Have you ever gazed into the innocent, wondering eyes of a small infant and felt something stir deep inside you that had no words? Have you stopped in such a moment and let yourself sink into that stirring? If you like, before you read any further, stop and remember such a moment. What do you discover?

Moments such as this are our most precious spiritual resource, but all too often we pass them by, letting the momentary flicker of life inside die down again. What would happen if we made them an opportunity for the most simple and profound spiritual practice, an opportunity to rekindle a way of being so tenderly and ferociously alive that our experience of living in the world is utterly transformed?

These moments do not have to be sought; they are actually the most natural, obvious, and effortless experiences we have. In fact, they require us to give up all seeking, especially spiritual seeking; instead, we must soften ourselves and make ourselves vulnerable to the crashing waves of revelation. The habitual ways we relate to our own senses, our thoughts, our feelings, and our own movements in the world allow little room for deep living; we are carried along by the shallow currents on the surface of our lives, and rarely experience the passionate aliveness that swims just a little bit deeper. It is this softening that is the greatest part of our work in the process of spiritual evolution -- and ironically, the simplest.

I have compiled a list of simple softening practices that have transformed my life profoundly. They are not necessarily easy; many of them require going against the most powerful habits of consciousness. At the same time, they are completely effortless. They require no work, no struggle, and no suffering. Or, to say it just a little differently, they REQUIRE an absence of work, struggle, and suffering. And they give us the opportunity to experience life anew.

Here they are:

* DEEP SENSING! Open, soften, and deepen the attention. Come back to your senses: sense, see, act, and only then think. Keep it real: don't medicate or distract. Feel Deeply: you don't need to understand, manage or fix your feelings. Unresist painful experiences; relax and breathe in the experience of suffering. Feel your pleasure all the way!

* DEEP WONDER! Define lightly, believe even less, invest and identify only when law requires. Be curious about your thoughts, especially "mine" and "I". Don't fight thinking with thinking; it's only more thinking! Drop assumptions and opinions. Release the need to know and embrace the unknown. Imagine possibilities!

DEEP LIVING! Practice relaxing and contracting: breathe, breathe, breathe! Soften, loosen, and relax the body. Live by your body's signals, not your schedule. Don't exercise -- express and play! Reclaim the voice for expression & play!

DEEP LOVING! Refrain from hooking attention -- others, and your own. Refrain from gossip and sharing opinions, definitions, investments and identifications. Refrain from seeking "love and validation." Meet true need when it arises. Feel and express your fear, but don't believe it. Share as much pleasure and love as much as the law allows!

If you would like support in these softening practices or guidance in discovering the windows of revelation and happiness in your own life, please contact me!