âOpen your heart to who you are, right now,
Not who you would like to be.
Not the saint youâre striving to become.
But the being right here before you, inside you, around you.â
~John Welwood
If thereâs one thing I wish you knew, it is this: itâs possible to bring ease to your present moment experience.
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Sure, you can get caught up in fearful stories and go on in your mind about what shouldnât have happened. You can doubt yourself endlessly and analyze every little detail about you and everyone else.
You can judge, compare, and dramatize everything. And this is what most of us call normal life.
But in any moment, we can shift our perspective. Yes, itâs possible!
- We can take a breath and get a timeout from all the thinking.
- We can watch thoughts floating through the space of open awareness rather than being hooked into their content.
- We can experience life through the aliveness of our senses instead of through the veil of the thinking mind.
We can be caught up in storiesâŠor be with things as they are with spaciousness and ease.
We’re programmed to resist our experience. Without even realizing it, we’re incredibly harsh with ourselves. Have you noticed? We tell ourselves:
- You shouldnât feel like that.
- You failed again at finding peace.
- Youâll never improve.
- Youâre worthless and unlovable.
- You got stuck with a bad lot in life.
How can we possibly be at ease when weâre feeding thoughts like these?
My friend, Amy, woke up one lovely weekend morning with a strong feeling of agitation. She had a list of things to do, and this feeling was interfering. She tried to push through it in every way possible, only becoming more and more frustrated with herself.
She wasnât at ease with her present moment experience, and it was stressful for her. Can you relate? I know I can.
What about shifting to a kinder way of beingâa way that brings ease to our present moment experience?
- You say, âOh, hello feeling. Yes, this is what is here right now.â You stop the fight with your own experience.
- You focus on the sensations of a slow and deep conscious inhale and exhale. Why not try it right now?
- You expand your attention beyond any thoughts and feelings to the space around them. Youâre open like the sky rather than being trapped in clouds.
- You invite yourself into being present with whatâs here.
- And you take action from a place of love and careâand not from expectations or obligations.
We donât need to change or fix one single thing to be at ease with our present moment experience. We donât need to create better thoughts or banish feelings.
Weâre only asked to be kind and friendly with whatever weâre experiencing. And that simple shift changes everything.