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Becoming Comfortable With 'The Uncomfortable'

5/31/2021

In your experience, are you discovering that it is possible
to be open to uncomfortable feelings within
without trying to get rid of them?

And in your experience, are you discovering that it is possible
to be open to uncomfortable feelings within others
without trying to get rid of them?

****************

Most of us – if not all of us – are conditioned to try and alleviate
uncomfortable feelings within us by any means necessary.
Whether through distractions like food or TV or exercise or even meditation –
we try to get rid of what doesn’t feel good through resisting feelings rather than allowing them to be.

And many of us are conditioned to try and alleviate uncomfortable or angry feelings within others
by any means necessary. Whether through distraction, humor or apology even though unwarranted –
we try and get things ‘back to normal’ through resisting what they are feeling and expressing
rather than allowing them that experience.

Realizing our Freedom
does involve
becoming comfortable with 'the uncomfortable'

What Has Your Attention - Inside/Outside Voices or 'The Still Small Voice'?

5/24/2021

When we’re listening to inside voices and outside voices we’re not free
to listen to ‘the still small voice’.

The still small voice can only ‘be heard’ when we take some time to consciously listen.

It’s not loud and noisy like the normal voices that we hear inside our head and outside
all around us - and it's message is so very different....

The message of the loud and noisy voices is largely some variation of this most
tiresome theme:

Be afraid – be very afraid.
Something is wrong and needs to be fixed.
Something is missing and needs to be gained.
There is something wrong with me (or others or life).

The still small voice is nothing at all like those loud noisy voices.

Rather than fall in lock step with the noisy voices and let fear or a sense of lack lead the way
we can actually take a breath and find out directly what 'voice' is worthy of our attention.

The listening to the still small voice is more like a sensing …

Sense now if there is anything to fear.
Sense now if there is anything lacking.

Sense now directly ‘if all is well already’.

Differences Are Not A Problem - Positions Are

5/10/2021

A friend recently had an insight into our collective division and shared this with me:
“It is not our differences that create the schisms, it is our positions."

Any position which judges differences to be a problem is what creates the divisions between us – not the specific differences.

This is such a profound insight that holds true both externally and internally...

Any position which judges our different thoughts and feelings to be a problem is what creates
the sense of conflict and separation within – not the different thoughts and feelings.

******************

Our deepening understanding and practice of Freedom is, in my experience, the same as the deepening understanding and practice of Love.

Without Freedom there is no Love – there is only fear and control – a misunderstanding of what is true.

When we take the position of fear we are easily controllable – by ‘external’ forces as well as all of the inner forces of our various thoughts and feelings.

When fear seems valid we seem vulnerable and our deepest understanding of Truth seems irrelevant.

Identification or taking a position with fear always veils the understanding of our true nature.

*******************

Whenever challenges come externally or internally and fear does seem valid –
this is the time to take some time to see for ourself what is what.

Sense into what is true – not think about truth but sense into truth.

Allow all external and internal voices their freedom –
when we don't judge them we don't hold them into positions.

Without taking a position for or against all of these voices that are coming and going
we are free to sense into the very nature and flow of Life itself -
that which is not coming and going.

To be free of identification with fear
reveals the fullness of Love
for everything and everyone.

Bind No Visitors and Know Freedom

4/26/2021

Being aware of when fear shows up within us
helps us to be more aware of when fear shows up around us.

And being aware of when fear shows up internally and externally
allows a greater possibility that we will not be controlled by it.

Being controlled by fear is no fun at all. It drains Life’s joy right out of us.
It confuses us and veils all that’s true and beautiful
while suspicion, judgment, blame and attempts to control life take over.

Yet – how can we actually live without being controlled by fear
at the same time there is so much happening in the world
and so much happening within us?

Rupert Spira’s words speak to this beautifully:

“If we want to live without fear we must first learn to live with it.”

If we want to live without identification with fear (being controlled by it)
we must first learn to live with experiencing the pure sensations of fear.

Experiencing the sensations of fear is very different than identifying with fear. Learning to live with the raw sensations of fear is not the same as buying into the story of fear.

The former is allowing a visitor to move through freely and the latter is confusing the visitor with a resident.

