Loneliness and Feeling Empty by Katie Davis

Questioner:

Last night, I felt so desperately lonely. I hate how I feel when I get that way. I just felt out of control and I couldn't stop crying. I guess that I don't really have a question. I just wanted to report that once again I got completely stuck. I mean really stuck. I think that I am making some progress and then this happens all over again.

Katie:

How do you feel right now?

Questioner:

I feel fine right now, but last night was really horrible. I was just shaking all over.

Katie:

I understand that you are telling me the story that last night you felt horrible and now you tell me that you were also shaking all over. Compassionately, I embrace and forgive how you were feeling last night, however honestly,I am not concerned with this story about last night. How do you feel right now?

Questioner:

I feel fine.

Katie:

You answered rather quickly. Was that mind answering my question? I want to really know how you feel, please take a quiet moment and deeply sense. Will you go inside and check it out? Are you feeling an emotion right now? How does that emotion feel in the body?

Questioner:

OK. Well, actually right now I don't feel much of anything and I guess my body feels kind of tense, but other than that I am OK.

Katie:

You are not crying right now, so the fear that you could not stop crying didn't last, isn't this true? You are not shaking right now, are you? Your body feels tense, but you are no longer shaking. So the both the crying and the shaking were impermanent. Crying came and crying left. Are you open to releasing the body tension? Just take a deep breath and relax from the mind's time. The tension comes and goes as well.

Will you note that for next time ... and I am not suggesting that there will be a next time. If you get stuck by thought and you begin spiraling into suffering, is it possible to simply note that it is not permanent. I understand that it feels uncomfortable, but is it possible to simply accept for the time being that sometimes suffering still appears? Most of the suffering is from your resistance; from trying to push it away; from being afraid. Can you simply surrender to the temporary fact that you are experiencing emotional pain? Just allow it to be as it is.

The emotional drama all begins with thinking. If you can become conscious of the thoughts sooner, perhaps it will be easier to shift your attention to presence. Your body is reacting in sadness to your own thinking. We take full responsibility in this. It has virtually nothing to do with any other. Do you see this? The identification with negative thought is causing the sadness. Can you see that it is self-inflicted?

The reason you and I meet is to discover what is prior to me and my thought; me and my feelings. What is prior to the idea of me? What is prior to the "I" that is the body that is experiencing an emotional reaction because of your thinking? What is prior to virtually all experience ... both outer and inner? That which is prior is absolutely permanent, completely free of all coming and going; absolutely indestructible. That permanent freedom is who you are. In this realization, we realize the diamond of joy that is causeless.

Katie Davis Website: www.katiedavis.org

Crisis and Illness: Questions and Answers by Katie Davis, Author, "Awake Joy"

Questioner:

I was in satsang for the first time with you last week and felt a deep resonance. I am quite ill and have been for a very long time. At satsang, I felt an uplifting energy, which lingered for a couple days. However, right now, I am once again in a pretty deep crisis concerning this illness and the related depression. Any help that you could give would be very appreciated.

Katie:

The resonation of satsang is very beautiful and an extraordinary power which is why regular attendance in satsang is important throughout the awakening process. The energy of true satsang stops conditioned thought and if this occurs even for an instant, the Truth of who you really are shines through. The inertia and momentum of thought may continue for awhile, but with regular attendancw and with your willingness to practice self-observation, detachment and Self-inquiry, compulsive thought slows, stops and it is over once and for all.

As soon as the “I” thought arises, we most often identify with the body. You are not this form. You are the Now, totally free of the content of the present moment, including the body. It is truly impossible to be anywhere but Here. The mind may be telling you that satsang was last week and now you have lost it, but it is impossible to lose. It is you. You are Now. Is it possible to detach and inquire who is aware of this crisis? Who is that? No identification=no thought=no space=no time. Only Now and only Here. Time and thought are synonymous.

When you bring attention alertly into the Now, this moment, no other moment, thought cannot use you. Stop and listen right now. Listen fiercely for the next thought. Go ahead. Stop right now and try to find one. The ego disappears when you seek it. Thought needs time. Negative emotion is the body’s reaction to judgmental thought.

Looking fiercely, attentively, alertly for the next thought is very good. When you are alert, you are only Here and Now and there is no thought. If a thought arises, attention has slipped out of the now. Detach from the thought, when you notice. Use it as a signpost to shift your attention to Now.

You can also use Direct Self-inquiry as we did in satsang. When a thought arises, ask to whom does this thought arise? Then ask, “Who am I?” Again, no thought. The question itself removes the thinker. The question is already the answer. Where does this image of I arise from?

When you are observing thought, the thoughts just stream by without identification with them. They are powerless and harmless without your identification. I am not asking you to study the content of thought. I am not asking you to resist thought. Simply be and witness. If the thoughts are too tedious and too annoying, which it definitely can be, turn your attention to the witness instead. Who is that?

Can you unconditionally surrender to this moment without denial, without resistance to what is? Is it possible to be in absolute acceptance of what is? How does it feel to simply surrender? This perceived crisis is your teacher right now. It can be used. You cannot run away from it. There is no escape. Isn’t this so? Even this deep depression can be used. Is there a Heart to this illness? Is there a Heart to this despair? Invite it in fully and see. Go into it, not away from it. You have been trying to get rid of it all these years. Nothing has worked. So stop. Go in. How deep is this despair? Is there a bottom to despair? Dig for the diamond of joy, the tiniest of diamonds, no larger than a pinpoint. Go deeper.

There are no true answers at the level of mind. However, gratitude is good food for the mind. Are you grateful for breathing? Are you grateful for the spaciousness within which breath is appearing?

Katie Davis Website: www.katiedavis.org

Free Awakening Video and the Heart of Advaita Video with Katie Davis - Diamond of Joy Video

A free awakening video with Katie Davis was posted today on the Katie Davis Website. It is entitled "Diamond of Joy."

In this video, Katie is sharing awakening and points the way to the Heart; the very Heart of Advaita.

She points to the nature of consciousness, awakening, enlightement, non-duality and spiritual realization or Self-realization.

Katie Davis Free Video Library: www.katiedavis.org/freeawakeningvideos.html

Katie Davis Website www.katiedavis.org