The words  “waking up”, “enlightenment”, and “consciousness” are used so often in meditation or spiritual conversations, yet, they can seem so unreachable to us. For most of our lives, we believe they are experiences just for special people – those chosen by God, not for us.

For me, there was always a what if?. It was never enough; I used to compare myself with people. I wanted to change the world, but it was almost impossible because, apparently, no one was doing their part. First, they all had to change before I could do something, no matter how beautiful, magical and perfect it could be.

Okay, let’s first define devotion. The dictionary speaks of “Religious love, veneration, and fervour.” Chat GPT says devotion “…may refer to a passionate and persistent commitment to a person, cause, or activity.”
However, I want to give you a slightly different perspective on devotion. Through my journey, I would like to share with you what I experience devotion as and what I experience devotion towards.

When I learned to meditate with the Ishayas it seemed that my head became busier. It appeared that, rather than quieting my mind, I noticed more and more thoughts. This wasn’t what I had expected when I learned. Was I doing it correctly?

On the surface, my life is full of the same sort of daily activities and events as everyone else’s. I’m happy, I like to spend time outdoors, and I appreciate the people in my life. Every so often, I lose my cool trying to get my kids out of the door in time for school. What makes my internal landscape extraordinary is my familiarity with the field of awareness that exists within us all and is the foundation of everything.

You are probably familiar with watching or reading love stories. One theme is where two people separate, go through lots of experiences (good and bad, intense and light), and finally meet again, complete each other, and live happily ever after.

I would like to make another suggestion for the ultimate love story. It is not about finding someone else or anything else. It is a beautiful love story in which you experience the place of origin, where you realise there is actually nothing to complete, and there is no space even for the concept of separation.

The quickest and most effective way to transcend limitations is to get to the one place where they have never existed in the first place. There are a lot of spiritual teachings out there, teachers, influencers, vloggers and bloggers, life coaches, mindset coaches, and so on. This can make it difficult to find something pure and untouched by the collective concepts and limiting beliefs we all share.

I completely lost myself in the moment, experiencing an incredible sense of peace. In the distance, I could hear the faint rustling of coconut trees, the fishing boats leaving, and the gentle lapping of the waves on the shore, it was nature at its best, just lovely. I felt supported and deeply connected, and time stood still. What I thought was 1/2 hour, ended up being 3 hours floating, realising during that time, I didn’t have a worry in the world. Everything was absolutely okay; there was nothing to control, nothing to do but just be in the moment.

“Commitment” is a subject that can get tricky to talk about. In reality, though, commitment is the ingredient that can make the difference between achieving your goals or falling short. In fact, wholeheartedly committing to something can improve your life dramatically.

I learned the Ishayas’ Ascension techniques a good number of years ago, after a long search for peace and tranquility. My first contact was when I was invited to listen to an introductory talk. In it the monks spoke of peace and love and that it was attainable in this life; that I could be happy no matter what was happening.

All true spiritual pursuits are a return to an experience some of us have yearned for for years. This longing can be like a distant echo in the back of our minds, or for some, it is a haunting feeling that there is more to life than the one they may be living.
The desire to return to this natural experience may have become so prominent that no other desire in life comes close to fulfilling this path of return. Whatever the stage of development we may find ourselves on, this path of return is for everyone and anyone. In truth, every one of us is already on the path, the important question is whether this desire is conscious or not.

Before we dive into this exploration of Attention, let me ask you a question: are you here because you really want to know more about Attention, or have you unconsciously clicked your way here? Regardless of how you found these words, I want you to be open to the idea that you have the ability to choose where to direct your attention. How you use that power choice transforms your experience of life.