Keeping Life Simple – Accepting reality
How do you consciously meet the reality of your life? Do you tell the truth to yourself about your reality or do you resist it? Are you willing to be open to the reality of your life 100% and notice what it triggers in your being? Each day the landscape of our life changes and we find ourselves in a new place of reality. More often than not we tend to resist the aspects of the realities of life that are unpleasant to deal with, and as a result, we find ourselves in a place of suffering.
So what is reality, really? Let’s keep it simple, if it’s raining, it’s raining, if you car has broken down, the reality is your car isn’t working. Or in this moment, your reality may be somewhat deeper than that, perhaps you have lost your job, you’re sick, you’ve lost a loved one and you’re grieving. These situations are very real, they are here NOW, in this moment in our lives – it is our reality.
So what to do? The truth is, we cannot argue with reality – it’s futile to try to do so, it is what it is. We can’t change the fact that someone we loved has died, we can’t change the fact that perhaps we are suffering with an illness of some kind but what we can do is make a choice of how we will simply be with that reality and loving ourselves in this place. When we become mindful about what is occurring in our life and accept the reality of our situation the suffering created from resisting it appears to subside. If you are not surrendering to your reality it will most probably be causing you suffering of some form. Remember, what you resist persists and what you embrace you erase.
I am not suggesting that any of us like the feeling that loss and pain can bring into our lives but acknowledging that it is present and letting it be is an option. My experience has been that when we speak the truth about our reality it begins to have less power because we have consciously acknowledged what is.
Be mindful to meet your reality as it arises, let go of time frames about when it should change or disappear. Let go of expectations, just let it be, let it have its time with you it will dissipate on its own accord anyway. Keep your life simple ~
Some words of wisdom from Gangaji www.gangaji.org about reality.
“To meet reality is ruthless. To meet it without the mediation of the thought “I can control this,” is to face death. Really to face death, here and now. This is Ramana’s awakening. Papaji said, “Stop.”
If your life is about going, becoming, getting or escaping—stop. The invitation is to let the life that is living this life, live it. When you let life live itself, you are actually surrendering to yourself.”
Honour your spirit and walk towards the journey your heart desires.
In love, Lorraine
VividLife.me Contributor
About Lorraine
Lorraine Wilson has been on a journey of self discovery for many years. She openly shares her experience with others and offers hope, inspiration and an invitation to “Keep Life Simple” through self inquiry. She lives on the West Coast with her children.
Lorraine has been influenced and is incredibly grateful for the teachings of Gangaji, Adyashanti, Eckart Tolle, Pamela Wilson, Muni and His Holiness, The Dalai Lama. She has worked in the field of communications and broadcasting for over 30 years and utilizes her communication skills as a program facilitator and provides one on one support to others who desire to investigate their life journey.
Stayed tuned for ‘Keeping Life Simple’ on VividLife Radio. The program will be an opportunity for everyone in the community to come together to discuss and be supported in the never ending discovery of who we truly are.
Keeping Life Simple – Make a choice and let it go
January 6, 2010 by Lorraine
Filed under Growth, Spirit, • Headline
Think of all the choices you make and I’m sure you’ll be surprised at how many decisions you actually make in a day. Some of them are simple choices and some of them have more of an impact on life, but if we look closely at the difficulty we have in making some choices it may be that there is an underlying theme or an element of fear connected to them.
Fear of making the wrong choice can freeze us into doing nothing; simply out of fear of thinking we may make the wrong decision. Some of us really struggle with making choices in our lives but each decision we do make is a choice which leads us to the next step in our journey of life, and another experience to discover more deeply who we really are. Every choice we have made to date has been a constant unfolding that has led each of us, to who we are today. The decisions we make open the door for new experiences filled with joy, fear, stress, peace, vulnerability and love and at the end of the day, they are all choices towards a movement of expressing our way through life.
When we surrender to the fears that come along with making choices there’s a sense of freedom that arises in the knowing that you can’t make a wrong decision, it’s just a choice which will provide an experience. It’s all in the way we choose to view our life circumstances through our mind that makes it appear as if there is a problem with a specific choice we make or not.
If you listen to your heart when making choices and not let fear be the ruler of your decision making, you will discover there is no problem with making a choice. Decisions which are not driven by ego and fear have a particular feel to them. Take a moment to reflect back over the times when you have made choices in your life that resonated with your heart, the decisions that were not made out of fear – how did your body feel? I know mine feels free and joyful with an undeniable energy that runs through it that simply says ‘yes’.
Keep your life simple by knowing that the choices you make in your in life in this moment are perfect and there is no problem with choice when we live life in the moment – that too, is also a choice.
