99 steps to reclaiming your individuality Step #34

Digestion and Reflection:

I would like to begin this step by asserting that the above title should not be interpreted as a directive to digest and then reflect, for in instances the opposite is equally advantageous. The awakened self will find that during the course of any life experience, there will be times when they will have to fully digest an idea or principle before they can reflect on its significance. And at other times they will need to reflect on the proposed idea, and then accept to digest it.  In either scenario the imperative is to never adopt the habit of accepting things unconditionally without the necessary discernment.

The irony here is that  facets of our quantum faculty to process information operates on the opposite principle of conscious choice. Our brains like nothing more than the autonomous integration of routines, skill sets and actions. This hypothetically could be the primordial ooze that spawned many of our inherent detrimental habits and characteristics.  The good news is, ours brains are equally as enthused to integrate or alter routines when the right stimulus is provided. Yet another reason for us to see the essential merit of maintaining authorship in our lives.

Our two points today "digestion and reflection" are resident in the neutral state. Aptly so, this is the area that to us, during the day we should become frequent visitors. As often mentioned, this is our safe zone, a place to revert to in times of duress, in times of uncertainty, and in times of reflection.. Early in the course we extolled the virtue and necessity of resting, digestion is similar in nature. In life to the awakened individual, you will often witness persons who suffer from a condition we can only humorously refer to as acquisitional obesity. People who ingest volumes of literature, ideas, habits and convictions, but they serve only to weigh them down or make them automated talking-heads. A digested idea is quite different. When we approach ideas or situations new or challenging to us we should get into the habit of consciously unpacking it. At first, again it will seem like adding nuisance or inefficiency to our daily routine, but as with preceding steps, what we are trying to achieve is a state of conscious autonomy. Our goal will be to autonomously program the act of digestion into our lives, that when we arrive at situations that require our acceptance or input. we will with immediacy jump to a reflective state of deconstructing the request, accessing it, utilizing a relational skill-set and then formulating our decisions or actions on the matter. When we become efficient at this task we will see a huge decrease in both anxiety and complexity of the decision making process. It is when we fail to do this and accept things haphazardly replacing reason with the luck of the draw, do we, in reality complicate our lives unnecessarily.

The notion of adding or expanding to our decision making skill sets will only feel burdensome as long as we feel ourselves subjugated or obligated to the nature which requires attention. When we approach it from an authored position, we will feel exactly the opposite, for we are adding efficiency to our lives, and the resultant swings in well being and quality of life will fill us with a sense of just reward, which in-turn will motivate and propel us forward.