“To me every hour of the light and dark is a miracle. Every cubic inch of space is a miracle.”
~Walt Whitman
If youâre really honest with yourself, if you go to the deepest place within, Iâm guessing that you know the truth: the truth that living from love is possible, that you can be free of whatever holds you back, that fullness, well-being, and contentment are your innate nature.
It seems to be part of the human experience to pretend we donât know what we know. Maybe weâre afraid to acknowledge and live this knowing. Maybe our thinking pulls us into believing that our lives donât measure up or weâve been dealt a bad hand or we need to keep charging ahead.
But if you go within to your whole heart, you will find the seed of possibilityâŠand consider turning it into the living reality of your precious life.
All you need to do is start with this very moment, then the next and the next. Make space for the truth of these moments to expand so you can live what you already knowâin your choices, your priorities, and the energy you embody.
Youâll find inner alivenessâŠand everyone around you gets to bask in your glow.
None of these truths will be news to you. You know them already more intimately than you could imagine. So letâs explore whatâs possible…
Savoring
Life is bursting at the seams in every moment in an amazing array of people, objects, sounds, sights, and situations. Rather than judging, evaluating, or taking things for granted, try savoring whatâs present.
Use your senses to experience what shows up in your life. For example, if youâre eating an apple, taste it, smell it, hear and feel the crunch. Savor the deliciousness of the apple moment.
If youâre walking in nature, take your time and drink it in fully. If youâre feeling emotions, be curious to meet them as they are.
Now savor the experience of everythingâbeing in your home and with your loved ones, doing the dishes, walking the dog, working⊠Savor whatâs present, and your whole experience of your life will change.
Wholeness
You may have had life experiences that make you believe youâre inadequate or unworthy, but is that really the truth of who you are?
Even if itâs just a whisper in your being, you know that prior to any limiting ideas about yourself, you are alive, loving, and free. Something in you believes that this is true. Because it is.
What would it be like to live from wholeness? Youâre present in your relationships and available to intimate connection. You let go of trying to fix yourself and instead open into a vast field of compassion. Youâre able to flow with what life brings you.
You realize that every moment offers opportunities that support happiness and well-being.
Instead of pretending youâre damaged, assume that youâre whole. Then let your life experience unfoldâŠgloriouslyâŠ
Peace
You can choose to resist what is actually here in this moment, but you are going against the grain of what is, and youâll suffer. What you already know is that peace is your true nature.
You donât need to find inner peace. If you stop battling your own experience, peace is revealed, naturally. Experiment with not running from your emotions or believing things will be better âif onlyâ something were different. Effortlessly, youâll realize peace.
You have to work to be at war by believing your thoughts that resist and divide. Do you want to be peaceful? You donât have to do one single thing except align your conscious awareness with things as they already are.
~~~~~~~~~~~
There is always an opportunity to live what you already know. And thatâs an inspiring invitation to take into your dayâŠ
susan shannon says
I practice all of these things as I go through my day. Yet I get tripped up sometimes by people being rude, situations that seem unfair and stress caused by lack of work. I dig deep to find awareness in what triggers me to fall away from gratitude, savoring, peace and enjoyment. I think even the most earnest heart/soul isn’t perfect in aspiring to achieve what you’ve written about.
Gail Brenner says
Hi Susan,
Thanks for your honesty, as I know we all can relate. Maybe perfection isn’t the goal. Rather, what about taking every moment as an opportunity to figure out how not to suffer. So if someone is rude for example, and it triggers you, you get to look at the triggering. All kinds of potentially annoying situations happen all the time – but they are only annoying when we have an emotional reaction to them or tell a story that says they shouldn’t be happening.
Yes, there are pleasant circumstances that can happen, but ultimately our happiness has nothing to do with the outside world. That is where these reminders about enjoyment, appreciation, savoring, etc. can be useful signposts along the way. I love that you are so committed to digging deep to explore how you get triggered. From my experience, that is what it takes to be happy.
Dana says
Beautiful insights. I noticed they create the acronym PAWSE (Peace Appreciation Wholeness Savoring Enjoyment) …I posted them on a note on a work desk and will remember to PAWSE many times each day to re-center my thoughts, words and actions on those helpful concepts. Thank you.
Bonnie Perry says
Dana, I love that acronym. đ what a great contribution! And, Gail, thanks for continual encouragement to ‘get real’ with our life’s capability. Of course we know. The more I can allow myself to stop a moment and unzip the suitcase full of marching orders and step out into the spaciousness it is easier and easier to stop pretending and see that nothing is missing. The suitcase can still be present but I don’t ever have to be packed tight inside of it. đ
Gail Brenner says
Hi Bonnie,
Great minds think alike in appreciating Dana’s PAWSE. Yes, of course we know. Then it becomes a matter of stopping the pretending, as you say. Great metaphor about not being packed inside that very full suitcase!
