Absolute freedom doesn’t exist externally. Freedom is an inside job.
Anything we experience on the outside is known only through/by our awareness on the inside.
We layer our experiences with interpretations and thoughts. Each person’s experience is different.
So until we gain mastery of mindfulness, we will be caught in our thoughts and belief systems, thinking that’s how things are.
True freedom is freedom from our thoughts.
Absolute freedom has to come from the inside out.
You know you exist without any need for words to define you.
Without thoughts, feel and sense your being-ness, your presence. This is the direct gateway to connect with the Infinite.
When we dance, it is hard to feel sad.
When we pump iron, it is hard to feel depressed and helpless.
When we stretch and breathe yoga, it is hard to feel disconnected.
Use your body to help you with your feelings.
When you can’t seem to access your feelings, check in with your body. Does your chest feel tight? Do your shoulders feel tense? Is your jaw clenched, your breathing shallow or your brow furrowed? Do you have a ball in your stomach?
All our emotions are experienced in our body, whether we realise them or not.
Along with building awareness of my thought patterns, paying attention to my body and my senses is the best way I have found to build emotional intelligence and stability.
The understanding of trauma needs to be updated.
We often don’t recognise coping mechanisms that we are living through due to childhood trauma.
Trauma doesn’t have to be through a big incident, or even anything necessarily horrible.
It is simply a part of life. It is unavoidable. Even being born is traumatic.
Even with good parents we will still have traumas happen.
Something as little as having the blanket come off at night and getting too cold as a baby is traumatic.
Or not being acknowledged or supported emotionally as a kid is a big one.
Or an over protective, smothering parent can also generate a kind of trauma.
The list goes on…
Don’t minimise your struggles. Don’t be a victim to them either, but learn to honour your healing process.
Often our behaviour changes due to our (conscious or unconscious) attachments, expectations, fears and ideas of self image.
There are different parts of us that come out at different times/with different people.
Begin to identify and learn to observe your different sub-personalities; how they think and how they act.
When we can observe our various parts/sub-personalities, we can step back and create space from automatically being blended with them and acting through them.
With space we can form a stability in our being, a consistency of self, a grounded-ness in authenticity.
This level of self knowing is gold.
There is only one reality, but there are billions of worlds.
How is the world seen in your perception? What do you focus on that forms a sense of how your world is?
Yes we need to acknowledge and take responsibility for what we need to improve, and at the same time, if we practise bringing our awareness to expand our recognition of beauty, goodness, gratitude, grace and trust in unfolding growth, our world can be a totally different place, even when nothing has seemingly changed on the external level.
Be conscious of how you are painting a picture and what picture you are creating.
With our close relationships we need to connect and share on a level where we can feel met and heard.
Often with awakening to different levels of awareness and understanding our relationships are challenged and stretched to either grown together or fall away, as we need to find people that resonate.
There is often a gap between the old falling away and new relationships coming in. This can be a hard time. Sometimes it can last what seems far too long. And perhaps there is a possibility it might not ever be filled.
All we can do is trust and keep walking in truth.
With our close relationships we need to connect and share on a level where we can feel met and heard.
Often with awakening to different levels of awareness and understanding our relationships are challenged and stretched to either grown together or fall away, as we need to find people that resonate.
There is often a gap between the old falling away and new relationships coming in. This can be a hard time. Sometimes it can last what seems far too long. And perhaps there is a possibility it might not ever be filled.
All we can do is trust and keep walking in truth.
Everyone has their human suffering.
RATNA DYER 