What Happens When You Stop Running From Yourself

June 24th, 2025

By Frank M. Wanderer PhD

Guest writer for Wake Up World

Imagine that for a moment, everything comes to a halt. No more thoughts like “why me?”, no more stories about whose fault it is.

Only a quiet recognition remains: what is happening to you right now—no matter how painful, confusing, or meaningless it seems—is not the play of some external force.

It is not the whim of fate, not someone else’s malice, and not the cruelty of the world. It is something much more intimate and profound: the consequence of an old, forgotten inner movement.

A motion made long ago—unconsciously, from fear, desire, or self-protection—at a time when you could not yet see clearly.

This is not about guilt or mistakes. On the contrary, it means that the time has come when you are finally conscious enough to see that these situations are here for you. Like echoes of a call you once sent out into the world, returning now not to hurt you, but to remind you.

Because the Consciousness that you are does not judge. It does not punish. It simply shows, again and again, gently, through mirrors, where you were absent.

Where you closed yourself off from yourself. Where you forgot that everything you’ve ever experienced began within you. And it does this not to make you feel ashamed, but to make you free.

This freedom is not about never facing difficulty again. It’s about not shrinking when difficulty arrives, not running away, not looking for someone to blame, and not trying to “fix” it quickly.

But simply being here with it. Seeing it, feeling it, breathing with it, and knowing: this is here for me. This present moment is a gate. An opportunity. An invitation to return to yourself again.

Not to the personal self, but to that deep, quiet presence that has always been there behind it.

When you see this clearly, the inner resistance dissolves. You no longer want to “fix” your life, you no longer try to “improve” yourself, and you no longer struggle to make something “go away.”

Because you understand: the task is not to avoid pain but to be present within it, not to flee from the place where transformation is quietly happening.

And this transformation isn’t spectacular. There are no lights, no revelations. Only a deep, inner silence. A space where things fall away on their own. Where there is nothing left to prove, no battles to fight, and no one to convince.

Because you know: the Consciousness you are is already whole. And everything that’s happening is simply part of the unfolding of that recognition.

You don’t need to look outside for causes anymore. You don’t need to understand everything. Just to see. Deeply, openly, without judgment. And this seeing—this clear, awakened gaze—is what changes everything.

Because the moment you see that all this has grown from within you, you are no longer its victim. No longer the pawn of circumstances. But the one who watches from the quiet space of Awareness.

The one who is present. And who knows: everything that is now is a door. A return to yourself. A chance to come home to where you’ve always truly been.

Excerpt from Frank M. Wanderer’s new book The Teaching Of Consciousness To Those Standing At The Edge (FREE BOOK on pdf. You can download now)

About the author:

Frank M. Wanderer, Ph.D, is a professor of psychology, a consciousness researcher and writer, and the publisher of several books on consciousness. With a lifelong interest in the mystery of human existence and the work of the human mind, Frank’s work is to help others wake up from identification with our personal history and the illusory world of the forms and shapes, and to find our identity in what he calls “the Miracle”, the mystery of the Consciousness.

You can follow Frank online at:

• Website – fmwanderer.wordpress.com
• powerofconsciousness.blogspot.com
• Facebook.com/AwakeningOfTheConsciousness
• https://x.com/FrankMWanderer
• Facebook.com/Frank-M-Wanderer

Frank is also the author of the following books:

• The Revolution of Consciousness: Deconditioning the Programmed Mind
• The Flames of Alertness: Discover the Power of Consciousness!
• The Biggest Obstacle to Enlightenment: How to Escape from the Prison of Mind Games?
• The Path Of New Age To Unity
• The Signs Of Spiritual Awakening: The Challenges and Gifts of Awakening
• The Spiritual Path: Dialogues Between Master and a spiritual Seeker on the spiritual Path
• The Enlightenment: Dialogues Between Master and a Spiritual Seeker on the Nature of Enlightenment
• The Revolution of Consciousness: Deconditioning the Programmed Mind
• … and several other books on consciousness and the process of enlightenment.