The below are current conclusions I've come to primarily thanks to the physical detachment from commitments in Sydney, leading to deeper, undisturbed introspection.
Don't let life take a hold of you. I've heard this many times in my life but I understand this through my own eyes and experience. If you think that life is magically busier when you are younger, that is grave naivety (although this is inherently natural as when we are young, we often only see time as 'now' or 'not now'). Demands increase tenfold once you have children, more responsibilities as you progress in a career or unfortunately your parents' health deteriorates: it all comes at once! It's not don't let life take a hold of you so you can enjoy the reaps of your youthful hard work when you're older, it's don't let life take a hold of you or else you won't even get there. Manage your pace but more importantly, manage how you feel the load. How do you tend to feel a sense of responsibility or obligation? To what extent can you keep working towards something with the way you are? For me, it was simple: slow down more. But how do we slow down more? I think first, we must recognise what is truly making us 'speed up'? For example, there are the rapidly advancing needs for a good income. There is also the need to be healthy. There are also needs to take care of loved ones. With all these needs and the $ figure being the key to it, capitalism is an inherent part of life and when anything is an inherent part of it, you tend to begin forcing yourself to love it. I'm not saying to abolish capitalism (hmmmm), I'm saying we must recognise within ourselves, what is the essence in what we truly believe in that is speeding us up? What void are we trying to fill? With adequate cognition will lead to more appropriate action. Another way to slow down your day perceptually, is to try and see everyday as different. If you tell yourself "today is another grind", the days will blend in. By law of attraction, you are manifesting the days to blend, thereby being duller and monotonous. You must first begin by telling yourself the days will be different and try to genuinely see that difference. Ah, the ambulance sounds, I can now identify the musical notes on a scale! Silly, no-limit ways of appreciating the world more. Ask the elderly, they can appreciate every bit of the day in many more ways than anyone else.
In life, there are sober fleeting moments of absolute bliss where time seems to stop. As an adult, these moments are seemingly very very rare. But they do happen. Don't set the bar too high. In fact, don't compare at all to anything. Appreciate it for what it is, think of nothing else (when the next one may be for example). Inner peace through impermanence.
Your capacity to love others truly rests largely to your capacity to truly love yourself. I mean this from a more healing perspective. Such things can be misinterpreted easily and can be misinterpreted by yourself the most. We may think "yeah I love myself," and list a few things. I don't mean it in this sense. I mean this in more of an absolute sense. As close to as you can possibly tip to 100% self-love. Personally, this came to forgiving myself. I forgave others easily but I forgave myself last. Most significantly, I forgave myself last as I never even considered to think I had things I had done which warranted forgiveness. But I'm sure we all do. We all have some things which we have done which wronged our souls. And our memory may not remember first but our souls do. I refer to Van Der Kolk's 'The Body Keeps the Score.' Feel more, think less. Balance it out.
Do you truly believe in what you are doing? This particularly relates to the above point about forgiving and loving yourself. Are there things you are putting in a lot of effort into that you actually have deep, underlying doubts? The ego can play a huge role here to 'mask' true self-denial and inherent lack of belief. To do this, and to recognise this alone (more or less) you should challenge what you are doing against many odds. If what you are doing and your absolute belief in it can stand the test of many, many adversities, then yes 1) you are strengthening your capacity within your craft and 2) you genuinely believe in it to a very significant degree. Many of us may fear tests and opportunities to challenge ourselves because we do not truly believe in what we are doing, thereby not believing in ourselves. This can hide in the shapes of boredom too. Don't lie to yourself.
As I increasingly engage my spiritual journey, I begin to strengthen my resolve to help guide willing people too, particularly young adults. I would like to create a community where we can act as a cushion amidst the vastly grim society: a place of authenticity, soul searching and no judgement.
What truly matters? I'm sure every year, our answers change. But precisely so, what truly matters? I think we need to ask ourselves this very often. What truly matters at the end of the day? I believe a large part of the reasons people meditate is to filter out what truly matters and begin active thought on it. In my mind, I've begun to conjure a realm where I can go into and project it outward, a place to think and organise thoughts and realities without the direct influence of time constraints or other demands. I will try for once a day before sleep. In the morning, for the last year, I've been trying to practice something new to be grateful for, just one thing. Each morning. This space is important for one to have largely also because we need much more opportunities to absolutely objectively look at ourselves. This need is spurred by who we become as we live in the day to day "reality". Our average days are so complex, yet our brains have just brushed it off as 'boring' or 'draining' because it has been on auto-pilot for so long, running through the same but complex pattern. In our meditative spaces, we ideally work on ourselves from a 'third party lens' which can be critical but also objective and neutral in solutions and remedies to steer us away from the fog, with the clearest map aiming towards the best versions of ourselves. Beautifully, traditional martial arts and hiking has allowed me to tap into this stream of consciousness.
This trip has strengthened my belief in finding the essence of something, the depth. Not the shallow widths, like a dog digging hiding holes for food all around the garden. One hole, but so deep you can identify the different temperatures within the layers and the ecosystem! And you need courage.
"Don't hold your breath for too long." What a scalable quote!
Oh and Europe was nice too, really enjoyed the Swiss and German alps
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