I giggle to myself every time I recall a day, way back in the 90s, when I was so earnestly eager to reach what was then referred to as 'enlightenment.'
I was sitting with my teacher and he said to me, "Loreen, it's like you're running up the rungs of a ladder. You must slow down and integrate the steps."
"But I want so much to get there," I said.
"There is no there," he replied, "it never ends."
Well, didn't I feel foolish?! 😞
But that moment shifted me. I finally got it! There's no destination to reach; nowhere I need to be, but right here. I was running at top-speed to a place that didn't even exist, when really, it was all about the steps. My attempts at getting there; at trying to reach something called 'enlightenment' was futile doing-ness, which only took me further from it.
And what the heck was this thing called enlightenment anyway???
My deep yen to ease the pain that had lived within me for as long as I can remember would lead me to that answer.
You see, by becoming more consciously present and tuning in to ourselves, we begin uncovering the many facets of our humanness and the hidden niches within our intricate souls. And we realize how much we've strayed from ourselves; how we've gotten entangled in the societal hype that pressures us to achieve more; work harder; get there; push-push, crunch-crunch, hurry-hurry! You know, survival-mode. Which hinders our capacity to thrive in the now.
So it turns out that enlightenment is just a fancy word for 'self-awareness' and the itinerary for this challenging, yet thrilling excursion, is the perpetual odyssey into oneself.