And what comes from the first is so very different than what comes from the second.

Freedom
is what we are.
It is the DNA of our true nature
as well as all of our conscious expressions.

Nothing is meant to be bound.
Even thoughts and feelings are meant to flow.

Trying to control what is by nature free
distorts everything..

Bind nothing to you
and know your freedom.

Freedom From Free Reveals Love

4/19/2021

Freedom from fear involves freedom from trying to control both what's going on internally and externally.

When conditioning yells “Be afraid!” and then tries to control what's going on internally it’s time to inquire about what is true.

When others dictate “Be afraid!” and then try to control what's going on externally it’s time to inquire about what is true.

Falling in line with any fear based ‘inner or outer’ voice
clouds our understanding and sensing of freedom and love.

Fear and control march in lockstep to confuse and veil
and
Freedom and Love flow as one to clarify and reveal.

"To be free of fear is to be full of Love." Adyashanti

The Aliveness of Freedom

4/12/2021

Over a month ago a friend asked me, “What’s alive in you?” and immediately what came up was, “Freedom.”

How freedom moves internally – how freedom moves externally – and how it all works together so perfectly.

***************

When we try and control 'internally' we suffer because we’re unaware that freedom is the very nature of even our thoughts and feelings.

And when we try and control 'externally' we suffer because we’re unaware that freedom is the very nature of all others - as well as LIfe itself!

The understanding and honoring of Freedom internally and externally changes everything.

***************

I’ve always felt very strongly that what works internally has to work externally - and that there is absolutely no difference between ‘spirituality’ and ‘politics’. I see them both as constructs we human beings have created to try and make sense of things – ‘internally and externally’.

And one way to collapse the contrived difference between the two and discover what is at the heart of both - the very nature of Life - is through a continued deepening understanding of – and love for – Freedom…. and all of its many radical implications.

Because regardless of whether we begin with 'external' freedom or 'internal' freedom if we continue our discovery we will discover them both.

Thoughts Throwing A Fit - Can You Bear It?

3/1/2021

Years ago when I accidentally killed a groundhog I was shocked to find that thoughts can actually throw a tantrum!

It happened some months after becoming more aware of being open to feeling my feelings – without attention following thoughts. This took some practice since I was so used to following my thoughts rather than feeling my feelings.

So when I killed the groundhog and I very consciously allowed attention to be with all feelings that came – I soon noticed thoughts popping up like, ‘Why didn’t you …’, ‘What if you had done this …’, ‘How could you….’ and on and on. I noticed them but didn’t follow them. I allowed my attention to be with all the sensations in my body – the heart pounding, the tears, the stomach clenching….

And then the thoughts threw a fit. It was truly as if they stood up and started waving their arms and then throwing themselves on the ground kicking their feet and screaming - ‘You will NOT ignore me! Look here! I am here! Pay attention to ME!’ But once again I didn’t engage them. I didn’t push them away but I didn’t follow them. I allowed my attention to fully be with whatever I was feeling.

For a bit it was all quite intense - the energy within my body, the attention on the physical sensation, the noticing of the 'screaming' thoughts --- and within minutes it was as if all the sadness left without a trace.

As I sat there in my car and noticed a deep sense of ‘all is well’ there was initially a kind of disorientation – a what in the world had just happened kind of feeling. I had never experienced anything like that before. So much intense energy with the strong emotions and the tantruming thoughts – and then Whoosh! …. all of that completely gone and a noticing of only Peace present.

When we can bear to allow
what's coming and going
to come and go
there is 'a Whoosh'
that reveals
what doesn't come and go.
Noticing thoughts without following them -
Feeling feelings without a story about them
allows them all to come and go....
laying bare what is always
here and now.

<<Previous

It is all very simple. Instead of seeing things imagined, learn to see them as they are. When you can see everything as it is, you will also see yourself as you are. It is like cleansing a mirror. The same mirror that shows you the world as it is, will also show you your own face."
Sri Nisargadatta Maharaj

Einstein said,
"No problem can be solved
from the same
   level of consciousness
       that created it."

To see new solutions
   we must see differently.
Dhyana Stanley

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