Dear Friends,
When I was younger, I left college to do my own exploring. While other friends were getting degrees, starting jobs and “becoming somebody,” I was traveling, eating out of dumpsters, walking in different parts of the world, and attending retreats.
Over time, I had this sense that I was less than, and thought, “Once I publish a book, I will be a somebody. I can call myself an author.”
However, once my first book came out, it was nice for a moment, but it was tremendously fleeting.
I have since seen this again and again in life …
Whenever we think that some shift in our life situation will make us happy, roughly 1,000% percent of the time we will be disappointed.
It could be anything: more fame, more muscles, more stature, more friends, more likes.
Of course, there is absolutely nothing wrong with any of these, except that once we attach a sense of “me becoming more,” to them, we suffer.
Why?
Because we miss what is inherent and always here.
If we are “more” in certain conditions, then we must be “less” in other situations … and that is not how our true nature works.
We cannot go from deficit to wholeness, from lacking to completion, through any external shift alone.
I have met some of the wealthiest and most famous people in the world, and for precisely 0% of them it has worked.
Our inner life does not really care.
Of course, it only makes sense to improve our lives — change jobs, move to a new city, make new friends — but what is most valuable has always been here. Where else could it be?
As the saying goes:
“We can never get enough of what we do not need.”
Once we know this, ironically, often our life situation improves. When we no longer need life to feed our sense of self, there is more space for life to flow.
Life often opens as we open. When we come from wholeness instead of lack, it feels differently,
And at least for me this is a practice. I remember, then I forget, then I remember again.
If you want to explore this dance more with others, I will be leading a 10-Month online series on it.
It is called The Heart’s Path.
There will also be a free call next Friday HERE.
But you don't really need me or anyone else. Life can guide us if we listen. As the poet Rumi says, “There is a voice inside that does not use words. Listen.”
Possibly there are forces guiding us, if we pay attention.
May we all listen more deeply today to the voice that does not use words.
Blessings,
I remember, I forget, I remember. This is me. I downloaded the Plum Village app and use the Bell of mindfulness. You can set it to go off as often as you like. Mine goes off every hour😀 It reminds me to be present and grateful.