that he has literally lost the ability to believe in his own thoughts… I’ve wondered how this plays out in terms of the LoA which says that what you believe you experience… The two perspectives kinda seem at odds and this is a paradox that I have still only partially resolved for myself.

In any event, questioning my own thoughts repeatedly is bringing SO much valuable insight to me, so much clarity, and so much understanding. It’s a very useful technique…

So What Now?

There is SO much I don’t know. Everytime I think I know something, life gently and lovingly shows me how completely utterly wrong I am. There’s just so much more surrender to experience, a continual opening up to even deeper love (especially the scarier places), finding more areas of darkness and bringing the light into them, being happy and joyous for its own sake without any reason necessary, letting go of those fears and resistances and doubts and worries, and really just BEING. Being, loving, enjoying, surrendering…

Really I don’t know anything. Geez…

All I know is that here I am, sitting in a coffee shop, reflecting on the past few weeks of… good god… I don’t know how to describe it…

Whew… So yeah… If you’ve made it this far along and enjoyed what was shared, If you wanna read more from a wandering guy who has no idea what he’s doing half the time  :lol  feel free to donate some cash and help me pay for food and gas. It’s certainly appreciated!

Until next time, happy living!!

-Ariel

Wayne Dyer has recently come out with a film called The Shift which is centered around the topic of recognizing how the ego operates in us, living a life beyond what the ego wants, and being lived by this higher power.

He discusses a number of excellent topics and there are a number of other characters who go through a shift from selfish egoic consciousness to a more loving life of service. It’s really well done.

He brings up many things discussed by Lao Tzu, quotes Byron Katie and A Course in Miracles, and really demonstrates what it’s like to live a life of service, appreciation, respect, and gentleness. I’ve never really looked into his stuff very much, but I really respect and enjoy what he did with this film.

One of the things that was really cool was that he discusses how this transformation of going beyond pure ego shifts in both men and women. For example, men are very success and achievement oriented in our society and the shift has them being more interested in spirituality and honesty than in trying to get respect and all. Women, on the other hand, are often taught by society to look pretty and devote themselves to others. After their shift, women often learn to appreciate and live for themselves instead of trying to please others. It’s discused in a bit more detail of course, but it was fascinating to see how drastically these shifts occur between the two sexes.

Another thing which was awesome was that it discussed spirituality in a very practical way. How parents can relate to their children, how to respond in relationships from an egoic point of view versus from something deeper, how to follow your passions and find your purpose in life, the importance of giving and how that plays out with respect to being lived by this higher power instead of trying to control life, and so on.

Really, very well done.

Great job to Wayne and the crew involved in the creation of the film!

The trailer I’ve posted below and the actual movie can be found online at Amazon.

Flaming Canyon by Marc Adamus

It seems that when many people start seeking the Truth, we look for some conceptual collection of ideas to actually BE the Truth. It could be “We are all one” or “Jesus is the son of God” or “We are a spiritual being having a human experience” or “You are the creator of your reality” or whatever else. We want to gather up a whole set of conceptual ideas and call them “The Truth” and it is what ideas should represent the “Truth” that people argue about. This is all very valuable, helpful, and transformative and finding a better set of ideas can very much help change and improve the quality of one’s life experience. For sure.

At the same time, there is something more than the conceptual, so much more. The nonconceptual.

Notice in this moment, awareness is aware. In fact there can be two things happening simultaneously. See if you can tell the difference. There is a) the concept of awareness that exists in the mind and b) nonconceptual awareness that is aware of all concepts of awareness.

Can you differentiate between the two? Being able to do so is KEY. It is a doorway beyond.

In order to go “beyond the mind” as if often said, we have to go beyond the conceptual and recognize the nonconceptual.

Take a moment to notice nonconceptual silence. Stillness.

Take a moment to notice the now moment as it is.

Take a moment to notice nonconceptual being/aliveness/existence/I Am’ness.

Take a moment to notice nonconceptual awareness.

We can read about and study spirituality, metaphysics, religion, psychology, philosophy, and so on all day long in search for the Truth. I’ve done it and I know many of you have as well. It’s all good. This is all typically the domain of the mind, of the conceptual, of temporary ideas that come and go and can be learned or forgotten. It’s all part of the game.

But what about that which is already here and exists without any effort whatsoever? What is so constantly here that like the clothing against our skin, after a while we get used to it and simply overlook it?

The classic finger pointing to the moon is pointing to the nonconceptual. The pointer is conceptual, but that to which the pointer points is nonconceptual.

What is uncreated, unmanifested, unborn, and yet vibrantly and eternally present?

You are that and it is your true nature, and it is right here, right now.

