If you are just learning to live in the present moment, it takes a while to get the hang of leaving the past and the future alone. It's the ego's for confusion.
A Radical Inquiry
A RADICAL INQUIRY
Seriously I recommend you do this exercise and free yourself
Here is a question that can have a radical impact
on your life if you use it for serious inquiry: What
are the lies I am telling myself? This question can
help uncover not only the ways you pretend to
know something when you don’t (e.g., “I’ll be
doing this the rest of my life.” “She’ll never
change.” “I’ll never fall in love again.”), but the
many negative stories you tell throughout your day
that aren’t completely true (e.g., “I can’t do
anything right.” “No one cares about me.” “She
always treats me that way.” “I can’t trust anyone.”
“Nothing ever turns out for me.”). This question
will also help you see how often you may argue
with something that already happened: “He
shouldn’t have done that.” “Life shouldn’t be so
hard.” “I shouldn’t have slipped up like that.”
“Shoulds” like this are lies because it’s too late for
it to be any different. Our desires for things to be
other than the way they are pretend that life can be
different right now, and it can’t. Our desires are
lies that cause a lot of suffering. Wanting life to be
other than the way it is right now, is believing the
lie that it can be. This is perhaps the kind of lie
that causes the most suffering.
To summarize, there are three kinds of lies you
may be telling yourself:
1. Pretending you know something when you don’t.
In which case, you can ask, “Do I really know that
is true?” You may be surprised to discover how
often you pretend to know something. This is the
ego pretending because this makes it feel safe.
2. Negative stories. In this case, notice the impact
of the negative story on your energy and body,
which is contraction and tension, and decide that
you don’t want to do that to yourself. Decide that
negativity isn’t acceptable to you anymore. Why
would you want to believe stories that make you
feel bad? Why would you punish yourself this way?
These stories come from the ego and give it a
sense of identity and a problem to solve, which
gives the ego life. The ego is the story.
3. The big lie: “Life should conform to my desires.”
In this case, simply see the truth that Life’s
purpose and your particular life’s purpose is not to
fulfill your desires. Life’s purpose is much bigger
than your desires, and so is your life’s purpose.
At first, it might be difficult to see the thoughts
your ego puts out as lies. They can be very
convincing, and you are used to believing them.
Even if they make you feel bad, you may cling to
them because they are familiar and, therefore,
somewhat comfortable. They give you your sense
of identity (e.g., “I’m not okay”) and the only
sense of identity you have if you aren’t familiar
with your true identity as essence (goodness).
There is another identity awaiting your discovery,
and that is your true identity. The way you know
when you are aligned with essence instead of the
ego is that you feel good! You don’t feel contracted
and tense, but accepting, at ease with life,
expanded, and open. Instead of saying no to life,
like the ego does, essence is the experience of
saying yes to life. Everyone knows what this feels
like.
Truly, the only thing in the way of experiencing the
peace and ease of essence is believing the ego’s
lies—these seemingly harmless and seemingly true
thoughts that constantly float through your mind
that appear to be your thoughts. They are the
thoughts of the false self, and don’t reflect
essence’s experience of life. When you are able to
break through the spell cast by these thoughts and
the sense of limited self spun by them, you
experience the truth, and the truth is good! When
you feel good, you are aligned with your true
nature, and when you feel bad you aren’t. What a
wonderful Homing device we have built into us! Try
giving up all the thoughts that make you feel bad
(or even just some of them) and see how that
changes your life. You don’t need them; all they
ever gave you was a false self that suffers. They
are all lies.
My friend Gina Lake sends her love your way and I do too.
Earthangel9250
Rene
5* Rating
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