Practicing Courage #15: Being in dialogue with your life

Humans are universally equipped with a capacity for spirituality and our brains become more resilient and robust as a result. 

In Dr. Lisa Miller’s book The Awakened Brain she highlights groundbreaking research, including MRI studies genetics research, epidemiology, and more. All of which illuminate a surprising science of spirituality and how to engage it in our lives.

This week I  will release our conversation together on the podcast and you will hear more from Dr. Lisa Miller including her introduction to the two modes of awareness which she mapped in the human brain through cutting edge studies she conducted in neuroscience.

The first mode is achieving awareness.

A simple way to think about this is:

What do I want and how do I get it?

Achieving awareness is the awareness we often engage as we pursue goals and accomplishments.

The second is awakened awareness, which involves being in dialogue with your life.

• It is the awareness that is more about asking questions like what is life revealing to me now
• The awareness associated with your inner wisdom
• The awareness that may come online as you get quiet and listen deeply 
• And the awareness that illuminates the ways in which everything and everyone are connected. 

To thrive we need the 2 types of awareness to be in harmony, or to be balanced. Over indexing on one or the other tends to have downsides. 

Today's practice will explore the question:

How do we cultivate awakened awareness?

Via a clip from the conversation with Lisa, she will introduce you, and guide you through a practice that has helped thousands of people she has worked with both as a clinician and as a leader in this field. 

Thanks for practicing with us!

Till next time,
-Joshua

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