Tag: ego

This Blessing of Being.

Maya Angelou once spoke of forgiveness, that it was the greatest gift that we might ever share. “Love recognizes no barriers,” she said. “It jumps hurdles, leaps fences, penetrates walls to arrive at its destination full of hope.”

And, hope is what we need most of all.

Hope is the catalyst for shared understanding. It is the empathy we see reflected in another’s eyes. It serves us in our quest for humanity; to reach through where otherwise disinclined. As grief threatens to force Freedom’s wings, hope begs Soul’s liberation.

“I am grateful to have been loved and to be loved now,” she once said. “And, to be able to love, because – that liberates. Love liberates. It doesn’t just hold; that’s ego. Love liberates.”

My darlings, today this message couldn’t be clearer.

There’s been much in the press regarding the separation of heart from human; questions raised as to the viability of an everlasting peace. But, there is a sense of boldness inferred – a request to raise compassion over ego. And, forgiveness – our primary obstacle.

To forgive is to lessen this burden; to free our hearts to contemplate what might be – rather, than holding tightly to that which has passed.

On this day, I wish to share an inspiration through video; and the blessing of always ‘doing right.’

In peace…

Namaste ♥

Opening to the Blessing of Awareness.

I was inspired this morning through the words of Dzigar Kongtrul Rinpoche. He was speaking about the essence of ego, and the need to shift our ‘reference point’.

“Without ego as our primary reference point,” he writes. “mind is naturally open, unconfused, and able to enjoy everything without judgment. In essence, mind is unobstructed and free from ignorance, with the potential to experience everything in a fresh way.”

So often, our practice is preoccupied with the need to deny our ego. We silence, we crush, we attempt to transcend – all the while lending additional focus.

How, then, might we establish this balance between thinking mind and open-hearted awareness?

First and foremost, we must abandon this prospect of ‘chase’. Awareness can not be forced, rather – it must be revealed.

And, I believe we’ve all experienced pockets of unfettered awareness – moments which have stolen our breath away, leaving us powerless to argue the complexities of mind.

Whether through the simplicity of nature – a butterfly’s ascent to peony’s edge, the whispering of wind through Sequoia trees; or the magnitude of life’s much greater moments – the birth of a child, the loss of someone dear…we are inevitably transfixed.

Awareness has shifted absent our ‘doing.’

This is the example we must carry forward; to allow ourselves this space to become lost for a while.

“Revealing this potential,” he shares. “is the purpose of the practice of self-reflection – and this is our natural inheritance.”

My darlings, today I wish you the blessing of unimpeded awareness, and the patience to simply allow its arrival.

In peace…

Namaste ❤️

Just Who Are You Beneath Your Mask?

“Seven times have I despised my soul: The sixth time when she despised the ugliness of a face, and knew not that it was one of her own masks.”  ― Kahlil Gibran

I was thinking a bit this morning about the ‘masks’ we often wear.

As children, we don them proudly and to fit a certain image. Whether simply a ‘good’ boy or girl, or more directly – ‘My goodness, what a clever child you are.’

From a young age we are conditioned – our parents and teachers urging our obedience in a world that begs our curiosity. School reports measure our intellect; trophies demonstrate our talents. But, nothing every really comes close to showing the true capacity of our loving heart.

Day by day, our world turns into a labyrinth of acceptance. The masks we wear becoming more and more like those we believe others most wish to see.

As a result, we end up pulling a little further away from our authentic self.

“No man,” writes author Nathaniel Hawthorne. “can wear one face to himself and another to the multitude, without finally getting bewildered as to which may be the true.”

Through the years, the essence of who we are becomes buried under our facade. So much so, that we often lose sight of that which we most want and need:

A connection to our most authentic self.

Have you ever experienced a moment, my darlings – in which you wondered; How did it ever slip away? The confident, adventurous, risk seeking self; the one which made my heart smile in return?

In that moment you might feel convinced that it has all but disappeared. But, I’m here to share with you, my darlings – your authentic self, that treasure chest of heart and soul, has been right here with you all along.

Simply waiting for you to find the courage to ask, “Just who am I beneath my mask?”

 

A Reminder That Everything Will Be Ok.

[blockquote source=”Paulo Coelho”]“None of us knows what might happen even the next minute, yet still we go forward. Because we trust. Because we have Faith.”[/blockquote]

Emotions can be awfully tricky, can’t they?

While sitting in a movie, or reading through our favorite book – we welcome the deep throws of these emotional waves.

And yet, while sitting alone and pondering our loneliness – we hate the very thing they represent.

Ironic, isn’t it?

I used to become so distressed by my emotions. I suppose stemming from my much younger years, in which my older brother teased me incessantly for my snifflings.

And, as I grew older I found that society wasn’t very welcoming of them either. “Stop being so sensitive,” the others would say – and always in the most disapproving of ways.

It seems, even from a very early age we are conditioned to keep things tightly bottled up inside. But, then…where does this leave us really?

Perhaps, in denial of the very aspect of our spirit that most needs our attention. We forget the true value in our experience of these emotions.

In Dzigar Kongtrul Rinpoche’s article, “Remedying a Shaky Mind” he offers,

“Basically what turns an experience into being painful or not, is acceptance or non-acceptance, and how you view it. The sensation itself does not really determine so much one way or the other whether it is felt as painful or not. And who is it who wants it or does not want it, anyway? It is of course the ego. When the ego wants it, pain can actually become pleasure. When ego doesn’t want it, then that same experience will be considered as painful. When you really understand this clearly, then you no longer have to be afraid of physical or emotional sensations.

Instead, it makes more sense to be afraid of what it is that causes you to block the experience. We should always be able to recognize the one who is rejecting an experience with so much aversion, and with such attachment to that aversion. In this, we feel such a strong attachment to the self. This is the ego we all have that is spoiled rotten, and yet so powerful. That is what we need to be concerned about.”

Oh certainly, we may feel initially lost or swept away – but, in time, there is something magnificent waiting to be revealed. In the ashes of past hurt, we find the embers of resilience – and, in the sifting through our past pain, we discover our most authentic self.

And, what could be better than this? A straight shot pathway to the greatest part of you.

“Faithless is he that says farewell when the road darkens.” ― J.R.R. Tolkien

My dears, have a little faith that everything will be ok – and trust in this experience of you, knowing you.

I promise you it’ll be the journey of a lifetime ~

Love, and blessings my dears…and here’s to those undiscovered roads.