Rooms of Consciousness
“A shift in perspective opens a completely new set of unlimited possibilities.”
~Satsuki Shibuya
Have you ever been so embroiled in your own personal experience of reality that the intensity of your feelings and attachment to or focus on them, cheats you out of accessing other perspectives? Of course, everyone has. It’s human nature. Nevertheless, whether you got into an argument, suffered loss of a loved one, lost the job, or any other source of suffering, the quality of the consciousness you hold around a matter, can determine everything in your life, from the condition of your health, to the condition of your relationships, your business, your finances, everything. You can lock yourself into a room of consciousness that eclipses your ability to access new perspectives thereby, thereby limiting your experience of reality.
For example, have you ever experienced a baby being fussy thinking it wants to play or eat? The baby will act out in an attempt to get the thing he thinks he wants, but when you give it to him, he hits it away in anger. The baby doesn’t have enough experience or maturity to understand his reality from another perspective. His room of consciousness is small and filled with frustration. Mother on the other hand, whose maturity should allow her to occupy other rooms of consciousness, likely knows that the baby is too tired to soothe his physical, mental and emotional fatigue. Mother knows the baby needs rest, but if the baby is too riled up and can’t accept mom’s initial attempts at soothing him (attachment), she may need to take further action to de-attach him from his present reality that the thing he wanted, but wasn’t getting, is the issue. The degree of attachment sets up more suffering the more he resists her attempts. Pretty soon, when the baby gets distracted from his initial perspective, he surrenders to her rocking motions and then settles into his new perspective of accepting the support he needed to fall fast asleep.
This isn’t just true of infants and it illustrates that how we think and feel about an incident (at the conscious and subconscious levels of mind) and ourselves as a result of experiencing that incident, sets a vibration into motion that creates our futures. While the baby was operating from the room of consciousness of frustration and pain, the mother was operating from the room of consciousness of care and loving kindness. What room of consciousness do you find yourself operating from and are you able to traverse the unending Hallway of Choice, to access other rooms of consciousness? Yes, the perspectives we hold create what I call rooms of consciousness, from which we think, act and speak, like the baby and the mother in our example. So how can you access other rooms of consciousness? This question becomes all that more important when you begin to ask yourself, “How will I create new realities if I am too busy being too attached to the limited perspective of the lower nature self, relegated to the body, thoughts and emotions?”. Since the obvious answer is “I can’t”, the real question becomes, “How can I stop the habit of cheating myself out of accessing other rooms of consciousness so that I create new and more pleasing realities?”
The thing about understanding a set of perspectives as a room of consciousness is that a set of perspectives has many facets to it that create the overall experience. For example, the baby’s perspective may include, the need to have the toy, the anger at the parent for not giving him the toy or even the anger at the parent for giving him the toy when it’s not what his body really needed, plus a host of other perspectives, like bodily fatigue or hunger. This is much like how the features of a room create an overall experience. For example a room that is dark and sparsely furnished creates a different experience than a room that is light and furnished with the necessities. Additionally the different inflections of the quality of perspectives are equally communicated in the interiors of a space; from the furnishings, to the finishes, to the lighting, and the arrangement of furniture, the myriad of factors that create an experience in the room are just as numerous and unlimited by combinations in quality as that of our numerous perspectives. So back to the example of the baby so you can understand how you can stop the habit of cheating yourself out of accessing other, more pleasing rooms of consciousness.
When the baby starts to settle into a level of de-attachment, he’ll either take a longer breath or gasp for longer breaths in between sobs. The breathing helps his nervous system to become attuned to other perspectives. So remembering to breathe is critical to de-attaching yourself from a limited perspective. You can think of it as being stuck in a room of consciousness and suddenly realizing that there’s a door that you can walk out of. Just seeing the door helps you to breathe, but by the same token, breathing helps the door to appear.
I bet if you check into your body right now, you’ll find some place of tension or resistance that can use some loosening (that’s subconsciously attached to some limiting perspective your body has held onto). If you take a moment to find it, and notice it, let yourself take 2-3 (or more) slow rhythmic breaths (inhaling for a count of 6 and holding for 3 and then exhaling for 6 and holding for 3 before you do another cycle) and notice how it affects your body. That’s the beginning of loosening the hold on the old perspectives the way the baby did on its attachment to needing the toy, or thinking it wanted the toy, earlier.
Next, just as the baby is beginning to widen it’s perspective so that it sees the door in the room of consciousness, you can choose to explore the room of consciousness you’re in by doing some self-inquiry and ask the SELF, “If I were seeing myself and all others in this incident, through the eyes of my Higher Soul, through the eyes of LOVE, what else could I know about me and others in this incident?”. You will see that in the LOVE of your Higher Self, there is always compassion, acceptance and understanding. This is the door that will lead you out of your present sufferable room of consciousness. Walking through the door, represents many things. First it represents your willingness to consider alternative perspectives. But noticing how these newer perspectives differ from those in the room of consciousness that you’re in, is like opening the door up and letting in some fresh air and light. This exposes you to the hallway of choice. As you notice the stark contrast between the new perspectives flooding in from the hallway and those you have been making true and needing to hold onto, you’re standing on the threshold.
Your decision to cross the threshold into the hallway of choice, is related to your ability to thank the room of consciousness you were in, for providing you shelter and sustenance throughout your journey of life. If you hold bitterness about your present room of consciousness you’ll be chaining yourself to it, to return once more. Sometimes you can get homesick for your old room of consciousness and you’ll wish to indulge in the vibe and feel of its loneliness, jealousy, bitterness, envy or resentments for a time. Eventually, when you get tired of it you’ll know how to access the door and walk across the hallway to the room of consciousness of inner peace, or the room of consciousness of abundance, or the room of consciousness of good health, or the room of consciousness of gratitude, or the room of consciousness of prosperity, or the room of consciousness of capability, etc. You get the idea. All these other rooms of consciousness await you, plus more.
Since you know that slow rhythmic breathing helps you to see the door out to the hallway of choice, you can begin the detachment process from needing to make your feelings and thoughts; your perspectives the only truth. After that, you know that self inquiry can help you to see things through the eyes of LOVE and notice how these newer perspectives differ from those in the room of consciousness that you’re in, giving you access to the hallway of choice and the power to step over the threshold. With that you’re on your way to creating new realities that go along with the next room of consciousness you decide to enter. But how do you decide which room of consciousness to enter? We’ll answer that question next month in the February full moon issue of this newsletter.
For now enjoy the practice of de-attaching and welcoming in new perspectives Remember to ask yourself the all important question “What else could I know if I were seeing my Self and all concerned, through the eyes of love?” and remember to lean into your breathing. As you put these into practice, you’ll no doubt begin to create new realities for you and those you love.
If you’re looking for help on jumping into a new room of consciousness to create new realities, I am available for readings through the Paradise Found Online reader’s portal on Saturdays 1pm-6pm. Sometimes it can take a little effort to really let go of the old rooms of consciousness you are used to inhabiting but in my sessions the goal is to help you quicken your pace and gain deeper understandings around your choices while helping you create new perspectives to move into and try on for size. All are always welcome!
