The reason we suffer is because we think we are separate from the present moment.
It turns out that the freedom that we have all been looking for was right here in front of us all along. It's just that we didn't recognize the present moment as freedom because we were so busy trying to manipulate it. Amazingly, it somehow eludes us that no matter how hard we try to make life be the way we want it, it never seems to bring us happiness, at least not for long. Happiness/contentment/freedom/ inner-peace, etc. happens automatically when you "wake up" (that's why it's called Awakening). And what are you "waking up" to? That you have been living a lie.
What lie? The lie that happiness lies outside you and if you can just somehow manipulate life just so, if you can just get all your ducks in a row, then you will be happy. But come on, if this strategy really had a chance of working, don't you think it would have worked by now? The reality is that having an agenda or image as to how things need to work out in order for you to be happy means that anything else that happens except what you want/need to happen leads to suffering. We have greatly, and unwittingly, stacked the deck against ourselves by narrowing down what needs to happen in order for us to be happy to just a handful of things. Honestly, what chance do we have?
This desire and wanting by the mind to escape the present moment does not work. Then what does? Realizing what has already, and in fact always been the case: You and the present moment are one. And the closer you align yourself with whatever is currently happening in the moment, the closer to your true nature you'll be.
And by being in-sync with life, an astonishing thing happens: The sense of separate self drops away! Why? Because when you are totally in-sync with Life, there is no time for a sense of self to appear. Thought is time and time is thought. When you are fully engaged with whatever is going on in the present moment, when is there time to think about an imaginary "I" and all its wants, needs, desires, and problems? There isn't time! And so once the imaginary self goes, so does that feeling of separation from life, because now you are back to honoring your true nature, the current moment. And suddenly, the idea of having a problem with anything is intuitively known to have a problem with yourself. And why would you want to do that!?
And so being with all that currently is, just as it is, becomes the natural and obvious thing to do, simply because you no longer wish to torture yourself!
Author and Credits: michael j.