Surrender

Waihihi Bay, Bay of Islands, New Zealand

We hold onto our beliefs as if our life literally depended on it. We believe with such certainty, that we think that anyone who disagrees with us is an idiot (or worse). We believe that the stories we tell ourselves and others are without question, the truth.

The more adamant we are about our beliefs, the more insecure we truly are. The firmness of our beliefs is in direct relation with the fragility of our egos. We would rather hold onto our beliefs than be happy, confident, peaceful and free. Is the price we are paying really worth it? What would happen if we lost the certainty of our beliefs? Would we be lessened as people if we surrendered our judgments? Would we be lost, with no anchor, if we stopped criticizing and holding firm opinions about what our world is?

Once we surrender our judgment, thoughts, beliefs, and ideas about our reality, we will see ourselves and the world as they really are. Our insecurity and neuroses will lessen. We will experience freedom and joy. We will start to like ourselves and ignore the pettiness and faults in others. We will live in harmony with the Infinite Energy Source.

Let's surrender to joy.

One

Caterpillar, Sedona, Arizona

When our anger, envy, frustration, desire and other judgments about ourselves and others begin to fade, we will start to see the connections between all of us and everything. We begin to notice that there is a divine energy which is contained in every one of us from which we arose and will return after our physical life is over. We understand that, often the people that we are most critical of are the most similar to ourselves. The differences that we had with others begin to fade. When we look at others, we see ourselves.

Let's see the Light in everyone and everything.

Truth

Meteor Crater, Arizona

We sometimes get irritated when we miss a traffic light while driving. We sometimes become enraged when someone cuts us off in traffic. We often live life on a hair trigger, where the smallest slight will cause us to instantly flush with anger.

We may not realize it, but every moment we are making a choice. We are choosing to react in an angry or judgmental way. Once we realize that we have a choice, why would we choose to be angry over inconsequential things? When we are angry, we are harming ourselves more than others. Our blood pressure and stress levels spike and we are agitated for hours and sometimes days, contributing to our feelings of unease.

We become angry because we believe that our thoughts represent the truth. Once we realize that our thoughts are not truth, we can notice them and not react. We then become free of the shackles of conditioned consciousness. The triggering thought will pass in moments, as opposed to keeping us agitated for days. Our thoughts are not truth. Every moment is a new choice.

Let's be aware of our thoughts without reacting or judging. This is freedom.

Acceptance

Russell, Bay of Islands, New Zealand

The problem is not so much that we wish things were different than they are. The real problem is that we refuse to even accept reality as it is. We tell ourselves stories to justify the divergence between our beliefs about reality and how things really are.

Regardless of how cruel and horrible our lives may be, we must accept that they are what they are.

This does not mean that we have to be complacent. Once we accept reality as it is, if things are capable of being changed, we can take steps to change them.

Let's accept things as they are by looking at them clearly, without labels or judgment.

This Moment

Kamakura, Japan

We sometimes feel as though life is bearing down hard on us. We feel lost in desire, frustration, loneliness and despair. We believe that life is unjust and unfair. We think that it is possible to awaken and become enlightened, but it seems like an unattainable goal.

There is an idea which can lighten the load. Every moment is a new opportunity to change course and awaken. Even if we cannot bring ourselves to awaken in this moment, it is comforting to know that every moment brings a new opporunity. No matter how bad things may seem, freedom is just around the corner.

Let's bring our awareness to this moment. Let's start now.

Confidence

Dylan

We judge constantly. We judge instantaneously. We judge everything that happens to us. We judge everything we wish would happen to us. We judge others immediately. We judge ourselves relentlessly. We judge because we are insecure and have low self esteem.

If we are confident, it is unnecessary for us to judge. We judge to boost our ego, regardless of whether we are criticizing someone or envious of them. Our judgments prevent us from seeing clearly. Our judgments prevent us from being who we really are.

We believe that our judgments are absolute truth. Although they may or may not be true, they do not help us see clearly or enhance our lives. They only serve to reinforce our fragile egos. We cannot stop judging. However, by bringing pure awareness to our thoughts, judgments will fall away because we no longer need them.

Let's see things as they are, Not as we are afraid they are or wish they were.

Peace

Sedona, Arizona

"Choose peace" is a cliche. However, it is also a truth that can help us become more peaceful.

In any given moment we have a choice. We can be lost within our emotion and become the frustration, impatience, rage or hopelessness that we feel. Or we can bring awareness to our feelings, and experience the calm that is beyond thought and emotion. Once we are aware of our feeling, a separation instantly occurs between our Selves and the emotion and we realize that we have a choice. With awareness,the emotion soon dissipates. Isn't it reassuring that, no matter how badly we screw up, every moment is a new opportunity to choose peace and freedom?

When we are lost in the emotion, we tap into our unconscious conditioned responses and we can feel trapped within it for hours, weeks or months. To create awareness of our emotion at the time that we are feeling it, we can bring our attention to our bodies without judgment and without acting upon it. We feel the heat and want to react to it, but we just let it be as it is.

After a few moments, or at most a few minutes, it subsides. We have realized that we are not the anger and other emotions that we feel. We have become transcendent.

Let's choose peace.