There Are a Million Things You Can Do That Aren’t the Point!
The Point is
- to free yourself of suffering, dysfunction and pain,
- to do it as quickly as possible,
- to do it permanently, and
- to experience and share your great potential for happiness and deeply loving relationships
The Skills for Awakening are the distilled essence of
- the best techniques of psychology,
- the heart of the liberation practices of the wisdom traditions, and
- the most effective contemporary methods of self-transformation and self-realization
The unique benefit of the Skills for Awakening is to end suffering at its very source by
- ending the stream of stress-producing thoughts and beliefs and finding clarity and inner peace
- freeing yourself permanently of stressful emotional patterns and gaining inner harmony
- stopping interpersonal conflict and greatly enhancing your relationships
- uncovering your potential for unconditional love and living in a world of great goodness, abundance and generosity
There is only one single choice you face:
You either continue to suffer, or you make the decision
to set yourself free and act on it.
You can make this decision
- when you have no place else to turn after deep and prolonged pain,
- when the only way left is to finally act,
- or NOW, by the simple and clear insight that your suffering is self-induced and freedom is indeed in your reach.
If you do not make a decision to act now,
you inadvertently decide to continue to suffer.
Why not end your suffering now?
Learn how you can:
Stop blaming people and situation and take charge of your fate.
Stop playing the victim; it has not served you well.
Stop the incessant flow of stress-producing thoughts and beliefs.
Stop the repetitive, endless cycles of emotional pain and upset.
Stop the silent discontentment and unease you are taking for granted.
Stop depression, anxiety, worry and stress.
Stop spreading your pain to the people around you.
Stop relationship conflicts, grief and addictions.
Stop functioning below your capacity at work.
Stop your unhappiness in its worn-out track, and
Reach for the happiness and the enlightened, skillful life
you have always longed for.
If not now – when?
The Skills for Awakening are a highly effective way to dissolve the unconsciously continued patterns of pain and dysfunction.
Try them, test them, and use them
The Driving Force to Success
In order to succeed on this journey to Self-realization, four factors are necessary. You must have
- A clear view of your Goal
- Guidance with compassion and wisdom
- Skillful Means to approach the Goal
- A community of peers to support you on your journey
Your goal is what attracts you the most. It does not matter whether you call it freedom, peace, love, God, Union, Self-realization or by any other name.
What matters greatly is the focus and passionate intensity you bring to this quest. To overcome the stress-producing traits of your habitual patterns of thoughts and emotions will require commitment, persistence and a strong desire to reach your goal.
The most important guidance is your inner knowing, your own internal source of truth, compassion and wisdom. To learn to access this internal guidance persistently it is very helpful to have an external teacher and guide.
Skillful Means are the methods and techniques that were given to us by those who have traveled this path before us. Without their help we could not even know that our goal and a path to it exist. The Skills make the traveling possible, allow you to find shortcuts and avoid the many dead-end roads we can get lost in.
The community of peers, your spiritual family, supports you. You may lose sight of the goal, but your friends will remind you. You may not have many skills, but your friends will share them with you and support you in using them. To have a spiritual family is of supreme importance.
Where to Begin
Ask yourself what aspect of your experience is predominant:
- If you have a strong yearning to enter the Open Space of the Heart, begin with HeartSourcing
- If you are most aware of the challenges of stressful emotions, begin with Open Attention
- If it is stress-producing thoughts that mire you down in internal and external conflicts, begin with The Work of Byron Katie
Begin with one Skill and add others as you want or need. The Skills support and enhance each other perfectly. They lead to a highly skillful way of life, the enlightened life that is the Goal of all Goals, the Pearl beyond Price.
Good traveling my friend!
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Important Notice and Disclaimer:
The Skills for Awakening are not psychotherapy, and anything offered on this site or in person should not be construed to be psychotherapy or counseling of any kind. We offer skills training and practice support for personal growth only. It is your sole responsibility to use the Skills for your benefit, and no claim can be made at any time against anyone associated with Annapurna Institute, Inc. or the Skills for Awakening.
If you are taking, or need to take, prescription medications, please follow your doctor’s advice while practicing the Skills. If you experience conflicts or problems that require the help of a licensed health or mental health professional, it is your sole responsibility to seek such treatment.
Thank you for your understanding.
