Awareness – Do We Want to Know Ourselves?

What are you feeling, this very minute, because of your body position? Simply by being asked the question, many people have a tendency to change the way they’re sitting or standing. But that is not the issue. Without judgment, can you say how your body feels?

One student noticed that her feet hurt after she finished T’ai Chi Chih practice and asked why TCC had made her feet hurt. I said that TCC was not causing it; they had probably been hurting for a long time but she had probably just become aware of the pain. She thought for a minute, smiled, and said, “You know, I noticed my feet this morning but didn’t give it a second thought.” This tendency to be unaware doesn’t end with the body.

It also happens with our emotions. Have you heard yourself say to someone, “You’re making me feel happy (or sad).” The truth is that if we become quiet for a few minutes we would find that the emotion had been building for a while. One beauty of TCC is that if we are sad, practicing TCC helps change the emotion. Why? Because TCC helps us become clear and honest about our feelings, and then they are easy to change. One student said she’d recently become agitated with her daughter, whom she’d always found delightful. After practicing TCC, the real problem became clear: the daughter was getting ready to leave the nest and the mother resented being left behind. She recognized the truth of what was being revealed, but it would have been tough to suggest that her daughter’s leaving was the source of the problem. Once she accepted this new awareness, the relationship moved to a new level and has remained good.

If five monkeys are sitting on a fence and one decides to jump off, how many monkeys remain on the fence? Although four seems a reasonable answer, it is not absolutely the right answer. Making a mental decision does not necessarily put motion into action. All five monkeys might remain sitting on the fence. It’s important to be aware of how we fool ourselves mentally. As long as we’re aware that we’re not following through with our commitments to ourselves (like wanting to do a daily TCC practice but finding excuses not to), there is still hope. This is where deeper awareness becomes so important. That awareness is the tug within that invited us to try TCC in the first place. Are we aware that it was not a small self that started the unfolding process? A small opening to the inner heart of our being invited us to release the unfolding of the Knowledge of the Supreme Ultimate with us. It is truly our way of learning to love and share the Chi.

when

the heart

is open

we allow the

Chi to flow

freely

through

– CF

peace

is the

wonderous

ability

to be with

what is

wo

– Jan Maples

our

feelings

soar when we

play with our Chi

how grateful

can one

be

– Bo Waddell

oh

laughter!

that knowing

that we all know

smile on us,

soften

me

– Barbara Kristoff