Lessons and reflections from Eckhart Tolle’s Conscious Manifestation Course

We grow through challenges. Eckhart teaches the challenges we face in our lives are not there to punish us, but to help us awaken. Each time we face fear, embrace adversity, and release our false sense of control, we get a little bit closer to our divine nature — our true power.

I experienced all of that in the flash of an instant when my body left the airplane and began falling to the ground.

I wasn’t planning on skydiving. I’m not on a mission to test or prove my newfound spirituality by engaging in risky activities. But when the opportunity came to plummet 14,000 feet to the ground, I found myself saying, Yes! I’m in.

What surprised me most from my skydiving experience, was the absence of fear. There were a few times while waiting to board the small sixteen-person aircraft that I felt butterflies in my stomach. But as soon as I acknowledged and leaned into the fear, it evaporated.

Leaning into fear

Leaning into fear and adversity is new for me. In the past, my coping mechanisms for dealing with stress have been to arrogantly dismiss the feelings (thereby, causing me to become an angry, irritated, and impatient bitch), or to not deal with the emotions at all by opening a bottle of wine. Some people shrink into themselves as if to hide from fear and adversity, I would get pissed off and/or buzzed. Of course, both of my strategies were ineffective and only lead to further pain.

But this leaning into fear strategy leads to something different — it leads to power. Not power over others. No, it’s power over our thinking mind. It’s a direct path to the power of our Inner Being.

Embracing adversity

It seems most of us try to go through life avoiding adversity at all costs. Especially with our kids. We don’t want our children to experience the pain of being excluded from friend groups, not making a team, failing an exam, getting into the “wrong” relationship, and so on. And often, we do everything we can to intervene before they have a chance to learn from their mistakes.

As parents, we have a responsibility to teach our kids the consequences of their actions. But we also have a more important responsibility to learn from our own actions and develop our spiritual selves. We can’t expect our children to make conscious choices when we’re not conscious parents. Dr. Shefali Tsabary’s book, The Conscious Parent, is an incredible resource for anyone involved with a child of any age. Whether you’re a parent, teacher, or caregiver this book is a must-read.

The time has come for parenting to become what it was always meant to be — about the parent. Dr. Shefali Tsabary details how our children can be raised as conscious adults only when we as parents allow ourselves to be raised into a higher state of consciousness.

Namaste Publishing, The Conscious Parent

I needed Dr. Shefali’s book when I was teaching and raising my own kids. I did not parent consciously. I couldn’t — I didn’t know what it was. And I didn’t know there was an infinite source of love, compassion, understanding, and wisdom within me. I thought that was reserved for Jesus, his disciples, and saints like Mother Teresa. I parented like I was parented, with fear and a false sense of control. And there were (and are) repercussions from my unconscious parenting. But it’s never too late . . .

Releasing control

To regret not being a conscious parent is fruitless and self-sabotaging. We don’t receive a martyr badge of honor for carrying around guilt. Guilt erases nothing and separates us further from those we love and our divine nature. We’re meant to learn from guilt, make amends, and live consciously. That’s our gift to ourselves, humanity, and God.

It’s not easy to watch your child go down a path you know will lead to pain. But if we can embrace the ancient teaching that there are no mistakes and stop trying to control the outcome, we can find peace in acceptance. We don’t have to like others’ choices to have acceptance. And we can offer love, guidance, and support without enabling.

When we look at life’s challenges as opportunities to learn, how can we tell a loved one they’re on the wrong path? How do we know the lessons they are to learn in this life? We’re each on our own path with our own lessons to learn. Our job is to live consciously and be an example to those around us. That’s what Jesus and Buddha did, and we’re still learning from them.

Concluding thoughts

I never considered jumping out of a plane would help me be a more conscious parent. But finding the power of leaning into fear and adversity, and releasing complete control to the guy strapped to my back wielding the parachute, helped me awaken a little bit more.

No, you don’t need to jump out of an airplane to awaken (I tend to do everything the hard way.) For most of us, awakening is a choice. One you must decide to do in your own time and in your own way. And then, the journey continues . . .

Tomorrow I’m flying to the San Juan Islands in Washington with the intention of kayaking with Orcas! The chance of encountering an orca on the water is only about ten percent. But I’m putting the power of conscious manifestation behind my intention. 😊 I’m also releasing the outcome. It’ll be great whether I get a chance to experience the orcas or not. I’ll let you know what happens.

With You on the Journey,

Jackie

Please join me on Instagram, FB, Twitter, and LinkedIn @jackiejreid and sign up for my weekly-ish latest post!  No, I won’t do anything uncool with your email address or spam you. Promise 😇