***Are You Living Your Life or Are You Just Thinking About It

What you already "know" is keeping you against discovering what exactly is possible. There is a story with regards to a college professor who's interested in researching Zen that demonstrates this idea:
There once was a higher professor who was interested in learning about the study and practice of Zen. He decided the best way to get this done was to look for a Zen master to interview. Being struck having an inspiration, the professor did his research and discovered one on the Internet by Googling, "Zen Master". The professor shot off a contact and made an appointment. On the day with the appointment at the designated time he shows up in the Zen Master's home, notebooks available and his mini–recorder willing to capture everything.
The Zen master greets him in the door having a slight bow and invites him in. Once he is seated the faculty professor says, "I would like you to tell me about Zen, everything about Zen. I want to understand Zen." He places his recorder within the table and prepares to adopt notes.
"Yes," the Zen master replies. "Let's have tea."
Slightly annoyed that they can weren't getting right to the point the college professor quickly thinks it is probably far better to be gracious to his host simply because they were in their home so he sits back and doing his best to hide his impatience he waits until it's about time to begin.
The Zen master brews the tea in a pot and brings forth two cups and saucers. He then starts pouring tea in to the first cup. He pours before the cup is half filled and continues before the cup is practically completely full. And then, to the institution professor's amazement, the Zen master continues pouring and the tea flows over the sides of the cup and to the saucer yet still he keeps pouring. Just as the tea overflows the saucer and runs on the table the professor shouts, "Stop! Can't you see that this cup is full? It can't hold any further!"
"Yes" says the Zen master. "It is just like your mind. It is so full it can't hold anymore. In order to find out about Zen you need to First Coast Living empty your cup, your mind."
Transformation, self–realization, enlightenment – is not understandable through whatever you already know. Your mind has already been full with ideas you have learned from the culture you've grown up in, from your family you spent my childhood years in, from your schools that you simply attended. Your mind is full of information. Your mind will compare anything we say about enlightenment from what it already knows, to what you've got read, seen, been exposed to, have previously thought about. In fact, chances are that you have heard the Zen master/college professor story before so as you read it happened only "heard" the storyplot but rapidly compared the details to what you had heard before and in many cases commented to yourself concerning the differences.
In order to hear anything newly you've got to hold in abeyance your head's propensity to compare, to incorporate information, to agree, or disagree. You need to release your standpoint, including that which you want to express when the speaker has finished what they're saying.
There is a quote from Herman Hesse's Steppenwulff, "In order to get born a world must first be destroyed." The chick must destroy the egg so that you can come into being. You have to become willing to let go of everything you know and have held to get true so that you can understand the moment. In reality, you can't understand the moment. Again, the nature of understanding happens by comparing what exactly is happening in the minute to precisely what is already known. Anything that is outside of whatever you already know cannot be imagined.
We human beings are actually so conditioned through the culture that we grew up in that we cannot imagine anything away from that culture's teachings and beliefs. Everything is compared to those beliefs. When Einstein initially postulated his theories of relativity prior towards the advent of quantum physics, people said that is was goobledygook. It had no value. They couldn't comprehend it because it was outside of the paradigm or system which they knew and lived through.
Enlightenment is experiential. Experience devolves into concepts. Concepts can be a structure of words accustomed to describe an experience. The words tend not to conjure up the experience. Our thoughts come to us as words. We reside in words. Rather than experience our way of life we talk with ourselves about what has already happened. Enlightenment is living your life rather than speaking with yourself with what has already happened.
So to reiterate, to be able to hear something newly it can be imperative that you let go of comparing what is being said to that which you already know. At first is seems impossible to suspend random thought to listen which has a receptive, open, available, accepting mind. It takes a certain amount of practice to give up your point of view and being right about your perspective to allow something new in.
Recent studies at Dartmouth University demonstrate that our minds do not want to learn anything that challenges what we know or think to get true. There are studies that show that you just argue to become right about everything you know on the exclusion of information that proves everything you know incorrect. Parts of your head activate to dismiss inconvenient or conflicting data to everything you know or hold to become true. This being said, it is possible to bypass this automatic, reflexive dismissive system: Awareness and engagement.
Awareness is really a nonjudgmental, neutral observation of something. If you don't judge yourself and what the truth is, in addition to your automatic dismissive, forward thinking nature, you'll not stick it in position. Judgments are mind–based, thought–based, pulled through the past and the culture you have been dipped in, reinforcing that which you "know" in lieu of supporting you in experiencing your lifetime moment–to–moment. As you keep engaging in what's actually happening in your health rather than conversing with yourself about your preferences, you are actually stimulating and growing new neural pathways as opposed to running over old well–worn tracks in your head. By being aware and starting your environment you strengthen your ability to experience your life rather than to simply talk to yourself about this.