STRESS-FREE

We can free ourselves in an instant, but it takes understanding matters differently. Stress is experience when we have mental resistance to what’s happening in the moment. We may fear that what’s happening now is like some unfavorable past experience. First understand that what we call “our past” is a thought we’re having now with a sticker on it that says “this happened a while back’. Can you see that without a thought bearing that sticker, we would have no knowledge of anything “in our past”? It takes a thought brought to consciousness to create that experience. Stones don’t weigh us down unless we hold onto them. In a similar manner, troubling thoughts won’t bother us if we don’t hold onto them. Yes, they may show up, but we can let them pass like speeding cars on the freeway. They’ll have very little effect. So, what’s the benefit of that? Well, first of all we’ll dwell in peace. In that state of mind, we’re likely to have more inspired thoughts and deeper understand that will paint a nicer life for us. That’s nice, but there’s more to see. We exist in timelessness and formlessness. We have the power to take on thought and in doing so, life will take on whatever form is provided by that thought. The thought could present a pleasant experience or an unpleasant one and if we take the thought seriously, we’ll have whatever kind of experience is contained in it. But it is just a shadow play. For as soon as the thought passes, the form changes as well to some new form. We’re like patrons in a movie theater who have taken their seats and engaged with the movie. The scenes on the screen change, but we remain the same watcher — outside of time, outside of form. The important thing to see is that we, who dwell in timelessness, remain whole and undamaged regardless of what kind of transient experiences we have in life. If we think we’re damaged, it is only because of the though onto which we are holding. Memories, scenes, which are no longer on our minds have no effect. As we learn to disengage with thoughts in a manner similar to the way we disengage from a movie, we leave our sense of time behind, experience the warmth, wholeness and stillness within and wake up to a new life. Another area of concern maybe difficulty in making progress in some direction. Most people have things backwards here. They may think that upon realizing their goal they’ll become happy. They work at whatever really hard, endure deprivation and strain in the hopes that things will work out, but they’re aiming at an illusion since happiness arises from within so things rarely work out. Even if things work out for a moment, it is in the nature of illusions to shift and once again happiness escapes them. Happiness dwells within. We don’t have to “go get it”. A quiet mind for even a few moments allows it to naturally and effortlessly arise. Along with it comes peace and wisdom which act to guide us and make our lives an enjoyable story. Spending time with our inborn happiness allows greater wisdom to arise. We may discover an efficient path for getting from where we are to our “goal”. However, we’re not deceived by thinking that achieving the goal will make us happy. We have things to do in life and being happy as we go makes matters easier. There’s a light within us that never leaves and can never be taken from us. It is not contingent upon any external circumstances or what has happened in our lives. Evidence for this is the fact that without a troubling thought on our minds, we naturally and effortlessly become positive — we experience peace, mental health and feel the warmth of the love within. We don’t have to do anything or think anything to make it happen. It is just the way we are built. This is our human consciousness — the light of our world. Life is not supposed to make us happy. Love and happiness are bundled into our composition. We are the bringers of love and happiness.