Some of you may have noticed that this website was down quite a bit over the past 24 hours. It turns out that my hosting company was doing some emergency repairs on the servers and this knocked everything out of whack. I’d contacted them from my hotel room in Utah to see what was up and they had told me that it looked like my account had been hacked, all my websites that I’ve been running for years (including this one) were completely wiped out, and there were no backups available. That was it. It was all gone.

How would you react to hearing such a thing?

What I found most interesting in my response was seeing that my emotional state didn’t really change and I experienced a sense of lightness and freedom in it. Now it’s gone, so what? Time to go out and hike! With respect to the loss, it was a fun process all along and I thoroughly enjoyed it. Recognizing that it was all gone, now I’m even more free to simply enjoy my life experience and realizations without having to get them written down. I can just experience the moment more purely. Sure the loss knocked out several of my sources of income, but the universe always provides more and I’m eager to see what will come next for me. I can always rebuild, fresh and anew.

A few hours later, they finished their repairs and it turns out that I wasn’t hacked afterall. It was just part of the changes they were making and everything had been restored. Well cool! Here we are, back in business.

Realizing Freedom Through Loss

It isn’t until we lose something that we really get to see just how attached or not we really were to it. We get to see to what degree we depended upon that thing for our sense of joy, well-being, happiness, or whatever else. This applies to things, people, identities, and so on. Very often we may think we’re not attached or we’re not sure if we are, but it’s only when it actually falls away that we get to find out for sure.

When you can lose everything, need nothing, and yet still enjoy what is present here and now in this moment, you’re free.

This awakening process seems to include a lot of different experiences and stages and fluctuations, many of which I don’t expect or even plan. One such thing is that I’m losing the desire to debate things with people or even explain what things are like. Its value seems to be quite limited. There’s more value in being the space for awakeness than in trying to do something to help “make it” happen, as if that was even possible.

I used to think that if I could illustrate things well enough to people, it would encourage them to quit seeking the illustrations by satisfying that search, but that desire can’t be satisfied through explanation.

With respect to words, it seems that they are of most value when they help cut through the mind, to help stop its unconscious patterns in its tracks so that Truth can be seen. I don’t mean that thought needs to stop altogether, but there is conditioning of the mind that most of us are completely oblivious to. It is by cutting through our unconscious conditioning that the veil it creates falls away.

Discussing Reality

When someone sees the Truth, sharing about our mutual experiences is a total blast. We can sit and speak for hours and hours on end, just sharing about our different perspectives of the One and what all has been experienced thus far along the way, and we both seem to grow and expand through this process.

When someone wants to come up and debate or argue about spirituality with me even the slightest, I feel my desire to take part in that discussion completely washing away. It’s like the desire to engage in that energy whatsoever is being flushed out. I can see that in arguing, they’re looking to strengthen their ideas and beliefs about spirituality, not actually see the Truth. It’s a subtle but critical distinction and is the basis for that classic story about “How can your teapcup be filled with something new if it is already full of old ideas?”

When someone asks what awakening is like, in this moment I’d rather simply tell them to listen to the silence than focus upon whatever words I could say. I can’t possibly explain awakening to anyone. Heck, even if I could, it still wouldn’t be sufficient! Silence is far more instructive, despite the appearance of there being “nothing there” in silence. The guru is within and it is always available.

The Wearing Out of Mental Dominance

Now I know this isn’t satisfying to the mind. It’s really not. It’s why we’re told to “be still” or “listen to the silence” or “focus on the I Am” and yet we continue asking, seeking, reading, and wanting to know. We want that which satisfies the mind, not that which will actually take us beyond it. I know… it’s a dilemma that so many of us face. It’s almost like the mind comes with some built-in programming that says “What you want is outside of you.” This is very normal. We want what satisfies the mind at first, at least until we get a lot of mental satisfaction and we discover for ourselves that that alone simply is not satisfying.

It seems that this desire for mental satisfaction has to eventually wear itself out, and life is wonderful in helping us come to this space. I remember Adyashanti once making a crack about telling people to run and run towards the Truth, as if what they’re seeking is right around the next corner.

When the seeker exhausts itself and the energy of seeking collapses, what is already HERE is revealed to be the golden nugget.

The Truth is what you are, not something other than you to be found.

The Truth… I didn’t find it and neither will you.

The other day I had a wonderful conversation with a guy who’d contacted me through my blog. It’ s so funny how frequently this sort of dialog arises so I’d like to share it with you guys here. Our conversation in a nutshell was like this:

Reader Question:

Dear Ariel, I have no idea what is happening to me, but all I can say is that now it feels like I’m awake. It literally feels like my whole life has been a dream and all along I had no idea that it was a dream. Now I am awake.

