EXTEND THE WHISPERSIf you are meditating when you have a whisper of natural awareness, you can marinate in it or practice natural awareness meditation as described in chapter 21. However, when you encounter a whisper of natural awareness in daily life, then what?
Sometimes there is a sense of accomplishment—“I did it! Great, here I am. Okay, cool. Now what?” Then we grow bored or distracted or completely forget about it.
In some sense, being on the lookout for whispers is enough. Usually when we have a whisper of well-being of any sort, we skip over it. We tend to think, Oh, that’s nice, and then we’re off to whatever is next (That was sweet, but gotta get my latte). I encourage you not to skip the whisper, but to actually pause and enjoy it, allowing it to extend. Experience the whisper and acknowledge to yourself that you’ve had a taste of something meaningful. Stop and feel it. Let your body settle and drink it in a bit, rather than skipping over it, even if only for a short time. It’s a bit of mini-marinating. Can you recognize the feelings in your body and mind—peacefulness, contentment, awe, openness, ease, or something else? The more we can recognize, discriminate, and acknowledge these types of whispers, the stronger they will grow and the more they will become an integral part of life on an ongoing basis.
Yesterday I was on my way to my office at UCLA, somewhat preoccupied with a call I had to make later that day. I walked from my car to the Semel Institute for Neuroscience and Human Behavior, where my office is located. The vibrant coral trees were just starting to bloom their nearly fluorescent red display. Somehow they caught my eye, and that moment astonished me. I could have continued walking, but I remembered not to rush past life and that tapping into nature, especially in an urban environment, can reconnect me to myself. So I paused, softened my body, and took in the magnificent sight. In that moment of taking in their beauty I felt a whisper of natural awareness. I let myself rest there for a few seconds, maybe longer. My consciousness felt wide open, a warmth came into my heart, and I smiled. I stood in front of one tree for maybe a minute, basking in this sense of ease and well-being. I let the whisper expand and extend. Shortly afterward, I headed inside the building, my cell phone rang, and the connection to natural awareness seemed to dissipate. But the memory, and what I think of as the fragrance of the natural awareness, stayed with me, even when I got caught up in the busyness of the day.