Know what the cause of what makes you feel incomplete. Liberate yourself from what’s hindering you by knowing and practicing simple principles. Apply and sustain these 8 ways of li ing in your day to day and become more at peace with life.
Right View
“And what is right view? Knowing about suffering, the origin of suffering, the cessation of suffering, and the practice that leads to the cessation of suffering. This is called right view.”
Pali Canon
To practice right view, we need to let go of the concept of the world as fixed. View the world as constantly changing, imagine the seasons and the circle of life. In practicing right view, we won’t be attached to relative concepts that will inevitably change. Practicing right view also implies that everything is interconnected and a part of the whole. Make it a habit to check in moment to moment on how are you thinking right this moment. Are you perceiving a certain thing from a narrow lens? Can you widen your understanding regarding this situation? What am I resisting? What is preventing me from having a right view?
“If you change the way you look at things, the things you look at change.”
– Wayne Dyer
Right Intention
Apply the power of your mind to intend renunciation and surrender. Right intention means selfless detachment, putting your higher self first before the ego. We often times get caught up by the demands of the ego because it is louder, it is what we see on the external and it keeps on bugging us with its endless chatter. Let go of attachment to possessions and beliefs. Often times because of habit, we become addicted to the egos story. It doesn’t need to be this way. Disrupt this pattern by internally replying to the ego; “no thanks”. From time to time, ask; what are my intentions behind pushing forward with this specific thing? Why am I deliberately pouring energy towards it? Is it self serving? Am I aimed at the highest possible good besides my own? Are my intentions for the whole or for just a small part? Is this harming others?
“All that we are is the result of what we have thought: it is founded on our thoughts, it is made up of our thoughts. If a man speaks or acts with an evil thought, pain follows him, as the wheel follows the foot of the ox that draws the carriage.
– Dhammapada
“All that we are is the result of what we have thought: it is founded on our thoughts, it is made up of our thoughts. If a man speaks or acts with a pure thought, happiness follows him, like a shadow that never leaves him.”
Right Speech
Yogic tradition has it that speech must pass before three barriers prior to being uttered aloud. These barriers come in the form of three questions: Is it kind? Is it true? Is it necessary?
Your word is your wand, your word is law. Be mindful with our speech. If urging to speak but not one of benevolence, beauty, praise and usefulness it is best to practice “noble silence”. Abstain from lies and gossip and only speak of truth, noble and God like matters. Our speech is the next level of manifestation of our thought, it is more real in wave form as compared to thought. So we must be watchful of our speech.
“Be a light in the darkness. Speak healing ”
– Alex Kakuyo
Right Action
Make every action one of honorability, peacefulness and morality. In practicing the right view, intention, and speech, it will lead us to right action. Train ourselves in protecting and sustaining life around us. In treating everything around us as sacred, we will become more mindful in each act that we do. Maybe we consider segregating and recycling more thoroughly. Stop using plastic, these little things have a huge impact that we tend to underestimate.
“The practice of Right Action is a practice of faith, a faith that says what we do matters. We matter. And whether we’re refilling the coffee pot at work or speaking in front of a crowd of thousands, we have the power to change the world one small act at a time.”
– Alex Kakuyo
Right Livelihood
Integrate your talents that it may support the wellbeing of yourself, others and the planet. Maybe take a deeper look into the organization you are working for, is it ethically and morally aligned to your values? Is the organization harming animals and the planet? If so you might wanna shift to one that is working on positive change. There’s a lot of conscious companies out there that offer lots of opportunities.
“…Think of it as ‘Right Livelihood 2.0’… In addition to not causing harm to yourself or another, this is livelihood that is an expression of your Core Intention, work that you can fall in love with and that no longer feels like “work”: work that matters.”
– Maia Duerr
Right Effort
There are four aspects to right effort.
- The effort to prevent unwholesome qualities from arising.
- The effort to extinguish unwholesome qualities that already have risen.
- The effort to cultivate skillful and wholesome qualities.
- The effort to strengthen wholesome qualities that have already arisen.
In everything we do, keep in mind these four efforts. It is a very good tool to really look at how we are performing or serving our duty. Keeping our efforts wholesome with moment to moment check ins. As you go about the day and your work, keep an unwavering rectitude, unlimited forgiveness & unselfish performance of duty.
“By your own efforts waken yourself, watch yourself. And live joyfully.”
– Gautama Buddha
Right Mindfulness
Develop an accurate and precise awareness of the present moment with no opinions & judgements laid upon. Pay no attention to the filtered perceptions of the mind but it n the impermanence and interconnectedness of all things. That everything is subject to change, and a change in one thing causes others to change. See everything as an ever changing expression of the universe. Today may you have right mindfulness in thoughts, emotions and actions. We often get bummed by how others treat us, saying “they treat me this way causing me pain”; in right mindfulness ; “they treat me this way because that is how they are and it is ok”
“When right mindfulness is developed and made much of, one realizes what one should do and should not do. Whether one should speak or not speak. When one speaks, what should be spoken and not spoken. Right mindfulness is the basis for the development of the right path that culminates in knowledge, wisdom, contentment and the highest happiness.”
– Mithra Mettimury
Right Meditation
Right meditation or concentration means detaching from your sense perceptions. Have the mastery of not giving in to the immediate urges and impulses of the senses. With sustained and applied way of thinking, a certain joy will arise. A joy not coming from sensual pleasures, it comes from knowing, accepting and appreciating the way things are. Even this joy will subside and one enters equanimity, a state above pain and pleasure, sorrow and joy. In simply giving up our preferences, attachments and yearnings we liberate our selves from what we think we need to complete us. Sit still, give it time, and practice right meditation.
“You are not limited to this body, to this mind, or to this reality—you are a limitless ocean of Consciousness, imbued with infinite potential. You are existence itself.”
– Joseph Kauffman
Conclusion
We often feel constrained and being enslaved by our desired. Understand that there are many layers to your consciousness, you can easily rise above your torments simply by knowing that you are not your ego and its demands. You aren’t even your body or your persona, you are the whole of life and you can just watch from a safe place and appreciate it’s magnificence. Liberation can be attained where you are with these 8 practices. Make this your way of life and watch things around you change.