Is It About You?

Photo by Jan Vernarec

How much of what’s going on around you actually has something to do with you? The trees blossoming, the delivery running late, the friend or colleague who welcomes in events in their lives and plays them on repeat in the privacy and comfort of their mind’s luxury gourmet cinema. If not much has anything to do with you, could it be that shifting your attention away from the present moment, from what’s immediately in front of you, is pretty much like binge-watching life events?

Television & Netflix were invented thousands of years ago within our minds. At first we gazed at the fire. Then we activated our autopilot on some life activities. And then, we’ve grown so comfortable allowing our mind & body to dictate our needs and wants, that the reality became too much to handle. It’s when we started to think that the sun won’t shine as bright, the grass won’t grow as fast and our friends won’t laugh as hard at our jokes unless we are ‘perfect’. Unless we protect our ego’s false sense of perfection. The reality no longer has endless possibilities, only grim possibilities. Can we change it? – yes! – but for that we need presence.

Life on earth isn’t about you, but your existence is your multidimensional presence that has attached to it your own personal expansion. Stop hiding, take control and experience life. Not with fear, but with trust. Not with anger, but with patience. With the hope that the life reflected in you will soon be as still and clear as a lake at dawn.

Today Is Tomorrow

Photo by Gabrielle Henderson

One day at a time, you can achieve incredible results. What’s your goal? Your bigger picture? What steps would it take you there? Then focus on the tasks. A six month project might look scary or unachievable if you are focusing on just how scary it is. Keep your mind in check and do the work. You will soon see that your efforts are paying off.

Living in The Now

Photo by Mitchell Griest

One morning you will wake up knowing that someday is here. How likely is for this to happen, knowing that it takes a new way of thinking to realize that tomorrow is today and that our projections over the future are just the present moment placed on pause? Look around and desperately seek for people who are happy in the now. Chances are you will find them, but they won’t be where you expect them to be because being happy is a choice we can make at any stage of our lives.

Building a Sense of Self

Photo by Drew Coffman

Our identity morphs throughout our existence. At first, we change with every interaction and later we start to find a sense of self and align ourselves instinctively with people who share our values. By the time that sense of self kicks in, we might have consumed quite a few unfiltered beliefs. The challenge is building the sense of self while building a better you.

If you are like me and you had an interest at any point in life and you were swayed away from it without even realizing it, you’ll understand the power that other people’s believes hold on us. The paradox is that growing takes selective learning based on self-founded values. But to build these values, we need to explore and learn. Both processes happen in parallel. By being aware of this happening as much as we can, we can make a conscious decision on what the renewed foundation, the renewed self will be and how to build on it.