Exercise: Wake Up Moments

Published by Greg Heffron on July 5, 2013July 5, 2013

ALARM CLOCK EXERCISE

Using a journal or in dialogue with a friend, talk about your own examples of “magic moments,” of shifting abruptly from a closed to an open mind. 

Examples:

• Being interrupted by the environment or a sense perception

• Being awakened by a flash of empathy when you are angry

• Discovering you were wrong and letting go of your position in the middle of a conflict

This is a chance to remember that our mind isn’t fixed. Even when a closed or “frozen” state of mind/heart has lasted for a very long time, there are many examples throughout human history — and our own history — of the mind opening in the course of minutes. Or even a moment. Buddhists use the image of a dark room. Even if it’s been dark for 1000 years, it just takes a tiny flame to instantly illuminate what had been hidden. It is the same with the natural state of the Green Light. When we reconnect with our Natural Communication System (Awake Body, “Tender” or “Sensitive” Heart, and Open Mind), the mind is already open — whether or not we anticipated it happening.