A Balance between Experience and Expression

Posted on by Sen.



The reason why non-physical life energy comes into physicality is for the dual purpose of “experiencing” and “expressing”. One without the other feels “empty” – if you are only experiencing but not expressing, you soon start feeling hollow, and when you are only expressing, without savoring the experience, you start feeling burnt out. We are here to experience and express uniquely; our entire make-up is designed for both these aspects. Our sensory apparatus allows us to experience life whereas our mental/physical capacities allow us to express into life. It’s easy to get imbalanced in either of these two aspects; there are people who live only for experience and avoid any form of creative/emotional expression and then there are some people who are so lost in their expression that they entirely forget to experience life. Both these imbalances have the same result – an unharmonious life movement.

If your life doesn’t seem to be working out too well, it’s because you are either avoiding your expression or you are ignoring your experience. The reason you need to align with the natural makeup of your mind/body is to get a sense of your natural expression. It’s important to bring an honest awareness to detect if you feel disconnected with your calling or your natural creativity, as well as your emotional expression in this life (your sensitivity towards life as a whole). The question you need to ask is if you are living your full potential of expression as this human form – emotionally and mentally. In the same way, you need to ask if you are savoring the experience of life on a daily basis (both mentally and physically), if you are allowing yourself to enjoy this gift of physicality.

Becoming aware of your desires for expression and experience

You will notice that all humans have an inherent need to express as well as experience. You won’t find a single human who feels totally content with just experiencing life and not feel inclined towards expressing/contributing something. There is an inherent desire in us to express, and this desire comes from the intent in which we were born into this physical realm based on the intention of totality. There is also a desire in us to “experience” various aspects of life, and these desires also stem from our natural makeup. When you are connected with yourself (letting go of all the rigid/forced conditioning imposed on your brain by the outside), you will get a sense of both of these aspects of desires in you – this is what it means to be clear-minded (you can read this post – A clear minded focus).

If you just keep asking life for “experiences”, you become like a cancer cell that’s only focused on its needs ignoring the needs of the body. Whereas if you are only focused on contributing/expressing, then you end up becoming like a weak cell, or malnourished cell, which loses its capacity for contribution soon enough. A healthy cell, in the body, is the one which is taking care of its nourishment while also contributing to the wellness of the body as a whole – this is what it means to balance your expression and experience. You don’t have to struggle to find out what your natural expression is, if you just relax and let go of your inner resistances, life will automatically move you towards it in a smooth manner – your life-stream is always pulling you towards your natural expression, so all that’s needed is for you to let go of your resistances (limiting thoughts) and you will line up with it.

There is no higher or lower expression

Everything in life is equal, because it’s all the same life-energy. No-one is superior or inferior, except that our thinking makes it so. Life does not see you as inferior or superior in any way; everything is a unique expression of life. First it’s important to let go of your mindset of “comparison”, stop trying to copy others, don’t judge yourself from an outside perception and let go of your need for conformity (your need to “fit in”), only then can you be open enough to really get a sense of what your natural expression is. You don’t have to jump into actions, neither do you have to struggle, first allow yourself to get aligned with your inner guidance – you can do this by staying as a space of open awareness, not giving in to the fears of the mind, allowing for an inner inspiration to move you. Rest assured, life will move you when you reduce your inner resistances, it will automatically inspire you into the right actions.

When you start aligning with your natural expression, your life just starts falling into place quite effortlessly. You come into circumstances that are conducive to allowing your expression, and you also attract an environment that appreciates/enjoys, or finds well-being, through your expression. Don’t be judgmental about what your expression is, don’t compare yourself with others, don’t try to “quantify” it, just know that if you simply stay true to your inner inspiration, you are living aligned with your intent of creation, and hence will be privy to a life of well-being. All expressions have equal value in the eyes of life, nothing is big or small because every expression serves a unique value – as they say, a sword can be as big and mighty but it still can’t do the job of a needle, the sword and the needle are equally important for their own purpose.

Staying balanced in your experience

Over-indulgence of any form leads to sickness, if you eat way more than you “expend” your body goes into an imbalance. You can enjoy your intake of nutrition, but you also need to allow for some expenditure or else it just keeps getting stored up as fat. This truth holds good for all aspects of physical life – if you are only focused on intake, it won’t be long before you end up in some form of imbalance. This imbalance is simply a reminder for you to start aligning with your expression, and not just be focused on experience.

There are, of course, people who go to the other extreme where their whole focus is on expression to the point where they avoid their personal well-being. Such people are usually unconscious, with a low level of awareness, and in one sense are running away from being with themselves. They start using their expression as a means to distract themselves from the various conflicts present in their personal life (due to a lot of imbalance in their inner space). From a place of awareness, you realize you are not here to be worker bee, you are here to savor your physicality, express your potential and appreciate your current journey.