I used to be very materialistic and now none of that seems to matter. Now I want to know the Truth about life. I used to be really into religion but there was so much that felt off about it that it lead to a lot of struggle for me and internal conflict. Now I can look back at the scriptures and see that they’re simply about love. Anyways, there has been this big shift inside me and I’m really confused. What do I do now?

My Response:

Nothing! There’s nothing that you need to do. Really.

This initial awakening that you experienced happened on its own with your personal involvement, did it not? The rest of the process is like this too. The more you get in the way and try to make it happen, speed it up, get it right, or whatever else, the more you simply just impede the progress. This is about surrendering and allowing, not making something happen. Surrender is the name of the game here.

You see, there is something much deeper at work here than the limited mind/body individual we see on the surface. There’s much more happening behind the scenes. IT is what does the work, not the individual who apparently does stuff in this physical reality. In the same way that the first awakening simply happened without you having to deliberately make it happen, the rest of the process will unfold for you just the same. Your job, if there is one, is simply to sit back and allow it to happen.

You’ve studied religion in the past and been told what to believe. People say things like “I believe in God” or “I believe in a higher power.” This is a statement that would arise from someone who has not yet had the internal realization of what God IS, or more accurately who THEY are. It’s what they think or what they believe, not what they clearly and unequivocally KNOW. This isn’t bad or wrong. Just recognize that it is yet another stage in the path, a valid and often necessary path. Yet what we’re talking about here is not adopting another belief system, or even about being told of another belief system that should or shouldn’t be adopted. What’s being suggested is to continue to allow the inner being that is already at work here to shift the totality of YOU on its own. We all have this capacity for wisdom and knowing within, without having to be told the answers by religions, gurus, or teachers. This inner wisdom is what the world’s great teachers have all come to access. As you have found, when you’re simply told some answers (regardless of whether or not they’re correct), they’re simply not satisfying. Not in the end. Not really.

What you are looking for is within and it is up to you to turn within and find it here. There’s nothing here you have to do. It’s already in progress and all is unfolding beautifully. Simply just relax and allow the process to unfold. Go about your life, do your things, and notice what is arising. Just be in the moment. Everything that needs to happen is happening at just the right time, without you having to do anything at all. Just relax and all the continued awakenings, realizations, understandings, dissolvings, shifts, and so on will happen at their own rate.

Validating All That Is

It’s all One, It’s all One, It’s all One…

I’ve spent the past few hours laughing and laughing and laughing… I’m in New Orleans now and the absolute thrill of seeing the One in EVERYTHING is utterly incredible… Religious nutcases telling people they’re going to hell are the One. People arguing with them are the One. Understanding God is the One. Misunderstanding God is the One. The rain is the One. Getting lost in a random town is the One. Synchronistically finding your friends on a street corner as I did tonight is the One. The taxi is the One. The rain falling on my head is the One. Laughing as you dance through the streets in the rain is the One. Enlightenment is the One. Unelightenment is the One. The Law of Attraction is the One. Living a thrilling life is the One. Living a normal life is the One. Whatever you can possibly point to is the One. The ego is the One. Identification with the separate self is the One. Realization is the One. Duality is the One. Non-duality is the One. When it’s seen that everything everything everything and NOTHING is the One, what else is there but to laugh and laugh and laugh at this seeing? IT’S ALL ONE!!!

Everywhere you go, everything you see, and that which witnesses it all, it’s all the One… and what a thrill it is to see this, to realize this, and to be this. That which you are, whatever this is for no words can describe this, THIS IS IT. As it arises in this presence, there’s this lighthearted joy and the eruption of laughter and joy, of freedom and playfulness. In this seeing and in this letting go of trying to micromanage life, there’s this utter thrill of this life experience. In “other” beings it may arise differently, sure. All I can say is that in this seeing, this body that is arising here keeps laughing and laughing and laughing. That which Jesus saw and Buddha saw and Mohammad saw… this is it.

One of the biggest realizations in this is that there’s nothing to oppose. There’s nothing else out there and thus there’s nothing to resist. There’s just this pure seeing and thus suffering, which is based upon the resistance of something, is seen to be completely and utterly, well… not existent within this, even this that too is the One. When it’s seen that there’s nothing else because it’s all One and therefore even that which we call suffering is seen to be the One, there’s nothing to suffer about and suffering simply doesn’t exist. It’s pretty wild…

I talk to people about this and it seems like most people just don’t get it. They just brush it off as if I’m crazy, and yet that too is the One. When it seen so clearly that everything everything everything is the One, there’s nothing to resist, denounce, fear, or run away from. This is it, and everything is it.

