“When your conviction of a truth is not merely in your brain but in your being, you may vouch for its meaning.” – Sri Yukteswar Giri

As I stood in my mother’s hospital room, looking through the window, past the dirty, metal, bent mini blinds, I was struck with a profound realization. I was experiencing the present moment for the first time. I felt intensely aware of everything yet totally detached at the same time. I felt a very deep stillness as if there was no past or future. It was beautiful, peaceful, and perfect.

I inhaled with a feeling of complete serenity.  A smile overtook every cell in my body as I turned to look at my mother and her weak, broken, run-down body that had been ravaged by multiple sclerosis for the past 27 years.  At that moment, I knew that everything was fine.

Up until that point, I thought I understood the concept of the present moment more than I really did.  For whatever reason, on that day, that piece of my puzzle snapped into place, and in a single moment I saw the world differently.

Understanding the concept of the present moment and experiencing the present moment is not the same thing. Understanding it gives you the language to use but experiencing it changes the way you live in the world. Words can point you in a direction.  Whether or not you walk that way, and how far you walk, is entirely up to you.

Understanding vs. realizing does not only apply to the present moment.  It applies to all truths.  When a truth is deeply understood, you experience a shift in being.

A spiritual mentor once described a great revelation to me.  His wisdom brought a little order to my overactive mind and helped make sense of what I experienced that day in my mother’s hospital room.

He explained that when spiritual concepts come about, they organically run the course of five stages.  Concepts like forgiveness, the present moment, and cause and effect.   The stages are:

You start to hear it.

You start to repeat it.

You start to do it.

You experience something from the action of doing.

You realize it.

It’s like being introduced to the smell and taste of a new spice but then instantly realizing that it’s been in your food all along. The realization is being able to identify every past meal this spice has been in and every future meal and knowing the impact it had and has on every dish. That’s the realization. You will always be able to taste and smell it. This is the shift from brain to being.

These stages are different for everyone.  Some go through an entire lifetime without hearing a single concept, some remain at the talking stage, some start to change their behaviors and words yet don’t truly connect to their actions. Life seems to unfold when we’re ready. When we start to listen to the subtle secrets life whispered to us.

It would be impossible for me to truly explain what I experienced that day in my mother’s hospital room. It was gift. It was a culmination of time spent pondering. So much of our life plays out in those deep layers of consciousness.

I do believe that we are here to learn. To realize life on a deeper level. Understanding ourselves helps us love others. What is your heart hearing today? What is it trying to get you to understand? What is life asking you to ponder, today?