Do you suffer from stress or anxiety? Has this manifested in to a physical illness? then please take just 2 minutes to read below.
In this modern world we are all chasing external things, better jobs, more customers, more money, more excitement, better partners/lovers, newer cars, holidays & homes the list is endless, or we are trying so hard to keep hold of the stuff we already have acquired – you get the idea.
None of these things bring ‘real’ joy into our life there may be a short & brief feeling of success or excitement, but it is extremely short lived. That new car even after a few weeks is the same car you drove yesterday just with a higher finance plan, the new iphone after 6 months is the old iphone & we just throw it away as if its useless & we all feel a little bit depressed when we come back from our fantastic beach holiday. New partners/lovers come with different packages & different dissatisfaction’s etc etc.
This keeps us a long way from our true nature. Since the 1950’s marketing companies has made society think this is acceptable & the norm – IT IS NOT. We chase these things because of our own demons, insecurities thinking that a new partner will be able to provide the things we are lacking, money, security or protection, rather than appreciating them for just being them making our-life just that little bit richer. These feeling may have arise from childhood or the feeling of low self-esteem, self-worth.
Many people do not meditate with the right mindset from the beginning which is partly why they find it difficult, they think by meditating they will ‘gain’ some sort of benefit, they will ‘GET SOMETHING’ acquire some mystic knowledge of peace but this is wrong, you already have EVERYTHING you need, you don’t need to gain anything. We should mediate to do the exact opposite – to release ourselves from the need to acquire things external or internal.
The main aim is to let go of all the expectations, pressures we & others put on ourselves, this is how we become FREE, become really connected to our true nature & all things.
As I hopefully head towards a 3-day Sesshin (Zen meditation retreat) it teaches me to let go of my ego, all the issues, judgements, negativity relating to myself that stops me from living life to the full, to be fully present in everything I do.
It also helps me to be fine with all our so called ‘inadequacies’ of our personalities (of which my wife would say there are many haha) we cannot be good at all things all of the time, but this doesn’t mean we are not still AMAZING people, we are all amazing – for me this has come to light just this week when trying to help out friends with a video shoot.
When we realise this & become comfortable knowing that there are some things better left to others, rather than trying so hard to be someone your not then life becomes so much easier & a greater sense of peace can emerge.
Meditation is not about giving away your power but giving away the need to be powerful.
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