Going Nowhere Fast:
Are you constantly in a hurry? You have a goal that you want to get to, because you think it will make your life better. The best measuring stick for a good goal is to ask yourself if it is making your life better right now. If not, then drop the goal. Most people are constantly going somewhere else. They are never here. And when they reach that somewhere else, they set a new goal, and off they go, back on the hamster wheel. It is a never-ending journey that is full of suffering.
External Solutions to Internal “Problems”
Things do not give you peace, freedom, and fulfillment. It is your reaction to them that gives you all the good feelings. The good feelings come from inside, not from outside. Beyond food, shelter, and a few basic needs, things do not dramatically increase your happiness, which is why you see so many miserable people swimming in material abundance. They are trying to fix something internal with something external. It just doesn’t work. The only way to experience freedom and peace is to go inside.
Whenever you feel inner turmoil, negativity, suffering, or pain, sit with it, and be with it, without analyzing. It is the running away and wanting it to go away that feeds the fire. Stop avoiding what you are experiencing, and simply be. Notice the chaos of your mind, and notice that you are not that. You are the presence behind our thoughts. And if you want to take it further, notice what is aware of both your thoughts and the presence behind them.
Feeding the Fire That Burns You:
We take so much so seriously, but everything that exists in our head are merely ideas. It may not seem like that, but that is how it is. If you believe that you shouldn’t do something, that’s an idea. If you believe you are better than others, that’s an idea. If you believe you are no good, that’s an idea. Those are all ideas, and they hold power over you as long as you choose to identify with them.
How do you not identify with them? By allowing them to pass. Look at them, taste them, but do not put them in your pocket and call them yours. You have ideas that you do not pay attention to, such as the color of flowers. You don’t get angry about them or try to change them. They just are the way they are. What if all your thoughts and ideas were like this? What if it was okay to feel whatever you feel? Just let it be. It is your constant wanting to change what is that stands between you and a life full of freedom and peace.
Author and Credits: Henri Junttila