I was walking on the beach this morning enjoying the sound of the sea hitting the pebbles. My mind was in neutral and I was feeling gratitude for such a beautiful morning and the blessing of living on the coast.
My thoughts wandered and wandered to the realization of one of my most cherished goals, and then to the business that could make it possible…and then I was pondering how this business could or could not be successful.
My thoughts then turned more towards analyzing how much I cared about this and all the good things that depended on getting the result I wanted. I thought about how a successful outcome would allow me to help a particular person I have been mentoring.
Then I started to get frustrated: “…Why is it taking so long…if seeing is believing I can’t see this happening…?”
In just a few minutes, my peace of mind and present moment awareness was shattered and I was feeling frustrated, anxious, and resentful…
The ego has a very clear idea of how things should be.
When reality does not match that image and expectation, the result is frustration and pain.
It’s my life and I’ll do it my way
Our minds are automatically programmed to create what we perceive as MY life and it all comes nicely packaged with clear boundaries that define my sense of who I am and how things are.
But who is this “I”?
If you would look deep enough and persist with the question “Who am I?” you will find that there is nothing there!
This is not an idea or a theory, it is an experienced reality. I speak from direct personal experience, having pursued this line of inquiry myself, as a result of some extremely difficult situations in the past.
When you look deep enough all you will find is a lot of ideas about “I”, thoughts that “I” have, concepts, ideas and images of “I” – everything that makes up “how I see myself” and that defines “my self-image”.
When all these layers of who “I am” are stripped away, there is nothing but an operating system of largely automatically preprogrammed thoughts and responses that manages the bag of bones we like to think of as “me.”
Metaphorically, think of the ego as “Windows 10” with “self-awareness”!
Seeing is believing, isn’t it?
Like the characters in “The Matrix,” we are deluded into the illusion that what we see is how things really are.
Why? Because this is the default setting of “Windows 10”, which:
* See things “out there”
* See separation
* Sees a world of circumstances and events and situations
* He is bound by time and sees a past and a future.
* You see the present moment, now, through the lens of your own internal map of reality that links seamlessly with your memory of a past and your guess and projection of a future.
Therefore, we are deceived by our thoughts, we are trapped in our thoughts and cannot think how to get out of it.
There really is no way out through the conventional workings of the human mind.
We confuse the map with the territory.
Seeing is believing is our default setting.
But, as we become more aware, in the spaces between our thoughts, we experience that we are much more than the limited and conventional sense of self.
We are not “Windows 10”!
As we experience this, we realize that we are spiritual or energetic beings and that we are truly all interconnected and part of one all-encompassing one.
The walls of separation fall.
“Windows 10” is not an energetic being and its intention, its expectation, is linked to the circumstance.
a personal illustration
I remember a situation like this where I was grounded and fixed in the circumstances. I was looking outside of myself at the circumstances for evidence of how I could believe my intentions were possible.
I was looking outside of myself at the circumstances for evidence of how I could believe my intentions were possible.
I eventually realized that belief, or expectation, was an internal state, and that my life experience ultimately depended on it.
Don’t keep looking outside yourself, at circumstances, to find evidence of HOW it could all work out.
It starts within you. You have to feel it first and then things will change and your intentions will come true.
Seeing is believing and abandoning the “How?”
Let go and drop the “How?” it is difficult for the ego because letting go is an act of surrender, of giving up control.
It is also a matter of temperament. Those of us who see ourselves as the leader and in charge may find it particularly difficult. Often, we can only really let go when we reach a stage of despair.
Alternatively, we can use the following less dramatic and less stressful approach:
* Make peace with the present moment by accepting what is.
* Give thanks and express gratitude for what is – regardless of the circumstances.
* Connect with your higher self/higher power/spiritual self through the advanced practice of gratitude.
* See the end result and the result you are looking for and, this is key, feel it and say thank you.
* Take action – and act on inner prompts, guidance and intuitions as they arise and do it to the best of your ability. When you act, just do it. Do not think about it and let go of the attachment to the result.
* Finally, and most importantly – THE GESTATION PERIOD – understand it, believe it, accept it and persist through it.
“Stop worrying about how it’s going to happen and start believing it will happen”
Read more: Seeing is believing
