Beyond a physical hunger for sandwiches or smoothies, many of us experience a type of hunger that can’t be solved by eating. This type of hunger might feel like anxiety or worry, a sense of being ungrounded or alone, and it often comes about when we’ve been disconnected from our soul, and soul consciousness for too long. Think of it as starving the soul. We do this when we ignore our intuition, pay too much attention to social media, our physical appearance, or spend too much time around technology and not enough time outdoors. When we realise the type of hunger we feel isn’t a craving for cake but instead a connection to consciousness, we can start doing the work of returning to this state of being. The good news? Accessing a state of being conscious and feeding the soul is your natural state of being. It’s more about letting go and peeling back layers than it is attaining or searching for something.
Letting Go
Now, letting go is a difficult thing – of course it is, otherwise we’d all be far more laid back and happy to let go of grudges, addictions, habits and memories. Letting go however, is one way of returning to our most natural state of being, and a way of accessing consciousness and awareness of the soul.
As I understand it anyway, the soul is who we are within – it’s the part of us that may have marks and scars from past lives, but it isn’t our ego, it isn’t who we feel we are on the outside today. Our soul isn’t the one on social media, involved in the argument you had yesterday or the social interaction you might have later today. The soul isn’t interested in ‘likes’ or fad diets. The soul doesn’t look for recognition in the form of popularity or shallow compliments. No, the soul is way beyond that, and it’s the part of ourselves we’re most connected to when we’re in a ‘flow state’, deep relaxation, or when we feel most connected to nature and ‘something bigger’ than ourselves.
Consciousness & The Practice of Remembering
Paul Selig refers to Christ Consciousness, and the Brahma Kumaris refer to Soul Consciousness. These same aspects of awareness aren’t things we have to buy or obtain, rather they’re about raising our attention above the noise of the ego (the part concerned with the small and limiting world of ‘I, me, and my’, and the part that gets jealous and moody, or becomes attached to joyful experiences), and to what Selig calls a ‘higher octave’.
When we identify ourselves with our ego, we feel we’re just a body, a few fluctuating thoughts and a job title, and this is what causes much suffering. Identifying with the ego causes suffering because we cling to things that constantly change, and clinging to things that constantly change means we’re constantly being thrown about, disappointed confused and ungrounded. When however, we remember we’re way more than physical matter and the things we think of as ‘me’, we move up to a higher state of awareness.
In this higher state of awareness and remembering, we begin clinging less to the changing world – the things that once bothered us (social status, buying the latest phone or car, jealousy, competition etc.) and we start settling into our true Self. When we’re more connected to our true Self, we feed the soul everything it needs, we act from a higher octave and a higher frequency, and we instantly raise the frequency of everyone around us.
Fully Present. Fully Conscious
So how to connect to consciousness? How to feed the soul? How to raise our frequency and therefore raise that of others’? As with most things, it’s a continual practice of remembering and reminding. When you notice yourself sinking down and clinging to the ego, acknowledge this and remind yourself that clinging to change only brings uncertainty and sorrow. What is here today may not be tomorrow, and what is coming tomorrow may not be what we’re expecting. Remind yourself to move beyond this, and use your energy to be fully present and awake in the moment at hand.
To be conscious isn’t about floating up into the sky on a cloud of bliss and ecstasy, it’s about being exactly what it sounds like – conscious. Aware. Awake. Present. How engaged can you be in the next conversation you have? How present can you be when you have dinner with loved ones? How fully can you experience the sights and scents of this season? How deeply can you immerse yourself in being right here right now? And can you remember these things when your soul next calls out in hunger?