| Living a Life of Constant Total Amazement | | | | begin watching your thoughts. You'll see |
| By: Dave Cole | | | | that some of these thoughts aren't very nice |
| | | | at all. You may be having a fight with your |
| In the movie, Joe vs the Volcano, Joe Banks | | | | boss at this very moment while reading this. |
| played by Tom Hanks is a loser. His life is | | | | You may have found yourself a thousand miles |
| despicable and the news is: Joe is selling | | | | away. |
| his soul to his boss for a measly 300 bucks | | | | |
| a week. | | | | Many of these thoughts we have are unkind and |
| | | | detrimental to our well being. How many |
| Joe is also a hypochondriac which leads him | | | | times have you found yourself putting |
| to a doctor that tells Joe he has a terminal | | | | yourself down for something you didn't do |
| brain cloud and only a few months to live. | | | | right, or found yourself getting angry or |
| | | | upset over some event, or even found |
| So this is the wake up call Joe needs to | | | | yourself in a mental fight with someone? |
| start living. He quits his job then runs | | | | |
| into an eccentric billionaire played by | | | | Someone cuts you off on the freeway and you |
| Lloyd Bridges who promises to give Joe the | | | | immediately go spastic and begin to shoot |
| lifestyle of a king if he will end up | | | | mental bullets at them. |
| jumping into a volcano. | | | | |
| | | | Those thoughts put you in a state of sleep |
| Joe agrees and it's fun to watch him go on | | | | and prevent you from being fully aware of |
| the shopping spree going around in the white | | | | the present world around you. |
| limo. Then he is transported first class by | | | | |
| air to Los Angeles, where he meets up with | | | | In the beginning of the movie, Joe was in a |
| the billionaire's daughter Patricia played | | | | constant state of psychic slumber. He had no |
| by Meg Ryan, who is going to transport Joe | | | | amazement, no awe, no wonder of life. His |
| to a remote island on her yacht. | | | | life was despicable. |
| | | | |
| One night on the yacht with the breeze gently | | | | When Joe began waking up, his life began to |
| blowing, Joe and Patricia are talking and | | | | turn to a state of amazement and awe and |
| Joe says that Patricia's life..... and | | | | wonder at what was happening in the present |
| life..... seem so unbelievable to him. | | | | moment around him. Just watch the scene where |
| | | | he is with DeDe at dinner and you'll see the |
| Patricia responds: | | | | difference between a man at sleep and a man |
| | | | that is awake. |
| "My father says almost the whole world's | | | | |
| asleep. Everybody you know, everybody you | | | | In fact DeDe says, "What's happened to you. |
| see, everybody you talk to. He says only a | | | | This morning you were like a lump, now..... |
| few people are awake. And they live in a | | | | You're So Alive." |
| state of constant total amazement." | | | | |
| | | | It is in this state of amazement that you |
| The whole world's asleep.....think about that | | | | often find children playing. They are having |
| for a minute. | | | | fun with life because they are not lost in |
| | | | thought about some fear, they are totally |
| Why was that put in there? | | | | within and alive in the present moment and |
| | | | awake to what they are doing. |
| If you watched the move, did that strike you | | | | |
| as being unbelievable it was even there? | | | | These unkind thoughts we have draw us farther |
| | | | away from the awe and amazement that life |
| What being asleep and what waking up means is | | | | really is. |
| what we are going to explore for the rest of | | | | |
| the article. | | | | And as you begin to wake up and live in the |
| | | | present moment, amazing things can and do |
| Waking Up that's what it's about. It took a | | | | happen. |
| death sentence for Joe to begin waking up. | | | | |
| When he did, he found himself entering into | | | | Which way would you rather live? |
| a world that was unbelievable and a world | | | | |
| that most folks don't even know exists. | | | | In a world where you are lost in painful |
| | | | thoughts or a world where you are in a state |
| Let's flash forward in the movie to the scene | | | | of constant total amazement? |
| where it's night and Joe is on a raft and | | | | |
| the moon begins to rise overhead. | | | | Go watch a cat. Cats are fully awake and |
| | | | aware in their own present moment. What |
| The moon seems so huge and awesome to Joe | | | | creature is there that more lives a life of |
| that as a movie watcher you become so caught | | | | amazement than a cat? |
| up in the vastness of the moon and the drama | | | | |
| of the movie that you almost become one with | | | | Cat's don't get lost in thought like we do, |
| the entire experience. | | | | they are fully aware of themselves and their |
| | | | environment all the time. Now a cat may |
| Before this in the movie he is asking himself | | | | stare intensly at a predator, but it is not |
| and others the question does God exist. Joe | | | | lost in thought. |
| is awestruck, and in that moment of | | | | |
| realization, he just knows that God exists | | | | To be fully awake to the present moment, |
| and becomes so grateful for his life. The | | | | begin to watch your thoughts. Some of them |
| moment is one of total amazement for Joe and | | | | may be ugly. When you practice watching your |
| the movie watcher. | | | | thoughts, you'll begin to see yourself going |
| | | | off in all different kinds of directions over |
| In that moment when Joe becomes one with the | | | | nothing, it's these thoughts that keep us |
| experience, he now understands.....the need | | | | asleep and away from a state of wonder and |
| for questions to be answered isn't | | | | awe. |
| there.....he wakes up to the present moment | | | | |
| and all the present moment is trying to | | | | Don't try to change them, don't begin to put |
| convey to him and finally the understanding | | | | yourself down for having them, for now, just |
| he has been seeking comes. | | | | watch them and see how you react to them. |
| | | | |
| Most of us are lost in thought. Now we're not | | | | Next work on being present in the now. Watch |
| talking about practical thought, those | | | | yourself as you do everything. Become aware |
| thoughts you need to drive a car or solve | | | | of where your arms are, where your legs are, |
| problems, we're talking about all those | | | | what temperature is it. As you read this, |
| thoughts which aren't needed for life - | | | | watch yourself reading and be aware of where |
| thoughts that are painful to us. | | | | and who you are doing this. |
| | | | |
| Being asleep means being lost in painful or | | | | Become fully awake to you and the experiences |
| unwanted thoughts. | | | | of this present moment and you will begin to |
| | | | see the amazement and wonder of your life as |
| The best way to explain this is for you to | | | | it should be. |