‘Why does it feel worse again?’. This is something people often say as they continue their deepening into awakening and enlightenment. Here I share what I think is going on with it. Does it resonate for you? — When we first wake up out of the illusion of being a separate person, and into the recognition of our essential nature of awareness, there can be a period (to differing degrees) of ease and flow and lightness.

Back in 2018, I had a profound awakening experience, my mind went quiet and I thought that was it. I thought I was done – fully awakened. Here’s what I’ve learnt since. — I wrote about my big awakening in this post here. It was a beautiful, joy-filled experience thanks to a Jenga-style collapse of a whole load of thought, and it was followed by an amazing few months of a quiet mind. It was so easy and effortless in that state!

This phrase “you’re feeling your thinking” might have had a huge impact on you early in your exploration. Now, if it seems like it’s not working, that’s OK. It’s perfect in fact. It’s an invitation to look deeper. — This week it has been all about emotions, feelings and the breathing in and out of these experiences, and this led me to question a well-used phrase; “you’re feeling your thinking.” And from what I’ve seen, no, you’re not.

A word which is so well-used and well-worn that it has a multitude of meanings. What I share here isn’t to suggest that my meaning is the absolute right one, it’s the definition that makes sense to me. What really matters is what the word is pointing to and whether that’s what you want. — What Do You Mean By Awakening? This morning Sara Priestley and I recorded a podcast episode with Piers Thurston, to celebrate the launch of The Complete Book of Awakening, and one of Piers’s questions was ‘so what do you mean by awakening?’

There are three core aspects of a stable awakening. Recognising who you are. Recognising what you’re not. And seeing that those apparent two are essentially one: nondual. This piece is taken from The Complete Book of Awakening and is at the beginning of the second step of that awakening process. Reproduced with permission. — “Once you eliminate the impossible, whatever remains, no matter how improbable, must be the truth.” Arthur Conan Doyle

This week I’m answering a member’s question about Nancy Kline’s work, which is so impactful — and which is a doorway to the most fundamental questions we want to ask — Who am I? What is my nature? — “How does Nancy Kline’s Thinking Environment fit with what you talk about?” This was the question from one of the Wild Fig Community members this week and I loved it! It’s something I considered in the past too. Here’s how the question continued…

The exploration of our essential nature can look so pointless, or dangerous, to the mind. But it really is the only place to look for the security, peace and contentment you’ve been searching for everywhere else. — This lovely client I was working with yesterday could see a repeating pattern —“I really want to do these things that I enjoy about my work, that give me energy, what I can see being really fulfilling — but I keep putting them off. Or I put time in the…

The theme that ‘there is nothing wrong with you’ was realised even deeper this week when I saw I’d been afraid of disappointment all my life! Here’s what happened… — On Monday 3rd October 2022, I woke up to see this at the top of my Facebook feed. Boom! I knew this was something big so I got up and went to sit quietly with these words and a flow of examples came through. Example after example, experience after experience. Showing…

I’ve been seeing it everywhere — all the ways we make ourselves wrong: second guessing, doubting, wondering if what I’m experiencing is the right thing to be experiencing. Here’s what I’ve come to see. — Over the last couple of weeks I’ve become increasingly aware of all the ways we imagine we’re wrong, or getting it wrong. I’ve noticed how much we dismiss or doubt our very own experience. How much we assume it should be different than it is.