Awareness by Anthony De Mello

A friend of mine lent me this book a couple of months ago. As I've been really engaged in my self-growth process, I noticed a certain shift in the way I understood self-development books—some books were lighter, some heavier, but they always seemed to talk about the same concepts in a relatively simple way for readers to grasp the essence of what the author wants to share.

When I first started reading Awareness, I knew right away this would be a different kind of material. The kind of information you don't access easily. The author has a very unique way of explaining different concepts like selfishness, finding yourself, spirituality, happiness, and more. It's so unique that most of the time I was shocked by the things I was reading—like, "Wow, I've never thought of this this way."

This book hits differently if you are open to a different point of view.

Here are some highlights that I wrote in my notebook while reading it.

(Most of the content written here is taken from the book directly—these are not my words unless otherwise stated)

About Love & Fear (Good or Evil)

P.62-63
There are only two things in the world—love and fear.
Every source of our actions is either driven by fear or by love.

Example: Angry person—where does the anger come from?

Fear of losing something, someone—fear of whatever it is that pushes the person to feel angry.
Someone who is incapable of violence is fearless—nothing scares him because he comes from a place of love.

Journal prompt for next time you feel angry: Ask yourself, "What is it that you fear?"

About Desire & Happiness

P.109
"One must see things as they are, not as we are."

P.110
"The one who would be constant in happiness must frequently change."

That means following the flow of life, not resisting or looking back... but we always keep looking back... holding on to those memories or events.

Constant happiness = Let the events of life flow, let them pass.

LIFE = FLOW

About Clinging to Illusion

P.113
Illusion in this case is used as "popular belief."

The Illusions:

That it is important to be loved and appreciated. There's a slight difference between being loved and to love. Humans have a natural urge to be free and to love, but not to be loved. Imagine if you waited for someone to love you to be happy? Yes, that's exactly how most people live their lives.

That external events have power over us. False. You give them power over you—that's why you are hurt.

"Life is something that happens to us while we're busy making other plans."

"Desire breeds anxiety and sooner or later it brings a hangover."

Happiness is not the same as excitement or thrills.

• Thrill - Comes from living a desire fulfilled

• Happiness - Comes by contact with reality

About Feeling Low

P.177
How to deal with low moments:

Step 1: Don't identify with the low—instead of resisting, just accept it and understand that I'm feeling depressed, disappointed.

Step 2: Admit the feeling is in me—not in others. As long as we don't deal with ourselves and think it's because of an external factor, the feeling won't go away.

Step 3: Don't identify with the "I." "I" is not that feeling. The feeling is there, and one watches it.

Soul Feelings vs. Worldly Feelings

P.184

What kind of feelings do you have when:
— You're in touch with nature?
— Absorbed in work that you love?
— Conversing with someone in openness and intimacy?

Compare those feelings with the feelings you have when:
— You win an argument or win a race
— You become popular
— Everybody's applauding you

The former feelings = Soul feelings
The latter feelings = Worldly feelings

"Lots of people gain the world and lose their soul."

— Wow, that quote hit me hard.

I copied the next paragraph because it is simply perfect as it is:

"Lots of people live empty, soulless lives because they're feeding themselves on popularity, appreciation and praise, look at me, attend to me, support me, value me, on being the boss, on having power, on winning the race."

DO YOU FEED YOURSELF ON THAT?

* Personal Thoughts

This page is probably my highlight of the book simply because I feel like it's a constant battle between focusing on "soul feelings" and "worldly feelings"—because so much of our energy goes into chasing fame, achievements, and appreciation. Social media doesn't help at all, and being a content creator, I struggle a lot with this. This concept was really refreshing for me.

Those were my notes without any adjustments. Since these concepts helped me a lot in finding peace and being more aware, I wanted to share them with you.