Do you feel a sense of gratitude, and appreciation, for what you have presently in your life or are you constantly looking forward to a future moment to satisfy you? Most people feel a sense of unease with what is, and though they are not even sure of what they are looking for, they always imagine that it’s not “here”. They live in a hope that some day when they get this or that, they would feel more complete and fulfilled. This seems to be the “normal” mode of living, because the majority of the populace lives this way. However, there is a deep inherent dysfunction hidden in this way of living, because when you don’t find the “fullness” of this moment right now, you will always be in a state of unease no matter what you achieve in the future.
Stop waiting for life to get better
When you start looking towards an “imagined” future to fulfill you, it becomes a pattern in your mind and you start disregarding the present moment, and even consider it to be an obstacle to your happiness.
The imagination of a “better life”, in the future, is a delusion. Life is already full here and now. It can only take a “new” form in the future, and it’s beautiful to create new forms, but life remains as it is, deep down, there is no “bettering” of life – it remains as its pure nature always. It just so happens that the pure nature of life is peace, love and joy, its never changing, it’s always the same, and you can always find it to be so when you are grounded in the Now.
You can become a habitual “waiter” when you are always waiting for a future moment to satisfy you. There is nothing wrong with enjoying the vision of an expanded future, or desiring new things in the future, but if you don’t find the fulfillment, and wholeness, of this moment, you will always move from a state of “lack” no matter what your future brings you.
Anyone who observes life, can see that it’s not the external possession that brings any lasting happiness. There are millionaires who are depressed and on medication, there are celebrities who feel lonely and incomplete; it’s easy to see that happiness is not attained by gaining an “external” achievement. It may bring you some temporary pleasure to achieve some goals in your life, but it’s not a lasting happiness and soon it gives way to a feeling of “incompleteness”.
There is nothing wrong with seeking goals, or having a future vision, but the problem lies with the mindset of looking to the future for happiness while not realizing that happiness is “here” and now. By happiness I mean a place of fullness, where you don’t have a feeling that something is “missing”. This is what true happiness is, it’s not a temporary feeling of pleasure or excitement, but a lasting sense of fullness which you know cannot ever change. Life “is” happiness.
Most people are seeking pseudo, or temporary, happiness by trying to achieve some future goals, while missing the true happiness of realizing the fullness which is already present here. You can never find fullness in the future, it’s always found only in the present moment. It’s easy to see that when the future arrives, it comes as the present moment – so if you are not at ease with the present moment, life will always feel unfulfilling to you.
Finding the fullness of life here and now
Life is always “now”. The Now is timeless because it’s just “this” moment. Time does not exist anywhere except in the mind. When you are in the mind, you are totally identified with a “virtual” reality which feels time bound and hence you become disconnected with the “real” reality of life which is always just the “Now”.
Only when you stop looking to the future for happiness can you start realizing the beauty of life, right here and now. It doesn’t matter what your life situation is, the now is always beautiful. Even if you are sitting in a solitary prison cell, when you are in touch with the now, there is a beauty seen in that situation and there arises an appreciation for life as it is. It just so happens that life is in love with itself, it doesn’t matter what form it takes.
The “Ego” will find several reasons to hate the present moment. It may find life to be unfair, disgusting, unsatisfying, lacking in this or that, or just plain boring. This is the realm of the “Ego” which lives in a “story” based reality and hence is never in touch with the timeless “real” reality of life which is not a story but just the “Now”.
Move out the mind, come out of your story, and sense the aliveness which is here now. The Now is life, and as you start moving your attention into the Now, you will become aware of the joy that lies here, no matter what your life situation may be. When you starting living life from this “perspective”, you will never find the Now to be an obstacle to happiness and your reality will soon start reflecting this “joy” back at you. Life starts working for you when you are no longer in conflict with the present moment.
Sen, today my mind was noisy because I separated it from myself, since last week. It is very hard to separate yourself from mind because I have always depended on it, and it really did not help me, as you said in this article it just brought a mass problem, when you feed with your attention. Today my mind was thinking negatively, it thinks about my friends and compares myself with them, all of them they have good jobs, focus on their goals and life situation except me. I could have done better in my life but my mind fears, emotions, anxiety, family, environment that I grew, really effects me. I had too many chances in my life to change the way I am living now but that fear inside me stopped me. Is this the EGO you are always talking about or is my mind? or they are the same thing? Can you help me to understand. I am not anymore ambitious, my mind is getting noisy these days because it is alone, no attention from me until it will join me new place of joy and peace. Thank you.
Cihan – The “Ego” and the mind would mean the same thing as long as your consciousness is not free of its delusions, fears and limited vision. The liberated mind is free of “Ego” perspectives and hence is aligned with life. Thoughts of comparison, and inferiority, arises from the Ego mind. All Egos are based in fear and thrive on comparison, either feeling superior to others or feeling inferior to others. This is an inherently negative way of living life, it brings a lot of suffering, and causes you to do things that are not in alignment with peace, joy or love, and prevent the natural unfolding of your heart’s desires.
