The most important freedom is to be what you really are. You trade in your reality for a role… It’s got to happen inside first. – Jim Morrison

free inside

To be free inside is to be unperturbed no matter what happens in our lives. It’s to be connected to the source of reality. It’s to be identified with reality itself. It’s to discover the ‘Kingdom of God’ within. It’s to be one with the divine so that the ‘One Will’ is supreme. It’s also to allow Love to flow through us to everyone and everything we touch. We are That already and only a subtle recognition and then an abiding is necessary.

The main spiritual practice is daily life. – Eckhart Tolle

daily living

Life is indeed our biggest teacher. Everything we need to grow is presented to us in the form of perfect relationships. Perfect because they elicit the richest learning out of us especially if we have the right attitude. The events that we experience in life are also designed primarily for our greatest spiritual growth. So all we need for an intense and satisfying spiritual practice is to show up daily as students of life. That’s how simple life can be. Of course the next question then is ‘How can we best handle suffering?’

Having never left the house you’re asking for the way home. – Nisargadatta

seeking home

We all want to go back home. We’re seeking the comfort, love and safety that only home can provide. We search everywhere, and we never stop looking. Unfortunately we’ll never find what we’re looking for, out there. The Truth (The Kingdom of God) can only ever be found within. We’re already home but know it not. When will we stop looking? When will we be still and know?

To be aware of little, quiet things, you need to be quiet inside. A high degree of alertness is required. Be Still. Look. Listen. Be present. – Eckhart Tolle

presence

Presence is when we’re fully here, completely occupying the moment called now. It requires our minds to be still, our breathing to be steady, and our focus to be spacious. We then become like the TV screen that allows any genre of movie to play on it without ever being affected by it. We allow life to fully flow through us, and like a boat on a river, we flow along with it, effortlessly and without struggle…

Sticks and bones might break my bones but words will never hurt me. – English Idiom

words hurt

Words hurt a lot more than ‘sticks and bones’. And we are experts at using them as weapons against self and others. Why do words hurt so much? Why do they cause most of our suffering? What’s it about us that renders us helpless when it comes to our own thoughts? Deep inside we know our thoughts are powerful but we seem to have no control over them. Where do they come from? What do they have to do with who we truly are?

The ego needs the future because the idea of a better future is how the ego justifies rejecting the present moment. – Gina Lake

now

The Ego is our thinking mind. And it loves to think. It thinks about the future, it thinks about the past and yes it even thinks about the present! It says things like ‘Wow, what a beautiful flower’ or ‘This weather sucks, why isn’t the Sun out?’ And whenever the Ego thinks, we can’t ever be fully present in the Now. If we notice we’ll realize that we are not the ego. We are not the thinking mind. Who are we then? Hint: Don’t use the ego (the thinking mind) to answer this question!

Here is your life. You might never have been, but you are because the party wouldn’t have been complete without you. Here is the world. Beautiful and terrible things will happen. Don’t be afraid. I am with you. Nothing can ever separate us. It’s for you I created the universe. I love you. There’s only one catch. Like any other gift, the gift of grace can be yours only if you’ll reach out and take it. Maybe being able to reach out and take it is a gift too. – Frederick Buechner

the gift of grace

We’re divine children. We live in God’s house. We’re always safe. We matter. We can live unafraid if we so choose. We have siblings. We have a lot of loving to do.