Gail Brenner says
Love this acronym, Dana! Very useful – thanks for sharing it here.
Gina says
Thank you for this post, which is something I’ve been needing to see. I’ve been raging for months – at living in an unfinished home, at a disempowering work environment, at not being engaged yet, at being too tired to do anything on weekends except watching TV, at not finding a new job fast enough, at feeling disconnected from friends, at my partner who is not doing and saying exactly what I want him to, at my ex-partner, at feeling inadequate, at feeling permanently enraged.
I’m exhausted.
Gail Brenner says
Wow, Gina. You have so much support here to begin to untangle these messes. You can start with the ideas in this post and apply them in this moment and the next and the next. This will help to simplify your reactions to these life situations that seem very complicated.
These are stories of lack and inadequacy that you are taking to be true. Know that another way is possible.
Wishing you deepest rest and so much love…
Chris Akins says
Gail,
I always love reading your posts. As what you have written here is fantastic and inspiring.
As I read the post, the two words that kept occurring to me were mindfulness and acceptance.
In order to tap into that inner truth I believe we must be able to self-reflect and focus on the moment at hand. A supervisor of mine once told me that depression is about the past, and anxiety is about the future. Peace is found in the present. I think there is wisdom in those statements.
I also think that in order to realize that inner truth we must be in a position to accept it.
Lots of food for thought in your post.
Thanks!
Chris
Gail Brenner says
Great, Chris. And lots of food for thought in your comment. Awareness, openness, and willingness. These qualities are just what is needed to recognize that presence is always here, waiting for our kind attention.
Tod says
I would only add awareness and “onscious”acceptance. Being conscious of what it is that we need to PAWSE for.
Gail Brenner says
Yes, I love that – conscious acceptance. In fact, our true nature is always accepting, we can’t not be one with everything. And when we are conscious of this fact, life is delightful!
Lisa Kuzak says
Hi Gail. I have stepped off the treadmill and am now standing open armed in a field of flowers. I don’t know what I’m going to do for work or with my life, but I have finally found the courage to rest in peace, appreciation, savoring, wholeness, gratitude, and a few other lovely states such as ease, simplicity, stillness, nurturing, wonder, creativity….which are all just subsets of what you already spoke of. I
notice that where there used to be fear and endless scheming, there is now a curious waiting, an open receptivity, and a comfort with the unknown.
fear and endless sscheming, therndlesss scheming
Gail Brenner says
So delightful, Lisa. Moments of wonder, space for creative arisings. All so simple. Yes, the end of scheming and fear brings the beginning of openness and receptivity.
Lovely life…
Lisa Kuzak says
Sorry about that last line. I couldn’t erase it from my phone…
Arun Solochin says
In your heart of hearts, in the deepest place within yourself, you know the truth. The truth of living from love, of being free of whatever holds you back, of fullness, well-being, and contentment. Why pretend you donât know any longer?
These lines blew me away..
Thank You So much.
Gail Brenner says
I love the resonance with the truth, Arun. It’s what we all already know.
Love to you….
Chris Wheaton says
I was DELIGHTED to read your article this morning. It is so easy to get distracted and take off on the negative energy bunny trails. Your truth deeply resonates with me and gives me the resolve to stay present in this beautiful day!
Gail Brenner says
Great, Chris. It resonates because it is where we all meet, dissolving into oneness.
Karen says
Great post! I absolutely adore how you described peace. Yes, that is absolutely it.
Gail Brenner says
Yes, Karen. It’s not about peaceful circumstances. When we end the war with our own experience, peace is revealed. So simple!
Serena says
This was a beautiful post. One thing that really rang true for me is feeling like a prisoner to my to-do-list. I have felt like this for as long as I can remember. I feel like I am constantly preparing for a day when my life will actually begin. I have set my lists aside many times and found peace where I am now, but whenever I start to pursue the things I want (genuine desires to write, make music, stay in shape etc) I, again, start to feel like a prisoner to them, and I become obsessive. There seems to be little in between. As a result, I often resign to doing nothing. I have no problem with stillness, but I cannot seem to find peace in action. I feel like I have suppressed my creativity to a painful degree in the name of perfectionism.
