The Journey Home
Constantly bombarded by the fast pace of life we do not take the space or time for contemplation. Information is at your fingertips, we are always “dialed in” and superficially connected to the digital world; there is always chaos and violence in the news, the pain and suffering seems right at our doorsteps and cannot be ignored. We are in a pressure cooker. Time, information, travel, and technology run at warp speed around us. And as our options multiply and become endless, so too do our fears, prejudices, defenses, addictions, and bad habits. Within this vortex of confusion and quickness we lose sight and sensation of our vitality. We seek self-worth outside of ourselves. So much of our modern world is designed to discover, understand, and improve the outer world, we have lost touch with the exploration of the inner world, mind/heart.
This inner exploration is challenging and mysterious. The mind has no form, no shape, and no address; we never know where it lives. Our closest link to understanding the mind is our body. Our bodies are responsive to our environment and our emotions. Our pulse increases when we’re excited or scared, we begin sweating when nervous, our nervous system calms when we are in the presence of someone or something we love. We can use this information to work with the mind. We can refine our resonance with the world and with ourselves by participating in this inner exploration.
As we continue to find so many reasons to feel insecure and unstable in life we neglect to remain sensitive to being alive. We get so many messages about what we should have, what we should look like, what we should be, or where we should be. We don’t take the time to tune into ourselves. Taking this space and time for contemplation can empower us to recognize that we do not need to believe all of the external messages? What we need to do is learn how to feel. To feel all of the textures of your own experience. This is a formless art. It does not create anything that you can touch, taste, or smell. What it does do is begin to get rid of stuff. This gentle exploration of your inner world begins to get rid of the anxieties and fears that are the current driving force. The way out of our anxious realm is through. We do not acquire wisdom and calm as we continue on this path, because wisdom has been there all along. Instead we rid of the stuff that is obscuring our wisdom, calm presence, and wise heart/mind.
Self-contemplation, introspection, discernment, and connection are untapped human resources. We look outside instead of within. We spend our lives unlearning the love that we simply are. The work now is unlearning the fear we have chosen to believe in. We have to be our own saviors. To get to know ourselves, to slow our minds and connect with our hearts. One gateway to the heart is your breath. Feel your body breathing, hear your nose inhale and exhale like the sound of the waves on the ocean. Listen to the way your breath reaches all the different parts of your body. Begin to go within; begin to feel more connected, become more observant of your internal world. Be kind to yourself. You are perfect just as you are. You are home.
