“You suppose you are the trouble, but you are the cure.
You suppose that you are the lock on the door, but you are the key that opens it.
It’s too bad that you want to be someone else.
You don’t see your own face, your own beauty.
Yet, no face is more beautiful than yours.”
~Rumi
Are you actually here, present in your life, or are you in your head focusing on what needs to change for you to be happy?
If you believe you’re broken and need to be fixed, then you’re waiting for the time in the future when you’ll finally, hopefully, feel comfortable and at ease in your life.
Maybe you’re waiting to become the person you think you should be, or you’re waiting for the right job or relationship. And while you’re waiting, what is your present moment experience? Lack, disappointment, and frustration.
If we’re unaware of what we’re actually thinking, we tend to live in the world of “if only.” If only I hadn’t had a difficult childhood, if only my wife hadn’t left me, if only I weighed 10 pounds less, if only I had more love in my life…
If we think that happiness is somewhere other than where we are, or we think we will find it at some time other than now, we will never be happy.
These ideas delay our happiness, and make it dependent on things we can’t control—the imaginary future or other people’s behavior. And meanwhile, we’ve overlooked the treasures here to be discovered right now.
This human suffering is unnecessary, and it’s optional.
Life is happening now. The past and future aren’t real—they’re mental concepts that only have reality in your mind.
If you’re thinking about the past, you’re doing that now and if you’re hoping for a better future, that’s also happening now. So if you want to be peaceful and at ease, the only time that can happen is now.
This understanding brings our attention out of our heads and right into this moment. Here’s the essential question: are you peaceful—now—or are you steeped in personal problems and a sense of lack?
We all have programmed thought patterns that run through our minds. For the most part, they are negative and limiting, telling us we’re unworthy, too emotional and needy, or destined to be unsuccessful. They make us think we don’t deserve to be happy.
When we think these thoughts describe us accurately, they become our living reality. But there’s something else here to be known that changes everything…
Prior to any thoughts, beyond any judgments or criticisms, we are here in our full aliveness. We are uncontained, limitless, creative by our very nature, and open to everything. This is the true reality that’s available to us outside of our limited thoughts about ourselves.
At any moment, we can let these thoughts float by…like clouds in the sky…then they’re no longer defining us. Without these thoughts in charge, what remains? Who are we?
We realize we’re here and present, available to life with nothing in the way, intelligent, clear, spacious, and fully alive. We get our lives back because we’re no longer defining ourselves by our challenging past or by the scary and negative voices that spin around in our heads.
We see through these identities because they don’t serve our happiness, and we let them be.
We don’t discover peace and happiness by becoming something different than what we are. Instead, it’s a process of subtraction. Subtract what you believe to be true that’s not actually true. Subtract your programmed thought patterns and emotions that don’t serve.
And here you are…already whole…flowing with what’s happening…in love with all…