Dear Readers,

One of the things I wanted to do when I began my on-line community was to share those inspirational things I’ve found that brings each of us closer to Spiritual Enlightenment; after all, this is my passion.

One of the most important things I’ve learned, yet so often overlooked and undervalued is what I call the "Explorer’s Log." The "Explorer’s Log" is a book of recapitulation, summary and review about our deepest nature. It is much more than a journal. While a journal list thing of interest, day to day, the "Explorer’s Log" helps us summarize, explore and navigate through our lives. In short, it is a way of identifying our individual mind traps and where we get stuck. It identifies the syntax that intrudes into our daily activities. Here’ the way it works:

In a bound notebook that is for your eyes only, on the right hand side of the page, date and write about your experiences, past or present; you know, free associate as your thoughts come to you and/or when life is really in your face. Then some time later, days, weeks, months or, even years, on the left hand side of the page, identify your mind traps.

Here’s a simplistic example: On the right side of the page I wrote, "The only thing that comes up for me right now is my continuing frustration with my boss at work." Weeks later I wrote on the left hand side of the page, immediately opposite to the first inscription, "Still feeling powerless around authority. My social ego is about giving away my personal power around authority figures. This is what I’ve learned to do."

Recapitulation, like this, is a process where, by examining how we do our lives and looking at our past, we begin to see where and under what conditions our awareness becomes narrowed or fixated. I call this fixation my trance state; others have called it their "Chronic." Because, when awareness is fixated, reality become opaque as if we were standing in a dense fog, e.g. a trance. Mind traps are what they are because when we get caught up in them our awareness becomes fixated and we loose sight of reality. Like I explained in my Novel, "The Highest Mountain," we infocus. The way out of our mind-trap box is to outfocus, rather than fixate our awareness.

Want to see a bunch of people in trance, awareness fixated to the max!? Next time you’re stopped at a traffic light, look at others around you. 99% will be in trance! Yes, this is how we do out lives, most all of us; however, it’s only a learned behavior. Or, watch someone throwing a temper tantrum; from the outside it’s funny, but certainly not when you’re in the middle of it. It’s been my experience that the only way out of the box is to begin identifying what keeps us in the box. Slowly, like pealing layers of an onion we begin to awaken. The "Explorer’s Log" is a great tool if you have the courage and perseverance to use it!

I hope this helps! I welcome your ideas and your feedback on this subject.

As always, Namasté,
John Worman

http://www.ourvisionquest.com/
e-mail: highest.mountain@angelfire.com

Namasté: I honor the place in you in which the entire universe dwells. I honor the place in you which is of love, of truth, of light, and of peace. When you are in that place in you, and I am in that place in me, we are one.