Wake Up

Wake Up!
By France

There is no life aim that cannot be attained more surely if one is awake.
To be awake is everything.- Robert S. de Ropp

When you were a child you could see, hear, and feel what was really there. As time went by, everyone denied the reality of what you were seeing, hearing, and feeling. Your parents lied to you, your teachers lied to you, and society lied to you. Granted, they were doing the best they could, after all, because people lied to them as well. These same people put you to sleep, perhaps unwittingly, but fast asleep you went. They put you to sleep in a thousand different ways–by being incongruent, by saying one thing and doing or thinking another, like the dad who sits smoking a cigarette, telling his children not to smoke. Or when a person asks, “How are you?” and you reply “Fine.” That is allowing both of you to continue to sleep.

How many times are you asked that How are you?” And by whom? I counted 17 times few days ago. Store clerks, gas station attendants, and other people who did not want any other response than a superficial “fine.” I’m not saying there is anything wrong with the question or the answer; I am saying the question and the answer will keep you and everyone you come into contact with in a stupor.

I usually will not answer the question, “How are you?” When recently asked that at a local grocery store, I stated that I had no idea how I was. I then asked her how I was. She told me I was great, not just once or twice but over and over again. I wonder what she bases great on. I could be a great serial killer. The same day a convenience store clerk asked me how I was; I smiled and said “awful.” He told me I was not awful and then assured me I was “fine.”

Now, some of you want to wake up. Some of you have been working hard to wake up, hitting your head against the wall to wake up. In your dreams you think you wake up sometimes, and for fleeting glimpses you do wake up. Then you or some other well-meaning sleepwalker puts you to rest again. These are well-meaning, perhaps even “spiritual” people putting themselves and you into comas.

Here’s a question you are probably asking yourself. How do I wake up and stay awake? Careful now, many of you went right back to sleep after asking that question. In fact, most of you check out more than a few times a minute.

There are many ways to wake up. You are a configuration of patterns, put together by you, a combination of elements or characteristics. You put them together to protect yourself, to hide, to get along with others, to not get along with others. These patterns got you through your life up to now, sometimes serving you well and sometimes not. They have attracted some people and repulsed others, and they have put you to sleep.

Below are a few ways to begin to wake up, they are easy and powerful. Some of these activities you can play by yourself and some of them you can play with others.

If you are right-handed and eat with your right hand, use your left hand or brush your teeth with your left hand. This little exercise will slow you down and make you aware of every movement. After you do it, notice how automated you usually are. Notice also how many more things you usually sleep through. How about taking a different way to work today? How about never taking the same route two days in a row?

The next time you go to a restaurant, don’t look at the menu; ask the server to bring you his or her favorite meal, or just ask the server to bring you something that is good for you. This game will wake you up and allow you to give up some of your preferences and your control.

Just for fun and to meet an interesting stranger, approach someone you don’t know and ask for three pennies. This may sound odd; but if you push yourself a little to the edge and you can’t immediately imagine what that person’s response will be, you will wake up. I have played this game before with a friend of mine on the seawall in Galveston. We saw four ladies in a carriage speaking English with a lady on the street. We approached them and asked them for three pennies. They looked at us suspiciously and replied, “No habla English.” My friend and I laughed, thanked them, and then we walked over to a man and asked him for three pennies. He quickly reached into his pocket and pulled out some change into the palm of his hand. He asked if he could give us a dime or a nickel. We responded “No, we want three pennies.” Bewildered, he handled over the pennies and mumbled something about our making a wish and throwing the pennies into the surf. Of course, that is not why we asked for the pennies. We asked just for the sake of interacting with him, to wake him up, and to wake us up. We did like his idea, so laughing and running down to the ocean we made a wish and threw our pennies into the brine.

Another game is to buy inexpensive gifts or trinkets and wrap them up and give them to strangers. Notice how people react. Some of them will probably smile, thank you, and go on. Some of them may not be able to accept a gift from you. How they react has to do with the patterns they are running, what they were told while growing up, and what they believe the world is like.

Have you ever gone on a scavenger hunt? Well I like to play this game a little differently; instead of trying to see which team can finish the hunt the fastest, just notice what happens when you walk up to someone’s door to ask for an item on the list. Now, one of the tricks to all this is to pay attention. Notice what happens to you when you ask someone for something. Notice the sensations in your body, what you say and how you say it. Notice your willingness to do these things as well as your unwillingness to do them. Notice what happens to the person you are asking and what they go through (their patterns) to oblige you.

If possible, play with a large group and split up into teams of four people, with each team going after a list of five items, like a toothpick, paper clip, match box, a piece of colored paper, or a used lottery ticket. The only rules to the game are: You can get only one item from each house, you have to take turns asking, and make sure everyone gets a turn. Then you are to return within one hour. When everyone returns, form a circle and take turns telling stories about what you all noticed. Over and over you may hear totally different stories about the person who came to the door and the interaction of the group with the person. Within each group of four, each person will have a different version. One person may say, “The lady at the white house was so mean; she didn’t want to give us anything,” and someone else from that group will say, “She couldn’t have been sweeter–she practically invited us in for tea.” You will be amazed at how we each create different illusions about truth and reality. One of the lessons participants get out of a scavenger hunt is to put their attention on the people involved and not the things. It’s the people that are important; not the things.

There are many more ways to wake up, probably countless. Come up with your own games, watch less TV, and get out with people more. Be with people, put your attention on them and on yourself, and notice what happens. See just how awake you become.

Lighten Up Exercise

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