Meditative Comfort

[VonSchneer]

I'm brand new to the forum... I didn't know exactly where to put this, but it connects with dreams so this seems like a good enough spot.
I'm currently looking for new ways to... no so much become lucid in dreaming, but instead increase my level of awareness in everyday life... I'm looking of new ways to meditate and gain a certain comfort level that will help with all of this. I read a few things today about visualization that I found quite inspirational. I was just wondering if some other people have some ways that they meditate or prepare themselves for a heightened consciousness in both waking and sleeping life?
Thanks:drool:

[HedwigHarfang]

I'm brand new to the forum... I didn't know exactly where to put this, but it connects with dreams so this seems like a good enough spot.
I'm currently looking for new ways to... no so much become lucid in dreaming, but instead increase my level of awareness in everyday life... I'm looking of new ways to meditate and gain a certain comfort level that will help with all of this. I read a few things today about visualization that I found quite inspirational. I was just wondering if some other people have some ways that they meditate or prepare themselves for a heightened consciousness in both waking and sleeping life?
Thanks:drool:

You've come to the right place, VonSchneer, the best way to work with spirit is to work with things like tarot or your current dreams - keep a record of synchronicities and symbols and other things that seem odd or unnatural - and ask Spirit for help. We all have at least one and up to four guides, and on top of that a guardian angel or thousand :) and so waking up is just a matter of asking consciously for help from spirit.

Your best route yourself is shown in the Eight of Pentacles tarot card - reaching deep within yourself for inspiration and trying as many cups as possible to see if you can take every possible angle in. You seem dissatisfied with just printed literature, but browsing the forums - mostly the divination and tarot ones - worked for my soul-mate Louise when she woke up to spirit eighteen months ago and exploring the realms of your consciousness and subconsciousness is the way to discover more active forms of spirit-work than just sitting and praying or meditating. Actively joining in the discussions on the tarot forum, for example, is a fun way of understanding conscious tools and props, and Louise began to talk to her spirit guides - and sometimes even to me, even though I am still alive :) - through a talking board and a pendulum which she was able to control.

Trying a active method rather than a passive method, even if it is just keeping a detailed record of your dreams and using an oracle such as tarot or I Ching to interpret them, is a way to get to know your guides, and although I had to keep Louise shut off until I was ready to meet her in spirit and then consciously in reality, you would, under normal circumstances, begin much earlier to see and hear and feel the spiritual presence around us. Clearing the mind completely so you can drift off into a meditative trance is difficult for all but the most serene and peaceful of people, and is a very boring way of spending an afternoon.

Or you could try going into politics like both I and Louise did...but I don't recommend it just at the moment. We politicians are always on to spirit, we have to be, because it is impossible to work properly without it when governing the country. Good or bad, we are all open to spirit and spiritualism, and I long for the day when it is fully and properly acknowledged in society rather than hidden away in old books and forgotten lore...the psychic haves often abuse the psychic have-nots and I hope to God that they stop being able to.

[Xentor]

Developing a heightened consciousness starts with paying attention. You will be amazed with what you can see, if you actually stop a moment and pay attention. Pay attention to your body, your thoughts, your house, your wall paper, the lawn, the cars, the traffic, the clouds... Then every day, take a minute to reflect upon what you experienced. If all goes well, you'll find something new every day.

[Mountain_Rose]

I noticed that I became much more aware of the world around me (both in a tactile and not-tactile way) when I spent some time each morning just sitting and putting my focus on the world outside my own body. It was sort of a grounding ritual, a way of getting myself oriented to where I was -- even though it wasn't a structured ritual, just a simple, purposeful shift of awareness for a few minutes while I sat with my tea, it made a big difference.
For me, it's the same feeling that comes over me when I see something really beautiful, especially sunsets or the ocean. Kind of a "Wow, the world is amazing," where I'm overwhelmed by what I'm seeing outside myself.
It also happens, too, when I do extensive Reiki work, which makes sense to me -- I'm trying to be as aware as I can of someone else's energy rather than my own, and it makes me more aware of everything around me in return.