Sensitive

William James was one of the US founding fathers of psychology who spent a considerable time on will-power and the question, what makes us do the things we do. He lived in cold New England without any central heating, so he spent hours in the morning trying to determine what exactly makes us leave the warm comfort of our blanket. No matter how often we count, ‘3 2 1, now get up!,’ we don’t do it, until the moment when we finally do it, but why?

Rollo May in his book, ‘Love and Will’ told the story and gave a beautiful explanation of what it is that makes us get up in the end, it’s our embeddedness in life! We just know when the clock strikes 5 to 12, whatever that means to us personally, so we get up and face life’s realities when that point is finally reached.

Awakening brings an increased sensitivity to the energies of places, nature and people, that’s all. We are also not any more ethical than others; we also follow the pleasures in life while try to avoid the pain. Yet, we are more sensitive. We feel the pain of our environment, and we see the joy our actions bring. We are more sensitive to the needs of our body. We experience our own embeddedness in life and it changes us.

I had my own New England waking up story, only this time it was its beautiful summer season instead. I didn’t sleep well last night, so I was lying in bed having my eyes closed. It was still dark outside but suddenly I perceived a bright light in the interior of my head that has become so familiar in the meantime. This very moment, the birds were starting to sing for the first time so obviously we must be connected to the same Light!