We all use the shoulders of others to climb to the top of whatever personal ladder we have built in order to take what we think we need to survive. We have invested in the belief in lack, and we assume that others are trying to steal the last remaining dregs of our material/emotional desires. For this reason, we eternally dread loss, and live in fear of one another. This fear leads us to cause damage, which of course perpetuates the fear.
The good news is that we are in the midst of a major shift in consciousness, one that is moving us beyond fear and into a love-based paradigm. Each and every one of us will be a part of that shift, but we can hasten the process by taking responsibility for ourselves. We can achieve total peace by making mature emotional decisions that revolve around acceptance, forgiveness, circumspection, selflessness and generosity, above all else.
This has nothing to do with money, manifestation, or success. It has to do with presence. It has to do with patience and understanding. It has to do with the conscious expansion of the energy of love in every moment, as opposed to the contraction of it. It has to do with giving that love unconditionally, even to those whom we believe have hurt us or threaten us. It has to do with the openness of vulnerability and innocence.
It is impossible to accomplish this shift when our hearts and subconscious minds are cluttered with old, unprocessed pain. For this reason, the global shift cannot be an immediate one. Most of us don't have the wherewithal to move past the past, and so it takes time to evolve. The clutter within keeps us locked in memories, and we respond to the present based on stories that no longer exist. We judge based on things that have already happened.
Since we believe in the cycle of repetition of old events, we never live in the present. We simply wait for the past to repeat itself. We create a world of black and white, where present experience is rooted in past cause and effect. We don’t realize that if we release ourselves from the past, by releasing the pain we've been storing, we can face each new moment with absolute equanimity. Old, denied pain will no longer be lying in wait, forced to eternally remind us of its presence by creating a false alarm of imaginary lack, and consequential fear.
As it stands now, we continue to push down all indicators of pain, thus jamming the channels of the heart. In this condition, we cannot forgive, and, as such, we can’t be forgiven. There is no room for the new. There is only long-dead history, and, as such, there is only death. We live in terror of others, then, and in terror of ourselves.
This is absolutely understandable. To the animal mind, emotional pain is the same as physical pain, and physical pain equals death. When we hold such fear of pain in our hearts, our animal instinct incites us to run, so that we do not die. What else would it tell us to do? And we'd be crazy not to listen, right?
Wrong. We don’t have to run, and, in fact, to do so is an act of insanity. Our pain is there. It is not going away. We must learn to welcome it so that it can be healed. Through the journey, we will learn that the only thing truly endangering us is our fear-based belief system about pain. When we find the courage to face our old pain, to put it before all else and listen to it in the meditative silence that arises from the state of gentle, loving self-examination, we will open ourselves to the truth. In that truth, we learn to forgive, because we have nothing left to fear. When we all reach this apex of evolution, we will no longer hurt one another, because there will be nothing to lose. The only lack will be that of lack.
Let’s start now:
Understand the definition of pain: “Emotion that causes any level of physical discomfort, whether it be anger, sadness, irritation, jealousy, hatred, etc.”
Make the decision to say yes to the pain, in every moment..
Begin to meditate regularly, for as long or short a time as is desired. There are no rules.
Throughout the day, when something triggers pain, learn to breathe into the quiet state of fully awake meditation, rather than focusing on the perceived “cause” (another person or event). Ask for help from God when it becomes challenging to do so.
Follow the map of pain to the core and, there, encounter the wound.
Sit with it silently, for as long as possible. Cry, ache, feel. Breathe. If working, go to the rest room. If in public, put on sunglasses. If at home, be still. If there is truly no time, make a promise to revisit the pain as soon as possible. It is always there, waiting for acknowledgement and release.
When habitual, the practice described above makes space for present pain to flow smoothly through the heart. It then emerges into the energy field and is transmuted into love. It brings a divine sense of peace, no matter what circumstances may arise. It creates a fire in the heart that cannot be defined or described. Because of this new-found peace, no pain is too difficult to welcome, no person held responsible for it. Pain becomes a gift, in fact, because it consistently opens us to new levels of transformation and ascension.
Love, then, is no longer blocked by the past. It is no longer compartmentalized or divided into different subsets of feeling dictated by stories from the past. Mother is sister. Son is daughter. Friend is stranger. Father is you. Love becomes one thing: Source. The energy that composes our lives.