Honour your spirit and walk towards the journey your heart desires.
In love,
Lorraine
VividLife.me Contributor
About Lorraine
Lorraine Wilson has been on a journey of self discovery for many years. She openly shares her experience with others and offers hope, inspiration and an invitation to “Keep Life Simple” through self inquiry. She lives on the West Coast with her children.
Lorraine has been influenced and is incredibly grateful for the teachings of Gangaji, Adyashanti, Eckart Tolle, Pamela Wilson, Muni and His Holiness, The Dalai Lama. She has worked in the field of communications and broadcasting for over 30 years and utilizes her communication skills as a program facilitator and provides one on one support to others who desire to investigate their life journey.
Stayed tuned for ‘Keeping Life Simple’ on VividLife Radio. The program will be an opportunity for everyone in the community to come together to discuss and be supported in the never ending discovery of who we truly are.
Keeping Life Simple – The gift of silence
December 17, 2009 by Lorraine
Filed under Spirit, • Headline
Over the years as I searched for a deeper meaning and purpose in my life I kept coming across teachers that would point me towards silence. When I first began meditation the thought of being still and silent was difficult because I had never done this before. When had I ever stopped and just consciously been still with myself? I can tell you never. It took a tragedy in this life for me to come to that place. As I began to sit and be still with my thoughts, my mind would race, thought after thought , but eventually I settled and became the observer of my thoughts. It was then I noticed that thoughts were coming and going in this silence and eventually there was no thought, just this magical space of stillness.
What is the meaning of silence? Webster’s dictionary describes it as “the absence of any sound or noise; stillness.”
I wanted to know more about this stillness and began attending silent or weekend retreats over several years with various teachers such as Gangaji, Adyashaniti, Muni or Pamela Wilson to investigate the depth of awareness and the gift of silence. If you have never attended a silent retreat I highly encourage you to do so. These amazing teachers have the ability from their own experience to point you to the silence that is always present. You see, I was of the belief that being silent was boring and that nothing happens in silence, but in reality it’s quite the contrary.
Most people are reluctant to enter silence for long periods of time, or for any period of time for that matter. I’ve actually had conversations with people who tell me they are scared of being silent and would do anything not to arrive at that place. And why might that be? Perhaps there is the true knowing that when we enter into silence, we enter into a place where there is nowhere to go but to meet ourselves. We are so conditioned to the external stimulation of voices, television, radio, our mobile phones and thoughts of what we should be doing, that we rarely experience ourseleves in a state of silence. But when we eventually enter into silence with awareness, we enter into a place where we are meeting ourselves at a deeper level.
I love silence and it doesn’t mean that I have to be by myself to enter into it. As human beings, many of us are not comfortable when a conversation lags and silence enters, there is a natural tendency to move towards speaking to fill the gap, but if you allow silence to be present in your exchange with another, you will notice that it can have a very powerful effect in the absence of conversation.
When we intentionally enter into silence we get to be with ourselves without any external influence and it helps provide perspective on the true simplicity of life. Let me warn you though, the more you do this, the more you will want to hang out with your ‘self’ – what a concept! Notice how nature is always in silence, the trees, the mountains, the ocean, the flowers, the sun, the moon, they all exist in silence, take a look at their beauty. I would like to suggest you take one day and commit to ‘being’ in silence and take a walk out in nature and see for yourself, pay attention to the stillness . If you’re in a relationship ask your partner to enter into silence with you for a day and become aware of you both notice without using the mind and words to communicate with each other. Let your communication take place in the silence. It truly is a beautiful way to be.
Adyashanti says “There is a great space in which this moment takes place. There is a great silence that is listening to the thoughts”. May you discover the gift of silence this holiday season and may you live your life in love always.
Honour your spirit and walk towards the journey your heart desires.
In love,
Lorraine
VividLife.me Contributor
About Lorraine
Lorraine Wilson has been on a journey of self discovery for many years. She openly shares her experience with others and offers hope, inspiration and an invitation to “Keep Life Simple” through self inquiry. She lives on the West Coast with her children.
Lorraine has been influenced and is incredibly grateful for the teachings of Gangaji, Adyashanti, Eckart Tolle, Pamela Wilson, Muni and His Holiness, The Dalai Lama. She has worked in the field of communications and broadcasting for over 30 years and utilizes her communication skills as a program facilitator and provides one on one support to others who desire to investigate their life journey.
Stayed tuned for ‘Keeping Life Simple’ on VividLife Radio. The program will be an opportunity for everyone in the community to come together to discuss and be supported in the never ending discovery of who we truly are.
