Reality is a huge concept. In fact, it’s so huge, how could this mind grasp all of it?
I leave out huge parts of reality all the time. Have you noticed how the mind does this?
I’m thinking about something, and I’m very sad or upset or angry; thinking about how it should or shouldn’t be, repeating it (even though it happened in the past).
I’m thinking about some problem I perceive in this big soup of a story, and I focus in on that problem and ruminate.
I miss the joy and life and incredible activity that is in my presence, I miss the air and the rain, my old couch, this room entirely filled with things. I miss myself, the aliveness in me.
Today, let’s remember the vastness of reality…and how much it includes, and how infinite it is, and how full of EVERYTHING.
“Reality–the way that it is, exactly as it is, in every moment–is always kind. It’s our STORY about reality that blurs our vision, obscures what’s true, and leads us to believe that there is injustice in the world. I sometimes say that you move totally away from reality when you believe that there is a legitimate reason to suffer. When you believe that any suffering is legitimate, you become the champion of suffering, the perpetuator of it in yourself. It’s insane to believe that suffering is cause by anything outside the mind. A clear mind doesn’t suffer.”~ Byron Katie in 1000 Names For Joy
We think “oh no! If I am NOT upset by reality, then I will be weird, uncaring, unpopular, too detached, selfish…”
We think “oh no! If I am TOO upset then I am allowing my feelings to overwhelm me, I’m unenlightened, I am believing terrible thoughts!”
No win.
What to do when you can’t win? Surrender. And then watch what happens with an open, surrendered mind.
When something terrible happens, reality is that you may feel the horror, the sadness, the pain of it.
And reality will move and change. That’s the way of it.
“The heart is right to cry
Even when the smallest drop of light,
Of love,
Is taken away.
Perhaps you may kick, moan, scream,
In a dignified
Silence,
but you are so right
To do so in any fashion
Until God returns
To
You.”
~Hafiz
Love,
Grace