Change is inevitable. Nothing stays the same, no matter how much we think we would like it to. If we try too hard to maintain the status quo, life will find a way to make sure we have a wake-up call. Of course, we can always switch it off, turn over and go back to sleep, but a wake-up call, on a spiritual level, is an invitation for change. If we take the opportunity to become fully awake, life becomes more beautiful.
When I am sleeping, I am of course thinking, to a certain degree, but I am not really aware of what is going on. I do not make decisions in full consciousness; I am often operating more on automatic pilot. The wake-up call, the alarm, is asking if you want to wake up, and if so, what do you want to do next?
When the call comes, there are three ways I can deal with it. I can ignore it and pretend it is not happening, and eventually the alarm will stop. That is resistance, and it holds its own consequences. Sooner or later, the call will come again, but in a stronger manner, when things may be more difficult to manage. Or, perhaps, when the wake-up call sounds, I press the snooze button. I procrastinate to give myself a bit of time to face the changes needed. It may be due to fear. I may be afraid of what might happen if I change my life. Pressing the snooze button is an acknowledgement that I know I cannot really stay where I am, but I just need a little time, to get prepared in my mind. The third reaction is to jump happily out of bed into a new awareness, because the call is welcome; even though I may not know what lies ahead, I am ready.
Change is constant, both physically and spiritually, so how can I listen to the call without too much procrastination, and embrace change? If I ignore the call and try to stay in the same old awareness, I will eventually start heading downwards into stagnation, when I should be moving upwards and forwards.
The only way to make sure that I wake up with a certain amount of awareness to welcome or even invoke that call, is to build faith and trust in life’s journey. Spiritual awakening, with this built-in faith, makes the journey easy and I am less likely to resist or apply the brakes. In this way I build trust and faith in my own abilities and responses too. If I respond to each small change, then I move into a higher state of consciousness where I can be more and more aware, more alert. When I take each new step of change, the inner courage comes to be able to handle more. When I take just one courageous step forward on my spiritual journey, then life takes a thousand steps to help me. So many elements support me along the way.
With trust and faith in life’s journey, and a little courage, all I need further is resilience, because things may not go according to my plan. I need to have the resilience to manage the unexpected. I find then that I can handle things that I never thought I could.
Meditation is a tool that helps create inner stillness in the face of change. A meditator has the ability to bring the mind to stillness, which gives time to observe the change from a place of peace without becoming emotional. In stillness, when I face and manage change, I move into a state of being more aware. My frequency changes to a higher one, I am more in control of my responses. I realise that everything that I respond to with courage is for my own progress. Something wonderful and new will become a part of me, and this helps me look forward to the next, inevitable wake-up call.
Sona Bahri is a qualified translator/interpreter working for many multinational organisations. She is based in Abu Dhabi and runs the Inner Space Meditation Centre.