It’s all One. It’s all One. It’s all One. There’s this utter perfection of being here and this is it. It’s already it. That which we all seek, we already are. This rocks. There is a thrill in this seeing. Totally. This may change and it probably will for it is just an experience, sure. But that which is witnessing doesn’t change. It is eternal, permanent, and everpresent. That which I am can’t be lost and is just being as it is. What joy this is… Beyond anything that can be named. Ahhh yes…

Heaven’s Gates by Marc Adamus

When you realize it’s a dream, you can afford to play. The same thing happens when you realize that ordinary life is just a dream, just a movie, just a play. You don’t become more cautious, more timid, more reserved. You start jumping up and down and doing flips, precisely because it’s all a dream, it’s all pure Emptiness. You don’t feel less, you feel more—because you can afford to. You are no longer afraid of dying, and therefore you are not afraid of living. You become radical and wild, intense and vivid, shocking and silly. You let it all come pouring through, because it’s all your dream. Life then assumes its true intensity, its vivid luminosity, its radical effervescence. Pain is more painful and happiness is happier; joy is more joyous and sorrow is even sadder. It all comes radiantly alive to the mirror-mind, the mind that doesn’t grasp or avoid, but simply witnesses the play, and therefore can afford to play, even as it watches.

-Ken Wilber

When I graduated from college, I deliberated decided not to get a job and do the whole career thing and instead devote myself fully to my spirituality, to really getting this whole enlightenment thing down.

Now, 3 years later, I have come to several conclusions.

1. I got into this wanting to know the Truth. Now I know that I really know nothing to know and this freedom and simplicity cracks me up. Somehow there is joy in this emptiness of not knowing *and* being totally at peace with it, in this not knowing and not trying to figure something else out. Instead there’s just the ecstasy of being who you really are.
2. When you surrender trying to get somewhere as if there’s some pot of gold at the end of the rainbow, you find that there is now a natural supportive unfoldment of life in this moment and that you are an inseparable part of it. When you let go and simply allow the joy of being to shine forth, call it shining your light or whatever, this is truly an amazing experience and seems to be how we were really *meant* to live before we got all caught up in egoland and attachmentville.
3. The desire of ego is essentially to obtain, acquire, and all that jazz… basically ways to achieve security, approval, control, and all the other things it feels it lacks. The desire of Spirit is to be itself, know itself, and experience itself in its absolute pristine glory, to experience the extraordinary in the ordinary, to experience what it already is now. It takes care of the well-being of the mind and body when we allow the energy of our Light/Spirit/Soul/Heart/Source to be what life is all about.

Enjoying Life

The basis of life is absolute freedom. The objective of life is absolute joy.

-Abraham-Hicks

It’s not about seeking Truth, but being Truth. It’s not about seeking Joy, but being Joy. It’s not about seeking Love, but being Love. You don’t go out into the world seeking Truth any more than you go to a movie theater to find the Truth. That’d be silly. Just because the movie is “an illusion” doesn’t mean you need to stop going to the movies. Similarly, that doesn’t mean you stop living your life. Instead, you go to the movies for the thrill of the experience. That’s it. The same with this world. Truth is found within and once it wakes up within you, there is a unique way that it’ll want to express itself out through you.

It is in the nature of being to see adventure in becoming, as it is in the very nature of becoming to seek peace in being.

-Nisargadatta Maharaj

and so, in the name of Pure Joy I am moving to Boulder, CO. My inner guidance and outer confirmations are all pointing towards this move. My intuition and excitement are all giving me the green light. Finally!! Full speed ahead! I’ve been wanting to do something for ages! I even tried to give it a go a few months ago but couldn’t fully commit to it since I couldn’t feel that inner okay. Now that it’s here, it’s been such a joy to watch as everything necessary for this trip thus far miracoulsly and synchronistically unfold when needed. I’ll admit there’s also a lot of sadness in letting go of my old home here in Roswell and saying goodbye to my friends and family. At the same time, there’s this deep joy of experiencing this moment AND experiencing the anticipation of what is yet to unfold.

Where am I gonna live? I’ll figure that out when I get there!

What am I gonna do when I get there? Let’s go find out!

What am I gonna do for money? Figuring out those details is the universe’s job! My job is simply to be happy!

Follow your bliss and the universe will open doors where there were only walls.

-Joseph Campbell

It’s such a blast to actually follow my dreams and watch as the doors open. It’s not that you’ll know everything ahead of time. It’s that just start moving and continue taking the next step and watch as the doors open up, often times after you’ve already started heading in that direction. Seeing the Law of Attraction really work for you and actually getting a handle on creating your life experience, that’s a lot of fun!!