A lot of people deny themselves the joy of living because they feel an inherent guilt towards pleasing themselves. This guilt is basically a fear-based thought pattern in you and when you hold on to it, there is always a negative reflection coming from your external reality. It’s important to develop the attitude of “positive selfishness” where you are looking after your joy and don’t hold any ideas of self-sacrifice (which are nothing but an indication of some form of negativity in you). When you consciously develop the mindset of looking after your joy, you will naturally feel inclined to follow your true expression rather than living a disconnected life.


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7 Comments

  1. rossana

    Sen great article as always . One question, in this article you seem to touch on the subject of nutrition. In regards to this what is the “ideal” diet. To have your body operating at its maximum potential?

    1. Sen Post author

      You will notice that the more balanced you feel within yourself, the more you feel inspired to wholesome aspects in your external reality. You automatically feel repelled from anything that does not align with the sense your inner balance – like over-eating or indulging in junk foods. A healthy choice of food would be to eat whole foods, rather than too much of processed or junk foods. Whole foods have a balance of macro nutrients like carbs, protein, fat, while also having the required vitamins and minerals for proper assimilation of these macro-nutrients. By whole foods I mean foods like fruits, veggies, whole cereals, poultry, eggs, milk, meat etc But then, diet is a personal choice, different bodies have different requirements and it also depends on our culture/conditioning/perceptions – so it’s best if you find an inner balance and see what choices feel right to you from this place. It’s also important to let go of the mindset of fear with respect to food, the fear is way more harmful than any less-healthy food you eat. Instead of forcing yourself to eat right, just come to a place of inner balance first and from this place you will automatically be moved to the right choices.

  2. robert

    Sen-

    On the road to awakening i have researched and read on many spiritual teachers. I have read on some websites that the use of marijuana can sometimes help someone who is very unconscious, step out of the mental patterns for a while and see things from a different perspective thus helping them on the road to awakening by becoming more conscious. What do you think about this subject?

    1. Sen Post author

      Robert, for people who are highly strung and tense, who have some high resistance patterns in their mind, it can help to get a taste of the resistance-free state by using a drug like marijuana. But it’s easy to then become dependent on the drug to give you temporary relief. If you use the drug only to get a “scientific” glimpse of what it feels like to be resistance-free, to sense the natural vibration of life in the absence of the resistance of the mind, to see how much the resistance of the mind/ego disconnects you from the natural vibration of joy in the being – then it has some value. But remember that a drug reduces the consciousness of the brain, and gives you an unnatural high (because it just suppresses the nervous system of the body artificially), this high can help you get a taste of the natural vibration but since it’s induced unnaturally it’s not a conscious freedom and it’s not a state of high wisdom either because the brain is not at its full alertness, moreover when you try to keep the body on an unnatural high all the time it starts dissipating the body soon enough.

  3. soul

    Beautiful post:) Sen,please explain “positive selfishness” a little more..I seem to love this concept which is very rare in a country like India..Especially as far as women are concerned..I see so many women who with the passage of time literally become slaves of their husbands and children without even realizing it..in fact they take pride in being “dedicated” towards their families at the cost of their own “life experience”..

    1. Sen Post author

      “positive selfishness” simply means to be consciously oriented towards our joy instead of being unconsciously lost in catering to some fear-based or lack-based thoughts of the mind (especially thoughts of self-sacrifice and living for outside approval). The pre-requisite for this “positive selfishness” is that you are stable in your inner wholeness (in a strong presence of awareness) so that there is a field of wisdom present in your being, or else it’s easy to just become imbalanced in seeking joy, no different from a drug addict. So the important term is “conscious” orientation with joy, not an unconscious or lack-based craving for joy. Aligning with joy, in the presence of wisdom, is what allows for true harmony.

      When one is not consciously oriented towards one’s own joy, it not possible to get aligned with their life-stream in its fullness, which means you won’t be able to live the full potential of your expression in this physical realm and also you won’t be able to savor your physical experience fully. To consciously oriented with one’s joy is a “choice” that starts happening automatically as you become more aware of your being. Also, when you are orienting with joy in a “conscious” way, that means there will be the presence of “wisdom” which ensures you don’t end up doing something immature or irresponsible, which is just another imbalance. It’s easy to move from one extreme to another, from suppression to recklessness. That’s why it’s important to first gain a deep stability in your awareness and then move from this place into aligning with your joy.

  4. Noch Noch

    Hi Sen

    Very thought-provoking. I think I had too much expression in the past and forgot to simply experience. It makes a lot of sense. It’s all a balance between the two and not let one crowd out the other. I have started coming to your blog this week under a suggestion of one of my readers. I really enjoy the new perspective you give to the same issues and it’s encouraging to know you reach them through your own thinking and reflection (from what you said in response to another comment)

    Thanks for this.
    Noch noch

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