When we struggle toward what we think we want and need, then we can get tunnel vision. In our limited focus we grasp at what we think will remedy our inner discomfort.
In this way we tend to see the world through an objectifying lens. We are driven by the desire to get to a future destination, where things will be ok and we will feel complete and at peace. The world is then reduced to a means to this end.
But the nature of life is impermanence and even if we achieve our next goal, there will always be another condition, or many others, that we can place before us to achieve or other obstacles to blame our discontent on.
A much more healthy way to find inner peace is by learning to stop, to recognise the feelings that we carry within us and to notice how we subject ourselves to being motivated by this desire and aversion and just how unhelpful that actually is.
Being motivated in this way means that we miss so much. Our lives become narrow tracks. It’s like walking through a beautiful garden and fixing our gaze only upon the narrow footpath.
Off the well worn path of our habitual minds and the roles we play in our lives there are many flowers to enjoy, connections to be made and adventures to be discovered.
The more we are able to recognise, accept and hold our discomfort as it is, the more we are able to live beyond our craving and aversion.
When we stop grasping then we open and we are increasingly motivated by a deeper level of Self; we are increasingly motivated by Love.
Our open hearts are far more able to assess what is good for us than our struggling minds.
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