"The Way It Is"

The Tao means "the way." But maybe nobody knows the way it really is. Of one thing I feel certain: the way we thought it was, it isn't. We are not solid beings limited to our minds and our bodies. Our minds and our bodies are not separate from each other, nor are WE separate from each other. Time isn't linear, it isn't just a one-way street of Mondays through Sundays. Our thoughts aren't in our heads, but shared, all over, coming and going. Every breath we breathe was also breathed by millions of beings over eons of time.

We need to know this, because it invites us to live larger. And more carefully, lovingly. If everything you do and say has a ripple effect in the world, how very awake and aware and clear you must be to be playing the part you were born for, the unfolding of your life to its full potential.

The Dalai Lama says: "There is no way that you can come up with one formula that will solve all problems." But he believes that it is compassion and empathy that brings you inner peace and happiness. Inside you, deep, deep beneath the job description, the clothes and the skin, your name and the labels about yourself you think you believe, under all the layers there is the being that connects with everything, with all there is. When you experience it — in trance, in meditation, in love, in nature, in laughter, in creativity — you remember, if only for a moment, who you really are.

And the Tao says: "When you realize where you come from [who you really are], you naturally become tolerant, disinterested, amused. Kindhearted as a grandmother, dignified as a king."

There, in that place, there is no judgment, no comparisons, no anger, no jealousy, no illness, no victimhood, no abandonment. Buddha said that it is our desire that hurts us. I think it is our desire to be "worthy" that hurts us. To deserve love. What we don't understand is that we don't have to do anything material, anything on this plane to be "worthy." We each have every right to be here.

And when we know it, in every cell of our body, we can relax into it and change everything. This "who you are" -- it has something to do with meaning and purpose. In my experience, no matter how drastic or tragic a life is, when the person understands the meaning, he/she smiles.

Our lives are not about the story, the details, what happens to us-- but about what we make of this gift of life, how we deal with the hand we've been dealt. It is "the grace with which we live" that defines us.

And, here's where the paradoxes challenge our imaginations. While the details don't define us, our thoughts, actions, and decisions set the trajectory of the path of our livs. And so that means that EVERYTHING COUNTS. Nothing is too small to be important, and yet, our lives are not about the circumstances but the themes.

If this is all true, we have no choice for the sake of our larger selves, our SOULS, but to fill our lives with love as if it were the air we breathe, background music, energy, a fragrance wafting on a perpetual breeze. Love unconditionally, no agendas, no expectations, and see your love reflected in the pool of all that is.

Whatever you beam out returns to you. The world you live in matches your vibration. Make it the highest vibration in the universe, the vibration of love.

Bruce Lipton, Ph.D., cellular biologist, says that we "see" four million bits of information every second, but can process only 2,000. Which 2,000 do we choose? Generally those that we're familiar with, the old habits and patterns. If you believe that the world is out to get you, or that you are a victim or a loser, don't you think that in those 4,000,000 bits you can find 2,000 to confirm that view of reality?

Everything already exists in those four million bits. The "proof" that you are loved, creative, whatever you seek, is out there waiting for you focus on it. Dr. Lipton says that we need new lenses in order to see the other possibilities. When you know who you are, and use a lens of love to view your world, you can create new neural pathways that lead to a whole new life.

I do not believe it is possible for us to know exactly what to ask the universe for, what would be in our highest good. But I do believe the universe gives us clues in "synchronicities," -- meaningful coincidences. When you begin to follow those clues, you begin to find your true self. Then you do not have to know how to envision a future that is right for you -- it unfolds by itself, through following your guidance.

I believe it's harder to live frightened than brave. You came here for a reason, to unfold in a particularly unique way, as only you can.

If you agree, then tune in to the universe, ask for guidance, vibrate in love and follow Dolly Parton's dictum: "Find out who you are and be it on purpose."

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