How “Aha” Moments Get You “Higher” on Life – Moxie On Monday

Joshua Tree National Park, CA

“If you just sit and observe, you will see how restless your mind is. If you try to calm it, it only makes it worse, but over time it does calm, and when it does, there’s room to hear more subtle things–that’s when your intuition starts to blossom and you start to see things more clearly and be in the present more. Your mind just slows down, and you see a tremendous expanse in the moment. You see so much more than you could see before.”– Steve Jobs 

I have a restless mind. I’ve always had a restless mind. I’m pretty sure there isn’t JUST one monkey in there, but an entire village that’s constantly chattering away!

I’m on a continual quest to quiet my mind and to understand this crazy game of life and how it all works. 

The beauty of getting older is opening up to all those things you didn’t know before. 

The ultimate irony of life is that we are taught outside in. And, then, we wake up at Midlife only to learn that life actually works just the opposite – inside out. 

A life of Moxie can’t be found without shifting the paradigm – from an outward focus to an inward focus. 

I was reading an article in INC. Magazine the other day. Ok, I’m a geek. They say curiosity killed the cat. Well, this “Cat” will be forever curious. I’m also pretty sure I’m way past the nine lives limit!

The article grabbed my attention. It was about “Mindfulness vs. Corporate Greed.” 

Growing up in the 60’s meant I would enter the workforce in my early 20’s, a time of Ronald Reagan, Trickle Down Economics, Yuppies, and the corporate treadmill. 

The concept of “Mindfulness” was a foreign one, corporate greed wasn’t. 

The article went on to say, “In the midst of the “greed is good” craze (which isn’t over yet, alas), Steve Jobs was embracing mindfulness, which is its exact opposite. Mindfulness focuses on the internal/mystical;  greed focuses on the external/material. See? Exact opposites.” 

As the years have passed, the mystical world has captured my attention. My focus has shifted from “out there” to “in here” – learning to look within to understand the impact of my thoughts, my emotions, and my energy on my outer world, and, ultimately, on how that creates my reality.

Awareness is the key to changing our lives. Raising awareness translates into raising our consciousness. Awareness is power – power over ourselves. The more conscious we are, the more aware we are of our patterns, particularly those self sabotaging ones that tend to hold us back, the more power we have to change our lives. 

Think of it like this. We each live with a ceiling above us. That ceiling changes over time. The ceiling is our current level of awareness. In other words, we can’t see or understand what we aren’t aware of – we can’t see above our current ceiling. The more awake and aware we are, the higher our level of consciousness – the higher the ceiling, the more ability we have to see what is affecting us. 

It’s like climbing Mount Everest. Once you’ve reached the summit, your perspective changes. You can see everything behind you, everything that led up to that moment, while also seeing the world in a whole new way. You suddenly understand that the world isn’t a microcosm … it’s a macrocosm! By raising your consciousness, you suddenly become aware of the “Big Picture!”

Oprah opened us up to the idea of “Aha” moments.

Every Aha moment is a breakthrough – a new way to see yourself or to see the world. Every Aha moment raises the ceiling. 

The more Aha moments, the greater the level of awareness and the higher the ceiling, the more your ability to “see.”

The beauty of those years at Midlife & Beyond, is the greater opportunity for more Aha moments. The longer the life, the more likely you’ll experience more of those wonderful Aha moments to rock your world and shift your perspective.

The ceiling above you is up to you. How high can you go? The highest heights in life are achieved by beginning on the inside. 

The answers aren’t out there, they’re in there.

Moxie can’t be found anywhere but within – A true force of character is a force that’s lit from within!

All ceilings, including those proverbial glass ceilings, can be blown through by raising your awareness, shifting your perspective, and by being open to seeing life and yourself in a whole new way.

Need More Moxie?! See all my Moxie On Monday’s!

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