W h a t I B e l i e v e
I believe the freedom we’re all looking for is already here.
We just miss it, getting busy going after the ‘wrong’ things, those things that our culture tells us we should have and that our markets are busy producing. We look for it in jobs, money, status, relationships, houses, haircuts, thinness. But nothing outside us will ever satisfy… because the answer to the search is right in front of us. Or rather, it’s inside of us, buried underneath layers of conditioning. ‘Who we are’ has become, by mistake, our personalities – our interests, behaviours, habits. But that is not who we are. Take away the ego and what do you get? Your true self. Pure awareness, pure freedom.
If we be with what is happening, whatever it is, there is peace. To do that we need to drop our preferences, our likes and dislikes, which lead to craving and aversion – i.e., suffering. If what you want out of life is what happens in life, nothing can phase you.
I believe we can be at peace so long as we surrender to the moment, instead of fight it.
I believe in being kind to ourselves. Self-compassionate, and honest.
We skirt the truth with ourselves often, by denying what’s here for us or being totally unaware of our thought-patterns or behaviours. But by being conscious of and gently allowing what’s here for us, no matter how embarrassing or seemingly un-evolved (envy, jealousy, anger, fear), we take the first step to being free of it.
I believe in listening to intuition.
Our intuition is not to be confused with fear, which holds us back from new and worthwhile experiences. Intuition is a soft knowing, a beckoning toward one direction or away from another. I believe we all have an inner knowing – we know what feels right and what is right to do. The problem is, there’s a loud voice inside our head telling us what we should do. Often it’s the combined voice of our parents, teachers, peers, and culture. But if we get still and tune in deeply, are fully embodied and crystal-clear aware, the right messages pop up to the surface.
I believe we just don’t know.
And we limit ourselves by purporting to know – ourselves, other people, a situation that happened, how a situation will turn out. We create stories (compelling ones!) that are far from the truth because they’re constructed by our heavily conditioned minds. We just don’t know anything! I’m suspicious whenever I claim I’m sure of something. As Byron Katie asks: “Is it true? Can you absolutely know for certain, 100 percent, that it is true?”
People who inspire me, and from whom some of the above ideas are drawn:
Byron Katie, Michael Singer, Eckhart Tolle (modern spiritual teachers who reference ancient eastern philosophy), Joseph Goldstein and Jack Kornfield (for Buddhism), Hillary McBride (for embodiment), Martha Beck (for intuition and life purpose), and my own counsellor, teacher, and spirit guide, Sabine Brosche.