Sunrise Pages September

Namasté, Peaceful Creator –

This morning’s overcast has shifted to hazy, bright sunshine.  Temperatures will be cooler this afternoon; perhaps it is time for fall.  Sleep last night was sound but short – Sleep Scale: 3.5/5.

I think about the lines we draw in our minds, with our thoughts, that we then believe to be real; to actually exist.  Yesterday was August, and today is September, so something must be different.  On a map is drawn a boundary line between one country and another, one state and another, one town and another, even one yard and another.

To see everything as separate and divided is a mental game.  To believe the dichotomies that we construct limits us.  Right or wrong.  Good or bad.  Loved or hated.  Success or failure.  Praise or blame.  Worthy or worthless.

Much of the suffering I’ve faced in my life was formed within these dichotomies.  The dilemma was this – I was unhappy, unfulfilled, and unsatisfied.  That held a lot of suffering for me.

I wished for change, so that I would move toward joy, fulfillment, and satisfaction.  Yet, it seemed impossible to change when I was suffering so much.

I started to see that it was the suffering that I was holding onto that was blocking any change.  Before anything in my physical world and situations could change, I needed to release my suffering, and release myself from my painful stories.

The challenge, interestingly, became a sort of loss of identity when I played with releasing some suffering.

If, right where I was, I stopped suffering, then why would I need to change at all?  How would I get to the glorious mountaintop, if my suffering were to dissolve right here?

I recognized my loyalty to my suffering, my belief that my suffering was my identity, and my belief that I needed my suffering as my motivation to change.

The magic I kept missing is that to release my suffering is the change!  And, my life without constant suffering is a glorious mountaintop!

 

Please consider this Prompt:

Dear One, list 3-5 areas in your life where you are suffering, where you feel pain.

Next, take time to center yourself, starting with a focus on your breath.  Then, look at each area.  How do you wish each are would look?  Shine a light on each item, and imagine it in the fullness of joy, fulfillment, and satisfaction.

Is there any joy, fulfillment, or satisfaction already present?  How can you expand the love that’s already there?

 

It’s the question the Buddha’s wife asked of the Buddha upon his return – “Did you need to go, to find your enlightenment?”  Some change is needed, My Dear Guides – I see that now.  But, maybe not the change we think!