Window Shopping for Lives

Some people are forever on the verge of changing their lives. Except they never actually get to the point of making the change.

Serial Lives

They’re sure they’re meant to move to the coast. They spend months looking at houses, researching suburbs, finding cafes, exploring walking tracks, and imagining where their furniture would go. They can smell the sea air and feel themselves living there. Then they don’t move.

Six months later, they’re immersed in the energy of country living. They’re researching cottages, gardens, fireplaces, and quiet country towns. Then it’s an apartment in the inner city. Then a tiny home. Then a farm. Then travelling Australia in a caravan. Each new direction feels completely real while they’re inside it, yet nothing changes physically.

Other people do the same thing with careers. They become completely absorbed in the energy of becoming a psychologist, a teacher, a writer, a chef, an artist, a healer, or a business owner. They investigate courses, read books, join online groups, watch interviews, and imagine themselves living that life. Then they don’t change careers.

Others do it with interests and hobbies. They become fascinated with learning a language, writing a novel, buying a horse, studying astronomy, or travelling the world. Then it passes.

Some do it with relationships. They explore the energy of an entirely different life with an entirely different partner. Most choose not to tell their current partner about that one. After all, consciousness is free to explore without having to drag everyone else into the experiment or fill out divorce papers. Maybe they fantasise about having no relationship at all. They throw themselves completely into that reality before moving on.

People like this often judge themselves negatively, as fickle, unmotivated, or indecisive. They may tell themselves that they never follow through, that they lose interest too quickly, or that they always start things they never finish. Other people might agree with that assessment. Sometimes it is true, and the person needs to investigate their unconscious beliefs. But sometimes, something entirely different is happening.

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Sleep Tracking and Beyond

I recently got a small health tracker to wear on my wrist. After the first night, it informed me that I had slept for eight hours. It showed periods of deep, REM, and light sleep. It estimated my heart rate throughout the night and gave me a score for the quality of my sleep.

What is Sleep?

Science has many answers. Memories are consolidated, emotions are processed, tissues are repaired, and the brain performs essential maintenance. Sleep is important.

Many spiritual traditions, however, speak about sleep differently. Rather than seeing it as a time when consciousness is diminished, they say that consciousness is expanded. The physical personality recedes into the background and our higher self becomes more accessible.

Some mystical Christian teachings describe sleep as a temporary return to God. Some Hindu traditions say that deep sleep offers a glimpse of our true nature beyond the individual self. Dream yoga traditions within Buddhism believe that consciousness continues its journey while the body rests.

Sleep researchers sometimes jokingly describe REM sleep as “a waking brain in a sleeping body.” REM is associated with vivid dreaming, memory integration, creativity, learning, and the rich inner experiences many people remember upon waking. During REM sleep, the brain is highly active while the body is deeply asleep. In fact, the body is temporarily paralysed, preventing us from physically acting out our dreams. While our body is motionless in bed, our consciousness is free to travel.

Our waking life is not the whole story.

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