Just One Look Forum Archives

When attention is focused inward on the sense of me, what is noticed right here and now is the presence of an actual aliveness.

This direct contact/intimacy with self brings forth a relaxation into whatever life experience happens to be present.

There comes an intuition, that we are all imbued with an innate ability to function with a "genuine" freedom of expression.

Tension that was ever present in the body slowly disappears. Thoughts appear to be of a different quality--a sense of lightness, instead of urgency, there is now a calm spontaneity,a gentler responding to life situations, a trusting of a power of purposeful action.

Is there a "truer" gift that we can share with our family and friends--our community, than this simple act of inward looking, even if it takes the form of a friendly invitation to look at this sense of self, always available and so instantly accessible.

What a joy to know the heart of now--open to this life of possibilities.

John and Carla, thank you.

Wow! You describe your experience so beautifully.

I find that when conversations turn heavy and people start to talk about the problems of life that I can't help but suggest that they put the cart before the horse and get rid of the mistaken sense that life itself is the problem. Your suggestion of the friendly invitation sounds great. I often find myself rambling on in a characteristic analytical break down of the searching process and hear myself thinking "When am I going to get to the point?"

It is amazing to hear myself say with such sureness that the sense of life as the problem actually goes away. What a gift indeed.

Hi David,

"When am I going to get to the point?" Haha! At first I used to go on and on about the "looking", people would soon get tired of listening. I couldn't work out why they weren't interested, then I realized that I had spent too much time talking about it instead of asking them to actually try it for themselves--I was expending too much energy in the build up to why it is a good idea to try the "looking", this big build-up appears to cause frustration, "when is this guy going to get to the point?"

Now I only mention the "looking" if it seems appropriate in any given situation and I get straight to the "thing/looking" itself, most people are quite shocked--as I was on first hearing about it--that they had never even noticed the actuality of their own presence or the fact of This Presence--Life as it Is right now.

So that's what's behind the friendly invitation "approach", at first most people take the suggestion to look at the sense of "me" as a kind of gimmick and leave it at that,but for some there seems to be a kind of recognition--a happy homecoming, a familiarity, a reacquaintance.

David, thank you.

Hi Lewis,

It's a great "approach". Thanks.

Once in a while despite the build up I have seen some curious looks on peoples faces when they first try to direct their attention at their own mostly unnoticed sense of being here.

Anyway it is a great gift and one I'm so grateful to have stumbled across. This conversation on the forum and the recorded meetings is awesome. People talking about going sane. I'm still amazed.

Hi David,

More and more there has been the experiencing of gratitude filled moments,they appear quite suddenly and are followed by feelings of being connected or at ease with life as it is right now--the permanence/actuality of Now. I agree with you about this forum being awesome, how amazing that there has been the coming together of this community of "lookers", all thanks to the work of both John and Carla, which is being added to by so many people that are all experiencing the benefits of this "inward looking".

Thank you,

I try and try but cannot reach that inner sense everyone here talks about. That first look is extremely challenging for me. I get nothing but the usual overlay of thoughts, etc. Quite frustrating.

This is actually to be expected. The sense of being me is pretty faint and impossible to keep one's attention on for very long. The success is in simply trying. Once you try you automatically succeed for a fraction of a second in touching your me-ness with the beam of your attention, which is enough to remove the context of the fear of life. It's not required to have any confirming experience, surprising as that may sound.