how to not repeat the same lessons over and over: evolve.

While I was at Vipassana, I thought a lot.. I’d catch my mind drifting here, there and everywhere and I was surprised (more than once) at the depths it would go to, how dark it would get in the farthest corners of the mind, just to not focus on the breath - what we were supposed to be doing. But more on that when the hauora blog kicks off on Monday *contain your excitement e te whānau lol.

Anyway, as I was not doing what was prescribed to us at the retreat, one train of thought I found myself on was reflecting on different moments in my life that may as well have been the same one, because almost every component of it was the same. I was becoming aware of patterns, of lessons I was repeating over and over,

and obviously not learning from.

Or perhaps, not applying what I’d learned. learning the lesson conceptually, but not actively applying the changes.. not experiencing the different way of doing something.. maybe.. lol I’m still figuring it out, as you may be able to tell..

I reflected on how some of the guys I’d met and inevitably end up strangers with within a few weeks/months - yeah my mind went there -.- lol and realised they were all pretty much the same person, just a different vessel. These types of realisations are annoying. When you think you’ve been experiencing life and making changes accordingly and levelling up but really, you’ve just been repeating the same lesson and going round in circles.

The realisation is annoying but it’s a realisation nonetheless which is short-term embarrassing, frustrating and/or deflating #letsbehonest ha but is always,

100% long-term awesome, amazing and liberating.

That māramatanga (enlightenment) and awareness is exactly what you need to realise that something still needs changing, that you haven’t fully learned the lesson, or made the necessary changes in order to graduate.

We tend to shy away from situations that make these realisations apparent, because of that initial sting of uncertainty like “oh maybe I don’t know what I’m up to”, “shucks.. I’ve been doing it all wrong” and so on… but that’s exactly what Te Kore (potential) and Te Pō (unknowing, confusion) are for - they’re the phases that lead up to Te Ao Mārama - enlightenment. But Te Kore and Te Pō always come before Te Ao Mārama. It’s whakapapa (process, evolution).

So to evolve, to level up, to raise the standard of your life - whatever that looks like for you (because it’s all about you and realising your potential, fulfilling the purpose/mission you’re here to serve and contribute to others),

become aware of your patterns,

become aware of your go-to actions, reactions, behaviours and thought processes. Wrestle with them, understand where they come from, why they keep reoccurring, identify them and recognise what situations/circumstance or which people trigger you a certain way - understand the whakapapa of why you do what you do.

Then once you’re aware, you can reprogramme. Once you reprogramme, you can change how you do things - you evolve.

Tēnā tātou,

Hana.