Every human being has the capacity to manifest the life that their heart desires, but most go about it the wrong way. When you focus on using hard work, struggle and effort to get to your goals, you inherently move from a place of lack and fear. This is not only extremely unsatisfying, and fear based, but it also keeps you focused on a “future” happiness while completely disregarding the present moment. You don’t have to struggle to manifest what you desire, all you need to do is “allow” the manifestation to take place by aligning with the movement of life.
If you simply stay in this place of joy and peace, life will automatically start manifesting a reality for you that is aligned with your heart’s desire. Life will do the work for you, and it will inspire the impulse to take action within you, at the right moment, so that the manifestation of all your desires comes through with ease. The intelligence which has created this world, will start working for you, as you align with life. There is no place for hard work, effort, pain and struggle, in life. When you align with life, everything you desire will come to you with ease, in an effortless movement. You need to trust life and go along its pull, without succumbing to the mind’s fears.
Don’t give any importance to the mind’s fears, and let it ebb away. The Ego mind will create fear in you by inducing thoughts of comparison, uncertainty or insecurity about your future. This is just the way Ego works. As you can see Ego, as a construct, is based in fear and lack. All you need to do is stop giving attention to the Ego movement in you, and allow your attention to stay as “pure consciousness” or pure witness of the mind or Ego. Just watch the patterns of the Ego in you, don’t believe its noise.
Life will automatically start changing into a positive reality as you let go of the Egoic patterns in you. The Ego is the source of all fears, and it does not trust life to bring the manifestation of the hearts desire. The Ego tries to work hard, struggle and make effort in order to achieve goals, instead of allowing life to manifest your desires with ease. Whenever the Ego creates something out of effort, and struggle, the reality that you create will not give you any lasting happiness but in turn will reflect fear and lack back at you – in hindu spirituality this is called “karmic” action. A Ego is never at peace, it cannot ever realize a sense of fullness or lasting happiness. So anyone in whom Ego is present is bound to suffer no matter what goals they achieve or what life they create for themselves.
You are on the path of liberation and it involves letting go of the Ego and its patterns. For all these years the Ego has dominated your experience and hence it feels difficult to let go of it. It’s like letting go of a strong addiction. The Ego will slow down in its momentum, and eventually dissolve, as you stop feeding it with your interest and attention. The Ego will create a lot of fears in you when you try to let go of it, you just need to be alert not to be “suckered” in by it when it does that. Stay as a field of open awareness and allow the Ego to melt away, like ice melts in water. When the Ego falls away, a very different intelligence will take over your life and bring you to your natural expression, allowing for a life based in true peace, joy and love.
Thank you Sen, I understood what you say now, this days I am writing you a lot because of language problem, I want to understand your writings. It is really good, and long time of suffering with the mind noise, it is really hard to walk to path by yourself sometimes. I like to read some books if you can recommend any books that help me, i never read any self books because i did not want to focus on my problem, but this time i have to be strong and read for purpose of love and joy not intending readin for trying figure out mind. Thank you master.
Cihan – It’s highly rewarding to provide any guidance that I can in helping you realize the abundance of well-being, and liberation, that is your birth right. Feel free to ask for any clarification on my writings or express what is going on in your life as this transformation of consciousness is flowering in you.
Two books that I found very insightful, and based in truth, are – “The Power of Now” By Eckhart Tolle and “Ask and It’s Given” by Abraham Hicks. It may seem as if these books are covering two different “tangents” altogether, but in reality they are talking about the same thing. The Power of Now helps you awaken the consciousness in you, while “Ask and It’s Given” guides to realize your true potential as a “creator” of a reality based on abundance. Both these books help you get in touch with your true nature as “pure consciousness”. These books should be available at the self-help section of any international book store or it can be procured through Amazon.
You can also watch free videos of Eckhart Tolle and Abraham Hicks, on Youtube.com. Much appreciation.
It was really a heart-touching article. I was thoroughly enjoying your article and I was at wonder for your benevolence to respond back patiently to the people who are in need to get some help.
Thanks for such a nice article.
Cheers
Thanks for your comment. I am glad you enjoy these writings. Much appreciation.
Thanks Sen for your response and for sharing your wisdom. I gain much from your articles.
The one query which I have in mind is that whether one ought to have gratitude for the failures, disappointments and the things that are lacking in ones life?
Samrat, the appreciation I am talking about does not really come from the thinking mind, rather from the space of being. Don’t force your mind to be appreciative when it’s not in a mood to do so, the mind cannot feel appreciative of failures or disappointments, but if you rest in your space of being you can sense a calm in the background that brings a wisdom that everything has a place and purpose towards growth.