The foundation on which any and every practice, spiritual or not, should be built and based on, is the okayness and inherent(already present) wholeness of the current moment. Despite what your thoughts and feelings might be telling you, you are safe (always!), and you can take a big breath and sink into the rightness(obvious or not) of your present situation. As you read this, know that everything is okay, and everything is okay wherever and whenever you find yourself. When you notice that you are too far for comfort from your sense of ease and tranquility, remind yourself of this and take a deep breath.
Everything around you, including yourself, is complete, perfect and whole as it is. Just let it all… be.
For some, it’s a hard pill to swallow, and possibly an offensive thing to say, because there are those who are experiencing some legitimate, hardcore suffering. As someone who has been through tough times myself, where I saw no light at the end of the tunnel, I totally sympathize. A lot, if not all of us, have been there; but I continue to write this post because although some will roll their eyes and scoff, and some might even be tempted to scream in anger at such a seemingly obvious “lie,” others will find hope and feel better, and how can I say no to those people?
I also feel safe in making such bold claims because I stand on the shoulders of wise people and peace masters, of religious and non-religious worlds, who have been speaking this same truth throughout the ages, and all of them are ultimately standing on the shoulders of The Great Absolute, The Universe, God, Love, Buddha-nature, (Fill in whatever word you’re at home with).
This Everywhere-All-The-Time-Reality — which is the Reason why everything is fine and good as it is — is always with you, and our hard times can become a lot less harder when we are aware of this in our hearts and minds. On the flip side, if we are only conscious of our pain, we lose our sense of this Inherent Goodness that pervades and contains all things, all people and all experiences, and our internal aches and pains scream even louder. Like God tells Mackenzie Allen Phillips in the groundbreaking book, The Shack, “When all you see is your pain, you lose sight of me.”
When all we see is what is wrong, we lose sight of the Invisible Right that is everywhere, that is omnipresent, interwoven with and inseparable from all that is and all that will be.
It’s one thing to hear someone say such a thing, and another to go and find out for yourself. This is one reason why we meditate. When we intentionally stop doing, moving, acting, judging, analyzing, purposefully thinking and worrying, for set periods of time, we realize for ourselves, that even though our problems may not have magically disappeared after we get off the meditation cushion, our attachment to things-having-to-be-right,-right-now is loosened and made weaker, and we end up realizing and finding peace and contentment. This new atmosphere of calmness allows us to see our problems more clearly, and possibly realize some solutions; and if there are no solutions, we can still be relaxed and at ease, making the best of it, emanating and spreading Light, even in the dark.
Times of not having what you want and need are experiences that are common in this life, and if you can’t accept that, you just double the pain. There is suffering, and then there is suffering. The first will happen, the second doesn’t have to. We can’t always control what happens to us, but we can always be in control of what happens in us. We can decide how we are and how we will be, in the midst of the ups and downs, the lefts and rights, the goods and bads. I am not talking about mere willpower. The strength and serenity that is available, even in the unwanted days, times and situations, is found in remembering the Wholeness that always is and always will be.
Right now, some of you are waking up to this Truth. Remember to use it, all the time. Like an ice cold spray bottle on a burning hot day, spray yourself when needed. Whenever you find yourself acting and thinking like a stressed, worried, not okay person, remember who you are: Okay. Whole. Right. Complete… as you are… with nothing needed to be changed.
As I said before, don’t take my word for it, go and see for yourself. Take fifteen minutes(or more, or less), twice a day, to just sit and be there. Nothing to do. Nowhere to go. Nothing to figure out or solve. Just sit. Thoughts will come and go. Emotions will ebb and flow. Be the open palm that allows these things to happen. Don’t push them away, don’t block them from coming in, and don’t let them hijack you in your time of rest. If they grab you and start to run, just remind yourself that you don’t need to do anything right now. You don’t need to want or desire anything right now. You don’t need to solve, grasp at, figure out, or take. Tell your thoughts, tell your feelings, “No thanks. I’m taking a break from you.”
It sounds crazy to talk to thoughts and emotions, but you’ve been in relationship with them your whole life, and mostly on the submissive end. Why not take some control? Do you want to be on the leash all your life? Look at and realize the freedom you lose when you get lost in thinking too much and/or letting feelings take over. “Why did I get so mad and do that?” “Why did I get so jealous and act so desperate?” “Why did I say that?” “Why did I act that way?” You can have emotions, that’s life, but don’t let emotions have you.
Meditation is where we tame the beasts within, and turn demons into angels.
What’s the worst that can happen? We’ve spent our whole lives doing, what’s wrong with a little be-ing now and then? Like nighttime and daytime, hot and cold, fast and slow, we all like to experience both. Balance is the key that opens Enlightenment’s door. The Middle Way is the path that leads to Happiness. Don’t be the one at the gym who only works on the upper body. Times of rest, apart from our times of action and usual living, is the way it’s always been meant to be. If we could see ourselves with spiritual eyes, we probably look ridiculous!
We are overdosing on mindless activity and a mind that is way too active (you know, the one that thinks and thinks and thinks, day dreams and day dreams and day dreams?). This way of living, like a hamster on a never ending wheel, is fueled and kept going by, you guessed it, a heart that doesn’t know the Okayness of the present moment, the Wholeness of the perfect present.
Meditation and rest is the sun and water that make the seeds of peace and happiness within you grow.
So,
be here,
and just be,
with who you currently are,
flaws and all,
and with where you find yourself,
wherever that may be,
because everything is ultimately okay;
and when that is your constant knowing,
you can enjoy more okayness than you’ve ever dreamed of,
and spread a lot of okayness to a world
that doesn’t know that we are all okay.
Always are,
always will be.
Humans Are Divine Blog 