Awakened Living

By Russell Kyle

Will you live the rest of your waking moments asleep...or awake?

Consider this...

This simple guide invites one into the world of Awakened Living.

Awakened living is a change in outlook, out from one’s mind, heart and soul. It includes a change in thinking,

understandings, emotion, physiology, social connections, reactions to life and desires, all adding to the growth of one’s overall well being.

It’s a transforming way of seeing the world through the eyes of gratitude, thankfulness and appreciation, an awareness of the connectedness of all things, and a deep knowing
of one’s own part in this magical dance of the Universe.

To be awake, is to see life for what it is and for what you are; complete, whole, full of joy and full of unlimited possibilities.

Take this journey, the lifetime journey of awakening... A journey with no definite destination, yet full of immense meaning and purpose.

These simple methods outline the basics of the practical spiritual life. It’s but a beginning, yet, if applied, is guaranteed to change your life

...from the inside out, inside and out.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Triplicity Publishing, LLC
• Release date: Jul 1, 2014

Russell Kyle

Russell was born and raised on the central Gulf coast of Florida. He is a devoted father of three beautiful girls and a loving husband. He enjoys aerobatics, boating, meditation, kirtan and spending quality time with his family. Russell’s life hasn't been average by any means. After a series of tragedies and years of struggling with addiction and depression, Russell began a transforming change. Learning to turn his dark past to good account, a gift emerged; a life of joy, contentment, meaning and purpose. Today he spends much of his time growing, learning, teaching and fine tuning the practice of incorporating a deep and powerful spiritual life with a life of sound family living. To contact Russell with questions or comments, please email him at: [e-mail]

Book preview

SECTION I

Practice One – Recognize the true cause of your experiences

Practice Two – Utilize your Source for positive change

Practice Three – Continually let go

Practice Four – Prayer

Practice Five – Meditation

Practice Six – Trust your Source of Good

Practice Seven – Keep from negative, limiting and other self-defeating thoughts - Make use of positive affirmations

Practice Eight – Practice forgiveness and let go of blame

Practice Nine – Continually give of yourself and practice selflessness

Practice Ten – Surround yourself with Good

Practice Eleven – Humility

Practice Twelve – Be flexible and flowing, always open to change

Practice Thirteen – Practice God awareness

Practice Fourteen - Practice Present moment awareness, Live in the present

Practice Fifteen – Teach by demonstration for the purpose of extending Good

Practice Sixteen – Continually give thanks and practice living in a state of constant gratitude

Section II

365 Short readings for morning meditation, daily contemplation, and review.

Introduction

This is a simple and practical guide to a life of awakened living. Awakened living is a way of living life with the utmost possible satisfaction. The ideas in this book are simple ideas, yet they need to be practiced and applied for maximum benefit and understanding.

This book does not claim perfect teachings, it only attempts to point the way to where understanding by practice and experience may be discovered. This is just a beginning, but if practiced will open a door of understanding, knowing, and awareness that will never close.

In this I have come to know a good solid foundation for peaceful and joyful living that really works. These are the methods, views, and ideas I have learned, continue to learn, teach, and practice, that have changed my life in the most wonderful way. The key to application is practice. Perfection is not the goal here. Our joy is in the Journey and growth itself. So take it in and enjoy the process. Drop any resistance or prejudice of old ways of thinking and be willing to be made new, openly taking instruction, and practice, for a richer and more fulfilling life experience to begin unfolding.

The very fact that you have picked up this book is an acknowledgement to yourself that a positive change in your present life experience is desired. This desire for something better can be anywhere from that of a simple spiritual shift towards higher understanding to a complete shift in your experience of life.

The desire for something more, something better, or any discontent is really good news; it’s a sure sign that the beginnings of a positive change for you has already begun. Yet the next step in this change will come by you. But one thing is clear for now: this book has found you, and when the student is ready the lessons will appear. Your part is only to be willing and open to it.

These practices are basic steps one can take to smoothly begin their personal transformation. Once again, they are simple ideas, basic and most understood through experience. They are set here in an order in which one builds upon the next, but they can be done in any order you choose, at any time frame or way that is most comfortable to you. There is no need to feel that you must master one before moving onto the next, for progress is the goal here, not mastery. In order to have a way of life open to continued growth and change there can be no definite format or rules. This is simply a guide; the course best for you will be laid out before you as you go. Your inner guide will lead the way.

