Inward
Page 3
her heart was the same as the heart of
the earth and the heart of the universe.
(awareness)
thank you for making me happy
thank you for supporting my happiness
i am
at my
strongest
when
i am calm
it is the things
you say no to
that really show
your commitment
to your growth
when chaos is all around you
the wisest choice is to create
peace within you
your peace shines outward
and supports the creation
of a new harmony
(meditation)
we live in a unique time, when fear-driven and hateful emotions are coming to the surface so that they can be completely released, so that we can create a new world where institutionalized forms of harm are no longer factors in our lives. as it works for the individual, it also works for the collective of humanity—we can’t heal what is ignored, nor can we live happily and freely if we continue running away from our own darkness.
personally, my faith is in people. our courage to turn inward in the hope of uncovering and releasing all that stands in our way of becoming beings of unconditional love is what will bring harmony and peace to our world. unity with those around us is most possible when we become internally whole and loving. wisdom more easily flows through us when our minds and hearts are no longer reacting to the suffering of everyday life. this does not mean that we will become cold or distant; it means that we will learn to respond calmly to the inevitable changes of life without causing ourselves misery. we will learn to respond to life as opposed to blindly reacting to it.
humans affect one another deeply, in ways that the world at large is just beginning to understand. when we begin healing ourselves, it sets off waves that connect us to those who have healed in the past and those who will heal in the future. when we heal ourselves, it gives strength to those who need more support to take on their own personal healing journey. what we do reverberates throughout time and space—like a rock thrown into a lake, the circles it creates move in all directions.
as she looked into her past,
she noticed that the road
she had traveled was
no simple straight line.
her journey toward fully
loving herself and the world
was full of forward and
backward movement,
twists, turns, detours,
and even some pauses.
at times, she doubted her progress,
her potential, and even
her power to change.
but today, with the
wisdom of experience at hand,
she knows she could not have gotten
to where she is without every
movement she has ever made.
(experience)
serious transformations begin
with two commitments:
the courage to try new
things and act in new ways
the honesty needed to no longer
hide from or lie to ourselves
the people
with the power
to move and act through
unconditional love
will be the healers and heroes
of our planet
(a new balance)
interlude
there was a woman who lived in a small town near a tall mountain. she had lived in her beloved town all her life. everyone in the community thought highly of her and appreciated her kindness and calm manner. she lived a quiet life and worked as any other normal person.
those close to her knew that she was a dedicated meditator, that she sat silently for a few hours a day in deep self-observation. when they would ask her why she took meditation so seriously, she would simply respond by saying, “i like to learn and peace is important to me.”
as time went by, her calmness continued to grow and a saintly radiance became apparent in her eyes—but only a few were aware that a great change had happened within her. a day came when she told those closest to her that she would soon be leaving the town to live by herself near the top of the mountain. when asked why she was leaving, she merely stated, “it is time for me to fully unlock my freedom.” some tried to dissuade her, but most trusted her and felt comfort knowing that the mountain was close by.
a decade quickly and quietly passed. the people began thinking of her as their guardian angel because ever since she had moved up the mountain, the town had become calmer and more prosperous; they imagined that it might be from the good energy that she regularly emitted.
there was a group of young people in the town who had vague memories of this woman who was slowly becoming a living legend. they were curious and hungry for wisdom from someone who had become a being of complete freedom. it had somehow become common knowledge that she had accomplished this goal. none of them had seen her since they were children, but they heard stories from people who would occasionally venture up the mountain to visit her. those who saw her would return to the town inspired and rejuvenated.
one day the young people gathered their courage and decided that it was time to pay her a visit. they organized their questions, packed light bags for a short trip, and made their way to the mountain in hopes of sharing in the woman’s clarity.
the following are a few of the questions and answers between the young people and the one who is free.
they asked her,
“how did you free yourself?”
she answered,
“by embracing my own power.”
they asked her,
“what does it mean to love yourself?”
she answered,
“it means to uncover and release whatever keeps you from true happiness; to love, honor, and accept every single part of you, especially those that are kept in the dark. it means to observe yourself continually with the utmost honesty and without judgment. loving yourself means striving to reach new heights of self-understanding so as to cultivate the wisdom that inner peace requires.”
they asked her,
“what is the key to saving the world?”
she answered,
“you. you are the key. heal yourself, know yourself, make yourself whole and free. release all limits so that your love can flow unconditionally for yourself and the world. this will open the heaven of your heart and it will guide you without fail.”
they asked her,
“why are we here at a time when
there is so much misery and despair?”
she responded,
“because you answered the call. the earth signaled for heroes, and the heavens sent forth the ones who were most ready to grow and unleash their unconditional love. you’re here to shine the light of your own healing, to offer the world the gift of your balance and peace.”
they asked her,
“are you wealthy?”
she responded,
“yes. it took years to build, but now there is a palace in my heart that i have constructed out of awareness, calmness, and wisdom.”
they asked her,
“what is true power?”
she answered,
“true power is living the realization that you are your own healer, hero, and leader. it is when you share your truth with compassion and peace. your power grows when you make progress in your own freedom and wisdom. those who are truly powerful do not harm themselves or others; instead, they use their energy to enrich all they know with love.”