Keeping Up with Ariel’s Adventure

Since I’ll be on the road by the time this post goes live, I probably won’t be updating this blog as regularly. However you can follow my travels on my photoblog which I will be updating from the road. I want to document what it’s like to live life from a place of Oneness and Joy, as fully aligned with Source energy as possible.

My tentative plan involves going to New Orleans for Mardi Gras, stopping in Dallas to shoot a cheer competition, exploring the scenic desert landscapes in the southwest, hiking down from the South Rim of the Grand Canyon and camping down on the floor, visiting several national parks in Utah including Canyonlands and Arches to hike, camp, and shoot photos, and finally making my way east across the Rockies into Colorado to settle in and find a new place to call home for however long, stopping to meet friends all along the way.

So stay tuned for more fun and games on the photoblog. See you guys around!

-Ariel

As I look out into this world, I see a number of things happening:

• People are awakening to recognize the underlying interconnectedness and unity of life.
• People are becoming more energetically sensitive to the emotions of others and intuitively aware of one another. Thus it’s becoming easier to “read people.” Our thoughts and energies are not as private as we may think.
• People often find themselves experiencing similar sorts of experiences as others, as if we’re all on the same page and going through many of the same experiences.
• With the advent of sites like facebook and twitter, not to mention the internet itself, information is becoming much more public and available.
• There is a call for greater transparency in our governments and corporations so that any shady stuff has to come to light.
• The more we awaken, quite literally the harder it is to lie. It’s as if we experience a physical contraction of energy, like we have to make our energy more dense in order to lie, and this is very unpleasant. It just feels off… way off.

As we become lighter and lighter, we begin experiencing our bodies as less physical and more as pure light. Quite literally. It’s really cool… It’s as if we actually have light bodies, as if the physical becomes more and more clearly just light appearing as clumps of physicalized matter.

In this light, you find some energies happen to be compatible while others are not. Energies that vibrate in harmony with light include those that are open and pure, honest and real. The energy of lies and deception simply has no place in the light.

Truth, Joy, Love and Light. That’s it.

If People Told the Truth…

Imagine a world where people tell each other “The Truth, The Whole Truth, And Nothing But The Truth” at all times. There’s even a book called Radical Honesty which talks about living a life of being absolutely and utterly honest.

Oh also, check out this movie trailer of the recently released movie called “The Invention of Lying.”

The point of the movie isn’t quite the same as what this post is getting across, but it does illustrated many of our fears about people being honest. As people heal their energies in “real life” and step into the light, what would that be like? Well a few examples include:

• People would be honest and upfront, yet not avoid the truth in order to dance around someone’s ego.
• People’s egos would get pinged as they hear others saying things that they don’t want to hear, certainly. Yet the more they’re willing to be honest with themselves (which is the real key here) about these issues that are coming up and thus facing them directly with awareness, the more they’d be able to finally heal those dark energies within (after who knows how many lifetimes) and progress even more towards the light, snowballing the process.
• As people step more into the light, they’ll be able to speak their truths more kindly and lovingly. The truth doesn’t have to be a harsh finger-pointing thing. It can be a very loving and healing energy when harnessed from a place of love and light, such as being a way for people to express what they’re grateful for and what they love about themselves and others.
• The more people heal themselves, the more incompatible energies such as child slave labor, the poisoning of our food, and so on would come to light and people could respond from a place of actually knowing what’s up, not from a limited perspective of not knowing what’s really going on and being fed propaganda instead. Now people can make new choices about who they choose to be and what they accept in the world from a place of light rather than from a place of fear.
• The legal system would radically shift (if it would even still be necessary in some form) as people would actually be honest when asked a question.
• People would learn to stop blaming one another for what happens to them in life and realize that they are responsible for creating their realities. The more you step into the light, the more the laws of the universe such as the law of attraction and the unity of all life become intuitively clear. From this place of expanded awareness, even greater change could occur in the lives of these people.

What exactly all the changes would be, no one really knows for sure. I’m sure you can come up with many excellent ideas as well. One thing that is being seen at this point is that there is more and more light coming onto this planet through us. More light means more of that which hides in the shadows being revealed. We may see scary things in the process, but this actually contributes to our healing, especially as we choose to stay in the light even in life’s scary moments.

Enjoying the Transparent Life

As we become more light, there is a call for greater transparency. Be real. Be honest. Be sincere. Be authentic. Let go. Let it flow. Relax. Play. Lighten up. Have fun. Enjoy yourself. Take it easy. Be passionate. Be creative. Live the life of your dreams.