I know times are challenging. Like any other dream, nothing makes sense. The moment we seem to get a grip on something it slips away or changes. Sometimes there’s a feeling of helplessness and it feels like we’re sinking in quicksand and yet time and life is speeding up. We turn to the news for answers but all we get is more oddity and uncertainty.
But what if life is “but a dream?” Are dreams supposed to make sense?
They may be strange and there can be much to learn from them, but have you ever woken up from a dream and proclaimed it real? Of course not. Making sense of it is as crazy as making it real, and yet if “life is but a dream” as the timeless childhood song suggests, then why try to make sense of it? And yet we go through day after day wanting it to all make sense–complaining, wanting, wishing, demanding, even gossiping about someone or something that just isn’t quire right. We’ll do anything to keep ourselves locked on the screen of form, loaded with projections about what would make it better. The more we try the more we fall into the trap and succeed in making it real.
No wise sage has ever tried to fix anything. Why? Because they knew that it’s the thought behind the dream that gives purpose to it.
It’s why Norman Vincent Peal advised: Change your thoughts and you’ll change your world. But in order to do that we would have to admit, for just for a moment, that we might have been wrong in our interpretation of the world (and the ego deplores that). Instead of changing our thoughts we cling to what we desperately want to be right and we can’t be right and happy at the same time. Most choose being right over lasting happiness and will carry their “rightness” to the final moments of their lives where oftentimes in a flash they see it all for what it was not, smile and finally let go. That one moment brings true purpose to a lifetime of pain where finally, they tap into the eternal power of the mind and choose against the need to be right and accept the love that has been waiting. But why wait? Why not begin to gently let go now and heal?
We find Mohatma Ghandi’s timeless words helpful. “Be the change you want to see in the world.” He did not say, inflict the change you want on others…or yourself. He did not say demand the change. He said to be the change. And herein lies the substance of a peaceful protest, the “good trouble” that the late John Lewis was talking about. It’s gentle, it’s kind, it’s all-inclusive and universal in nature because “to be” is to join with the thought before it get’s projected out into the world. It works in mind as well as in form. Some are called to action, others let it come through in other ways. But peaceful, helpful change always has and always will start in the mind. An instant of “beingness” catches the judgment or grievance so it doesn’t get sewn into the sticky fabric of form where everything comes with a cost. To be the change requires us to be still a moment and experience the peace and joy that is inherently ours in Spirit first, which is the only way we’ll ever see it in the world.
But for many, that “moment of stillness” brings anxiety, fear and guilt and that’s OK! Stay with it.
There’s power there. For in that desperate moment, the world you see is nothing but a mirror. Let it show you the thought behind it. This is our yoga! Our highest practice where we get to decide if we’re going to act-out or gently act-in where we realize we have the power to choose a different thought–one that is kind, forgiving and accepting. In that powerful moment lies the ability to wait…to observe the fear and anxiety without judgement…to gently choose against it. And a choice against the fear is an automatic decision for love. But don’t take my word for it! Try it and see what happens. There’s an opportunity for practice in every moment. It’s our gentle call to awaken.
Incidentally, this is the backbone of Avita Yoga. It’s why we learn to accept, not fix, and yet we get better! It’s remarkably simple.
Lastly, this helpful phrase from a wise teacher and friend, Gene Langlois.
When coping with the dream we call life:
- Participate willingly
- Don’t make it real
- And above all, don’t be afraid of it
With Love and Light,
Jeff
