Simplicity

Central Park

It is very simple.

We can live a life of peace, love, joy, freedom and fulfillment, or we can lead a life of frustration, anger, fear and self-loathing.  The choice is that stark.  We can either live a life of compulsive thinking, where our every action and thought is programmed through our lifelong conditioning, or we can live in presence, where every day is fresh and a new opportunity to be fulfilled.

Freedom from compulsive thinking is possible.  It seems too difficult, but it is only as hard as we make it.  It requires a strong intention, discipline and courage,

Thoughts about awakening are not awakening.  Awakening is the transcending of thought through presence.

We need a strong intention, because, while simple, awakening is not easy.  The pull of compulsive thinking is very strong.  We need discipline to consistently apply the tools which we have at our disposal.  Meditating daily is certainly one of our best tools.  And we need courage to face our unconscious thoughts which come to the surface.  We acknowledge them without judgment and surrender them to the Void.  Acknowledge and surrender.

Let's choose presence.

Energy

Red Rock, Topanga

We are like an appliance plugged into an electrical outlet.  When we are stressed or resistant, we are blocking the flow of energy.  We become listless, depressed and frustrated.  Our health declines.

When we turn our attention towards presence, we are plugged into the Infinite Energy Source.  We are Energized!  Supercharged!  Revitalized!

This may sound like nonsense, but all we have to do is try it to see that it is true.

Living in presence allows us to live with passion and find our true purpose.  We choose to bring our attention away from compulsive thinking and towards being, fully inhabiting our senses.

Let's be present.

Choices

Natadola, Fiji

Every moment is a new opportunity to make a different choice.

When we are lost in unconscious thought or gripped by emotion, we do not realize that we have a choice.  When we are faced with a "difficult" situation, fear often overcomes us.

Fear, stress and resistance have never brought any benefits to a difficult situation.  They are only destructive.  When we are relaxed and open, we can deal with any situation, no matter how difficult, with clarity and effectiveness.

Since we have a choice and we know that fear and resistance do not help us in any situation, why not make a different choice?

How do we make a different choice?  It seems difficult because we are unconscious.  We can make a different choice by bringing the light of awareness to our thoughts.  We can make a different choice when we know that we can make a different choice.  We can make a different choice when we remember we have a choice.

When faced with a difficult circumstance, challenging crisis, or an irrational person, let's bring as much love as possible into the situation.  Let's bring as much openness as possible into the situation.  Let's bring as much presence as possible into the situation.

Let's choose love.

Attachment

Venice

There is nothing wrong with having nice things.  It's when we believe that these things will make us whole that we get into trouble.

The key to peace, love, joy and freedom in our lives is not about acquiring anything, it is about surrendering beliefs.  The more beliefs we shed, the more joyful our lives become.

We may believe that having a romantic partner, landing a new job, or having financial security is what we need for our happiness and well being.  Once we acquire those things, we may be happy or feel secure for awhile, but soon discomfort and unease return.  Then we move on to the next thing that will bring us peace, and so on.  It is a never ending cycle of desire and frustration.

We can enjoy things without being attached to them.  As long as we do not believe that any material object or person can bring us true satisfaction, we can take pleasure in all that this world has to offer.
Also, we do not have enough information to determine what is good for us or what is not.  We may think that having an expensive sports car will make us feel whole, but if we have a bad accident and end up paralyzed, perhaps not so much.  Miracles occur when we surrender our desires to the Infinite Energy Source.

The key to satisfaction is gratitude.  When we are grateful, we are satisfied with the things that we have.  As a bonus, gratitude triggers the Universe to give us more abundance.  Non-attachment and gratitude are the keys to happiness.

Let's be non-attached to all things and grateful for the things we have.

Transparency

Office Meeting in Venice Beach

It is stressful and takes so much energy to play various roles in front of different groups of people. We wear different masks in different situations.  We wear one mask for our parents, another mask for our children, another mask for our lover, another mask for our bosses, and so on.  We try to put forward the image that the person we are interacting with expects to see.  We are putting on a show instead of living an authentic life.  It is exhausting to put on these different personas

Intimacy is when we show who we are, regardless of whether we look silly or scared. Intimacy requires transparency.  When we live transparently, we flow with the rhythm of Life.

Being authentic is relaxing because we do not have to remember what story we told what person.  We relax into our Being.  We never have to think about or remember how we are supposed to act.  We are who we are and we do not care about the consequences.  We never alter who we are because we are worried about how the other person will react.  Their reaction is immaterial. Who we are is of prime importance.  We act authentically and let the chips fall as they may.

Let's be authentic and transparent.

Awareness

Venice Beach

Anxiety is caused by thought.  Our thoughts consist of frightening images which arise from our belief structure, which has been built through conditioning since birth.  We believe our thoughts because they represent the only reality that we know.

For example, the following thoughts may cause anxiety:

I am not good enough.
Nobody loves me.
I am alone.
I am afraid of cancer.
I am unattractive.
I do not fit in.
Everybody is looking at me.
Bad things always happen to me.
And so on.

Our conditioned belief system generates a negative thought.  That thought causes an emotional response, our body tightens up, we may start to sweat, our hearts beat faster.  We become scared and may become angry.  The negative thought attracts other thoughts, perhaps memories of similar experiences where we were not good enough.  The thoughts take on a life of their own.  Thought breeds emotion, which breeds more thought and so on in a never ending cycle.

We can ease our anxiety by stopping believing that our thoughts are true or valuable.

How do we move from a life based on thought to one based on presence, which puts us in harmony with the Infinite Energy Source?

We start by bringing our awareness to our thoughts.  Awareness is simply attention without judgment.  We bring our attention to our thoughts (i.e., watch them), without judgment of any kind.  We don't judge them as good or bad, helpful or destructive.  We merely observe them.  We observe without judgment every thought that we have.  The mere act of observance causes our thoughts to dissipate and moves us into presence.  In presence we experience the peace, love and joy which is our very essence.

Let's bring our attention to presence.

Miracles

Venice Beach, California

There are many approaches to life.  For example, we can look back and try to figure out how we ended up where we are.  Or, we can imagine the future and have hopes and dreams that things will turn out beautifully for us.  And so on.

What is the best approach to life?  What approach will enhance our lives, make us happy and fulfilled and bring us peace?  Of course, we have to decide that for ourselves.  But let's examine a possible approach.

We are right now exactly where we are.  For the moment, let's forget about where we have been and what got us to where we are right now.  We are here, reading this post.  What should we do right this moment?  The future stretches before us with infinite possibilities.  We do not have any idea what is going to happen to us in the future (including the very next moment).  Are we going to receive a phone call or a visitor?  Are we going to read an email with sensational news or tragic news?  Are we going to be bored, elated, loving, connected, depressed, hopeful, angry, afraid or ecstatic?

So from where we are this moment, what is the best approach for the next moment?  Through trial and error, the best approach that I have found for the next moment is to be completely open and present to what the Infinite Life Energy has in store for me.  It is best for me not to plan, hope, desire, remember or figure things out.

When I am open to the "next" moment, I receive exactly what I need to receive to enhance my awakening.  It always exceeds anything I could have planned or hoped for myself.

The more open I am to what is, the more miracles I receive, and the more I experience peace, love and joy.  There is no plan that we could devise which would be better than the plan that our Greater Self has for us.  We only know a fraction of the information that is available.  Why would we act or react on such limited information?  By having faith that God knows vastly more than we do, We are led to our highest fulfillment.

Let's surrender to the Infinite.