self-love
self-love
is the begin
ning:
an essential centerpiece
that opens the door
to unconditional love
for yourself and all beings
self-love is a sincere
acceptance of the past
an agreement to make
the most of the present
and a willingness to allow
the best to occur in the future
(wholehearted)
self-love
is the nourishment
that gives us
the clarity and strength
to love others well
self-love is personal evolution in action
being honest
with yourself
is an act of
self-love
self-love
is creating space
in your life to heal
your body and mind
do not confuse self-love
with thinking that you’re
better than everyone else
true self-love is accepting
yourself for all that you are,
especially the darkest parts
the more we love ourselves, the more easily
prosperity and miracles can flow into our lives
self-love has the power to release all blocks
through self-love we can travel the universe
self-love is doing the work
we need to do to be free
self-love begins with the acceptance of where we are now and the history we carry, but it does not stop there. self-love is an energy we use for our own personal evolution; it is a meeting and balance of two critically important ideas: loving who we currently are and simultaneously transforming into the ideal version of ourselves. though these ideas may seem contradictory, they are both required for our ultimate success. without acceptance, our transformation into a happier and freer self would be highly difficult. why? because it is much harder to change and let go of what we hate.
self-love helps us delve deeply into ourselves and release the patterns in our subconscious that impact our behavior and emotions. true self-love is when one understands that the inward journey is the path to freedom, that observing and releasing our inner burdens is what will make us feel lighter and more aware. self-love does not grow the ego; it does the opposite. it is our ego that carries the craving that causes our suffering—the incessant craving that rests at the center of the ego is the ultimate block that stops us from achieving freedom.
since true self-love
is the gateway
to unconditional love
for all beings,
this must mean
that many people
in our world are suffering
from a lack of self-love
(the missing peace)
your
self-love
is a
medicine
for the earth
as your self-love
grows stronger,
so do the waves
of change that
you can create
the beauty
of self-love
is that it can
grow into the
unconditional love
that can end all harm
with self-love, we have the determination and courage to move deeply inward using honesty as our guide. this inward movement transforms our being, dramatically enhancing our awareness of who we are, our understanding of the universe, and our capabilities as individuals. a beautiful result of this process is that our new sense of compassion toward ourselves does not end with us; it blossoms and flows outward into the lives of others and has the capacity, if consistently cultivated, to encompass all beings.
this growing compassion becomes the centerpiece and active component of a love that knows no limits. unconditional love for ourselves and others completely respects our sovereignty as individuals and honors our power by no longer allowing ourselves to be harmed by anyone. this limitless love also gives us new grace and clarity that help us see ourselves in all other beings and better understand where they are coming from. it gives us the strength to treat all with kindness and support all in living lives in which they are no longer harmed.
unconditional love can bring balance to our world. the clarity it produces can help us better understand the roots of harm and work to eliminate them so that all can have the external freedom needed to work on their own internal liberation. the greed and reactiveness that cause harm can be replaced with love as the primary motivator and responses of kindness as our principal form of action. to create this shift in our world, many will have to heal themselves deeply by doing their inner work, releasing burdens within themselves, and creating enough space so that their own self-love can breathe deeply and expand into unconditional love.
as more expand into this field of greater egolessness, the world will shift with us and be significantly relieved of the greed that sits at the center of the imbalance that we currently experience. our love as a humanity does not need to be perfectly unconditional to change the world—every time our collective love grows, it creates a better future.
understanding
healing yourself will ask more of you
more rest
more self-love
more letting go
more time for learning
more space for transformation
more honesty about how you feel
more time developing good habits
more courage to try new practices
more faith in yourself and the process
more time cultivating your inner peace
things to practice and integrate:
unconditional self-acceptance
not harming yourself or others
patience without complacency
giving without wanting
i cannot
make you happy,
but i can
commit to support you
in the creation
of your own happiness
to expect another to resolve all of our issues and give us the happiness we desire is to expect to see the sunrise without opening our own eyes. it is to ask a river to give us nourishment without dipping our own hands into the water. another cannot answer a riddle that was only ever meant for our own minds to solve. the universe seeks to enlighten and empower us, thus it is only rational that we are our own greatest healers.
happiness may seem elusive. try as we might, no matter our external setup, happiness will come and go. the sea of life flows between calmness and storms. either something outside of us will cause us some sort of struggle or something from within us will arise that is asking to be acknowledged and released. a human being is an accumulation of aversions and cravings, which periodically rise from the depths of our mind so that we can have the opportunity to let them go. why? because our nature is not to be full of burdens; we are meant to be light, free, open to the harmony of love and the wisdom of the universe.
though happiness will come and go, we do have the power to deepen our experience of it and extend our time partaking in its heavenly nature. to do so requires effort on our part to enhance our relationship with ourselves so that we may discover all that impedes our contentment and release it from our being.
while in the midst
of serious internal growth
respect your need to rest
love is not:
i will give this to you
if you do this for me
love is:
i will give this to you
so that you may shine
true love does not hurt; attachments
do
love cannot cause pain; attachments cause pain. we create attachments in our mind when we want to hold on to something or someone, or when we expect things to be a certain way. when the attachments that we create in our minds break, we feel their rupture deeply. how deeply depends on how much we identify with the image that we have created. when things happen contrary to these images that we hold dear in our minds, we feel pain from these attachments being stretched and broken.
attachments are not a form of true love. unconditional love, selfless love, a love without expectations is a higher form of existence that creates no attachments or images. it is a state of profound egolessness. expectations and judgments are attachments that the untrained mind repeatedly creates, causing more knots and burdens that impede our happiness. the typical human mind is eclipsed by the delusion of ego; the ego separates, categorizes, and labels everything that it comes across, causing our discontent and misunderstanding.
all mental tension comes from not letting go
stress and anxiety are the children of attachment; they are both forms of craving that take us away from the present and into areas of imagination that steal away our peace.
wanting always interrupts being
peace makes you strong
hate reveals your emptiness
kindness feeds your happiness
anger reveals your fear
love makes you free
how to lead yourself:
1. develop a relationship with your intuition
2. have the courage to follow its guidance
i can only
give to you
what i have already