We all trip over and fall down every once in a while. It happens to us unexpectedly and after a certain time we come back stronger and smarter. If we look back on the causes of these trials, most often than not it is because of our choices. Things that happen externally that might appear unrelated to our way of being reveal their connection and oneness through lessons. All that happens to us is because of our way of being, perception of ourselves and the world. These prompts and insights are here to help you own your life, learn the lessons and avoid repeating them by understanding the basic principles of mind.
The intellect you cling to is limited
From the moment we wake up, most of us automatically jump into the role of who we were yesterday and prepared to repeat the same story. Joe Dispenza calls this the trap of the familiar past and the predictable future. The mind is comfortable with what it knows so it sticks to those two certain things. But your real freedom lies in the generous now. Now is where the birth of new ideas are, where the creation of your future self is, imagine a caterpillar birthing into a moth and Phoenix from ash. Empower your SELF over the mind by sitting still. Know the truth of your being and let the mind’s chatter be. Your mind is your intellect but it’s not intelligence. Intelligence is the one that moves and runs the universe, your intellect tries to understand how it works and is never satisfied with answers. Know the place of intellect, it is good with some things like planning and checking the bank balance and tuning the car up but that’s not the whole of what you are. You are awareness and divine intelligence, an expression of the divine, unique and never incorrect. We all just are in the process of life be lifing. So when presented with complexities by the mind; say thank you mind for your contributions but I’m sitting here for now, breathing and looking at the sky.
“Can you accept the notion that once you change your internal state, you don’t need the external world to provide you with a reason to feel joy, gratitude, appreciation, or any other elevated emotion?”
-Joe Dispenza
Get an alternate perspective
If the mind hooks you in with attractive demands such as; “you should do this and be like that or else it won’t be a good thing for me and others and you will fail”. Take a step back and observe this conversation of the mind and SELF. Sit still and be grounded, once again, thank your mind for its opinion but the real you, the SELF is complete in and of itself and do not need to fall prey to the minds demands. Try getting an alternate perspective, the one that feels gentler and kinder. The choice that promotes growth and nurturing. Lean in to what feels right not what the mind thinks is best. Feeling transcends understanding and is more powerful and creative. It is the Buddha and Christ in you. It is conscious awareness. In an alternate perspective you get to access “omniperception”. You get to understand what is best for the ocean, not just what’s good for a single drop. From time to time, take a step back and get an alternate perspective. Learn this habit and bring ease and harmony to your day to day.
“If the doors of perception were cleansed everything would appear to man as it is, infinite.”
– William Blake
Quit certainty cold turkey
Let go of always needing to know. The mind is never at ease even though all information is out there, there is always something it needs to know. Curiosity opens up new worlds and is the doorway to creativity but there is a difference between open inquiry and wanting things a certain way. If we always impose our preferences and beliefs into everything we encounter there will be no room for miracles. Try being comfortable with uncertainty. Try this mantra “I may have preferences but I really don’t mind what happens next”. Either it will or not won’t. This is neither a fortune nor a misfortune, it is just is. Try to quit our attachment to certainty and observe a lightness in the heart and your whole being.
“You want to know my secret? You see, I don’t mind what happens.”
– Jiddu Krishnamurti
Figure it out by observing not thinking
Sit still and be quite for a certain amount of time and there will be nothing that you can not know. Everything is divinely simple, there’s a spiritual answer and solution to everything. When bothered by complexity and indecision, take a moment to observe. Observe yourself being bothered, observe your physical self sitting and thinking of the problem. In this practice we get off our mental loops and get to see things for what they really are. You are awareness, not circumstances. Circumstances change and can not be controlled and it doesn’t have any power to disturb your peace unless you allow it. Always remember, things are mostly fine if we stop fiddling with it. Let most things be, let your loved ones be, let your natural well being be in balance, harmony, life affirming and giving. Brilliant insights come in observing and not judging, be sensitive to whispers from eternity.. They are subtle so quieten the intellect and be a mindful observer.
“Mother Nature is always speaking. She speaks in a language understood within the peaceful mind of the sincere observer. Leopards, cobras, monkeys, rivers and trees; they all served as my teachers when I lived as a wanderer in the Himalayan foothills.”
– Radhanath Swami
Be truly happy knowing that happiness is fleeting
The secret location of happiness is found in the abandonment for the need for it. Stop looking for happiness outside of you, what you have been looking for is what you already are. How many more shiny objects and promotions do you think you need? What ever you are looking for, let me stop you right there. You are already that. Yearn for inner joy, calm and tranquility than happiness that is instantly followed by despair. Be not attached nor afraid of anything…. Loss, change and disrepute. Stay in your equanimity and be above all the crash of breaking worlds. Here you are, sitting, smiling taking this journey gently, with ease and gratitude.
“You only want to be happy. All of your aspirations, no matter what they are, are a yearning for happiness. Basically, you wish yourself well…desire isn’t necessarily a bad thing. It’s life itself, the desire to expand one’s horizons of knowledge and experience. It is your decisions that are incorrect. To believe that something as insignificant as food, sex, power, or fame can make you happy is to deceive oneself. Only anything as big and profound as your true self can completely and permanently bring you joy.”
– Sri Nisargadatta Maharaj
Truth comes when you stop grappling with it
Imagine a pond of water, if you disturb it by swishing the water all around using a stick the water will turn muddy, unclear and unsettled. But leave it alone for a couple of hours and the sediments settle at the bottom and the water becomes sparkly and clear once again. The stick is our intellect trying to run hither and tither asking all sorts of nonsense, demanding this and that leaving us with a muddy perception of the truth. Stop disturbing the waters and we shall find truth. Truth of peace, love, clarity and abundance.
“All you need is a calm mind. Once your mind is tranquil, everything else will fall into place. Self-awareness affects mental changes in the same way as the rising light affects the environment. Inner energies awaken in the light of calm and steady self-awareness and create miracles without any effort on your behalf.”
– Nisargadatta Maharaj
The purpose of life is life itself
The million dollar question of the purpose of life. What is the purpose of life? It is life itself. It is all the courage and battles of your ancestors summed up in your DNA. You, being a divine spark of light from the cosmos entering your mums womb, hung out for 9 months and cried for air and has never stopped breathing. Your mission to lighten up the load of mankind and be a light to those in the dark. To leave things better than you find them. To become awake to everyday miracles. You digest sunlight and turn it to energy. You are constantly putting together pieces of your masterpiece. No matter how hard you search, you will be brought back to yourself. Be ok with life. It is pretty astounding to be here.
“Be a lamp unto yourself, make of yourself a light’ were the last words of the Buddha. no teacher or outside authority can give us the truth or take it away. in the end, we will find that our heart holds the simple wisdom and unshakable compassion that we have sought all along.”
– Jack Kornfield; After the Ecstasy, the Laundry: How the Heart Grows Wise on the Spiritual Path
Afterthoughts
You are done running around looking for answers and asking questions. Let go of the need to know. Practice silence and prayer. Nothing can bother you but your own mind untrained so become a master in letting a story go and shifting perspectives. Not immediately reacting is a beneficial tool to. Just smile, be at ease and know all is well.
– Namaste