Gail Brenner says
Hi Serena,
It sounds like something happens when you start pursuing your interests after putting your lists aside. The doing of these things comes from a natural, creative place in you, but just as they emerge, your habits come in like a freight train and derail you from happiness. That is just the moment to be aware like a laser. There are belief systems that kick in or fears or feelings that put you right back on the hamster wheel of obsession and prison. There is an opportunity at that time where you can potentially catch yourself as you start believing the propaganda that the mind spews out. “I won’t do it right.” “What’s the point, I’ll fail anyway.” You know what it’s like to live in those stories.
Letting go of the lists is a marvelous first step. Next is to become so aware of when the habits start to kick in that you can make the choice to not let them have the power. These habits of perfectionism are fear-based and don’t serve you. See the fear and the beliefs that catch you, then move them aside as you continue to move forward in freedom. This is where you can find peace in action.
Feel free to let me know how it goes. In great support….
Bonnie Perry says
I was touched by Serena’s post, I just wanted to comment. Until recently I could have written those words myself and you are so on target with your helpful response, Gail. I had so many stories on what I was supposed to make of my creative desires, not to mention what they were supposed to make of me. It wasn’t really helpful for me to work with coaches to help ‘get it out’ either – I even had one say after some free creative energy was beginning to be enjoyed: well you can’t stop now, what are you going to DO with it? And I immediately became stuck again. What finally helped was releasing all agenda and opinion around my creativity – my own and everyone else’s and letting the first mark on paper (or dance-step danced or note sung) be a gift complete right there and then in and of itself, without any further justification or necessary continuation. And, funny thing I continued whenever I felt like it more and more. I also noticed how this attitude spread throughout every area of my life. As you say, “See the fear and the beliefs that catch you, and then move them aside as you continue to move forward in freedom.” Beautiful!
Martin says
This post resonates very much with me. I have been striving to live this way for a year now , and its just incredible how fulfilling and satisfying life is becoming. Engaging in the energy of life all around is really good, but I am finding I get into a “flow” and can see older parts of my life and certain relationships suffering as they just do not fit well anymore. But maybe that pointing out something to me !
My life path is changing by my action, and I no longer feel “imprisoned” in my own self constructed walls. Its strange but I almost feel like a kid again in some ways.
Keep up the inspirational blogs…
Gail Brenner says
Thank you so much for sharing this, Martin. You are an example of the freedom and fulfillment that are possible by living consciously, guided by love.
Yes, sometimes people and situations fall away. This is natural and comes from clarity that you probably didn’t have before.
Freedom from self-constructed walls yields to our essential innocence. Reality is so fresh! You are experiencing it as if for the first time – because it is the first time in any given moment. No wonder you feel like a kid! So delightful!
John says
I always love your post. This one resonates with me deeply. I am on a spiritual path to awaken my mind and live a life of peace and joy . It is not an easy task to let go and live in each an every moment, But i see it and totaly understand the beauty of it. And life said to me resistance is futile surrender to the bliss
Gail Brenner says
Beautiful life, John, and inspiring commitment. It’s hard sometimes to surrender to that which is the source of all, but eventually the mind gets the message that it is no longer in control. And so great that we don’t have to be concerned with all moments – just this one, right now. Then try surrendering the one who thinks he/she needs to surrender. Everything collapses into the one.
Galen Pearl says
Over and over, we are reminded that we have choices. You have highlighted choices that bring us into the present moment in joy. What a refreshing post!
Shawn says
I love that acronym that Dana wrote! PAWSE, I wrote that one down and put it up on the wall in front of my desk too! This a great reminder to live aware of the lives that we live. Thanks!
Craig Harper says
Great post!
Its important that we remember that we have choices and that we should not procrastinate when choosing.
Research shows that people who make decisions quickly, even when lacking information, tend to be more satisfied with their decisions than people who research and carefully weight their options.
Some of this difference is simply in the lower level of stress the decision created, but much of it comes from the very way our brains work.
Gail Brenner says
Hi Craig,
Doubt is one of the by-products of fear. So it’s possible that people who choose quickly are trusting of their intuition and therefore happier, while those who deliberate are afraid of making the wrong choice. I know this in my own experience and find life so much more fluid by trusting the impulses that appear. Thanks for your comment.
Shelby says
I do know in my heart what I already know! I know it well!! My problem is having the COURAGE to listen to what I know. It seems when I try to embrace what I know..something stops me and ends up, once again, being a vicious cycle of negative thinking.
Gail Brenner says
Hi Shelby,
It does take courage to step away from the familiar way of being and live what you know in your heart to be true. Negative, fearful thoughts will stop you every time, if you believe them. The thoughts might come, but you don’t have to choose to let them rule you.
I’m so glad for you that your heart speaks to you so clearly. When the time is ripe, you will listen. Start small, and learn that this is a voice you can trust.
We meet in the one heart….