I’d suggest starting with Practice One, and then just feel it out from there.

Chapter One - Practice One

Recognize the true cause of your experiences

For years I was on automatic, I would automatically find something or someone to blame for whatever was bothering me. Today I’m still on automatic, but it is directed in a different direction, within me. I’m no longer looking to blame in order to avoid responsibility, I look for the cause so that I might take responsibility, and in turn, hand myself the solution. Allow me to explain.

How often we struggle to control circumstances to our satisfaction. We strive for that thing that will make us happy. We are sure that our satisfaction will finally come once we get it or when things are going our way. In trying to arrange people, situations and our lives to our desires we many times just make a mess of things, raising stress in ourselves and those around us. Though at times we may seem to accomplish some of these things, we soon find its seeming satisfaction quickly fades away. In the end we find that the more we attempt to control our lives for our satisfaction the more easily our lives slip out of our control. We find that when we finally get things the way we want they almost immediately begin slipping out of place. We then struggle to keep and protect our achievements only to struggle by attempting to resist change in a world where change is inevitable. We find that the more stuff we attach ourselves to as a requirement for our satisfaction the more we fear losing it and later a deeper dissatisfaction with a need for even more. We are quickly entangled by the deep delusion that our satisfaction is measured by what we get and have, by what we do, keeping things in place, or how well others are behaving. In the end we find that seeking happiness in this way, in the attempt to control and perfect our world, is a hollow and a nonstop struggle.

So what is the real problem? Why doesn’t life work well this way? It’s simple, a simple mix-up, one that is the manifestation of many ill forms of attitude, like blame, resentment, fear, jealousy, and many more. One we are all taught consciously and subconsciously our whole lives. It is the common mix-up between cause and effect. What we see as the cause, the problem, is really the effects of the alleged effect, the real cause. Confusing huh? Not really, allow me to explain.

The cause of all our life experience comes from within ourselves, that’s it. Too simple now? Most real solutions are simple. Allow me to explain further.

Not to say we are not influenced, sometimes heavily, by outside experiences, but ultimately the power to change and live the life we want rests within us. Everything else is far beyond our reach. Once we begin to explore and learn to use this power of perspective, attitude, direction of thinking and thought processes, the more we will see how much of a cause of everything they really have been.

So to best affect our outer world or better yet to peacefully accept our outer world as is, we must work from within.

Have you ever had a bad day, and then a good day, same circumstances on both days? So it’s not a matter of changing our circumstances for a good day, it’s simply changing our outlook upon that day. It’s that simple. So our aim initially is our thinking, our inner world, the cause.

The shift to higher awareness begins with a change within, a shift in perception; a change in our outlook on life. It is to become aware of the truth that the world that we think determines our happiness is actually only a reflection of our state of mind. Our ideas, judgments, beliefs, points of view, prejudices, hopes, expectations, and fears have become for us a very obscured pair of glasses through which we view our world. We point the finger at the so called problems, when the true problem is blurring our vision of that which we are pointing. Our view of the world is not as clear as we may think. In fact, in regards to thinking, we can’t even really believe everything we think. Our vision, thinking, has been shaded and obscured by our taught, self and otherwise, interpretations. So long we have lived blaming others or outside situations for our inner discomfort when really the cause of the discomfort is ours and has been all along. We have chosen our thoughts, beliefs, and interpretations so we too are choosing the world we live in. We are the creators of our experience, as we choose to interpret it so do we experience it. That’s the bottom line.

So how do we use this for our benefit, how can we change the way we are seeing things? The process of changing isn’t as much learning as it is first unlearning. It's about starting new.

Just the acknowledgement to ourselves that our problems stem from within opens an awareness that grows, even if we don’t fully understand it yet. An awareness of our patterns of thinking, our attitudes, and our beliefs, and a growing awareness of their direct effects on our lives begins to become clearer. It just simply begins once we admit this truth to ourselves. A simple start: I am the cause of ALL of which I am dissatisfied. Even if outside circumstances are not to your liking, or if you can't see past being a victim in some way or situation, maybe at least you can admit now to yourself that it is you who is keeping it alive, your perceptions that continues to give it life. Even if you don’t see it yet, say it to yourself and you will soon see the truth, and the truth will set you free.

In seeing this we find that the key to unlock our happiness has been in our back pocket all along. That key is the knowledge of the cause