As you might guess, I turn inward a lot, and it enriches my life tremendously. The world doesn’t disintegrate, and you don’t miss out on anything important.
What does happen is that you discover a depth of peace you never knew was possible. You feel a part of things, calm, connected, and intimate.
There’s a level of relaxation you experience that you just won’t find in all the hoping, trying, and managing…our normal way of being.
One of the essential questions to ask yourself is this: “What kind of relationship do I want to have with the present moment?”
It’s a fact that thoughts and emotions appear. Needs, desires, and habits arise. There are situations, people, and the comings and goings of everyday life.
How do you want to relate to these experiences?
If you stay looking outward, you’re unconscious to what’s happening within. Even though you may not realize it, you’re entangled in your thoughts, believing the self-judgments and telling yourself stories about what isn’t going right and what needs to be fixed.
If this focus is your guiding light, you’ll feel anxious, frustrated, and unfulfilled.
But turn toward yourself and everything changes. Immediately you’re alive to what’s here in this present moment.
You take a deep conscious breath as you begin to be curious about everything you’re experiencing…this breath…a fluttery feeling in your belly…the air on your skin…the sound of someone coughing…
And maybe long-standing sadness that wants your kind and loving attention.
Here is where you meet what is as it is. It’s the end of avoiding yourself and the opening into what’s here, real, and utterly teeming with life.
Turning toward yourself is not just about noticing your thoughts, feelings, and the objects around you. If you look closely, with precision, you’ll find something deeper…
You begin to tap into it when you slow down and stop feeding your thoughts. There is stillness…peace...expansion…silence…and an undeniable sense of being alive. Your body vibrates with life…the universe breathing itself…
It’s an absolute miracle that we have this one essential, life-changing choice.
You can sleepwalk through life or take the blinders off. You can avoid yourself by living in your mind… or turn toward yourself, realizing you’re one with all that is...
What do you choose?