Living in the gift: the generation of regeneration and giving back
We are being asked to change.
Yet, if we had any awareness of what it is we are actually being asked to do; then we would do so willingly and with great enthusiasm.
The first step to change is not to fight the system. Or get lost in the overwhelm of making change happen in the world.
It is to recognize that it is our physical heart who is really asking us to change!
Our heart can provide everything that we thought; the financial stability, the security, the material goods, the holidays, the promotion, the career, …etc could provide us.
This is the truth of the way things are. It is the path back to becoming an optimally functioning human being.
The Heart of the Matter
The heart that is completely undisturbed by the present moment experience is happy and functioning.
True happiness arises when the mind is still and settled, and the heart is free to do its job. Today, our hearts are under more stress than ever — due to the complexity and relentless simulation of the digital age.
Additionally, our minds are unsettled by a cultural belief system that is founded upon a sense of; lack, entitlement, and most insidiously (when you really come to see clearly and understand)…a story of SEPERATION.
It is because we cannot simply BE with ourselves, and rest in the stillness that is the ground of being, that we are always unhappy and never satisfied.
Appreciative joy is the emotional signature of a content and well functioning heart. Our lives are filled with so much struggle and willful striving, as we move towards goals and objectives that we think will make us happy.
All we actually manage to do create a lot of internal disturbance and perpetuate that feeling of “Never Enough”.
To be in a state of appreciation we set all of this aside, even for a moment, and our system finally gets a break.
The cause of all of our collective troubles is that we are restless and agitated inside of ourselves!
Welcoming the unwelcome
The process of moving back to a more fully embodied moment-to-moment experience of life is the key. Not only to re-claiming our inner contentment and peace but also essential to embodying healthy states (such as appreciation) so that they become permanent traits.
However, this is no trivial matter; to simply learn how to relax internally and re-claim our capacity to feel once more after a lifetime of being conditioned into numbness.
Because so many of us are dis-embodied we don't understand the potential, and the challenges, of coming back home to the body. As world-renown Trauma Educator, Gabor Mate quipped: “Our society doesn’t even acknowledge the existence of trauma”.
Some may find it easier than others to begin to trust in their own direct embodied experience of life once again. This is where; support, therapy, wise guidance and friends, Sanga (Community)…
…and slow, methodical, patient, and systematic practice all carried out with a relaxed attitude of warmth, unconditional friendliness, and intimacy towards oneself is essential.
What is being asked of us; is to literally stop, put it all down, take a long out-breath, connect our feet to the ground, and start again.
The rite of passage: Moving from “What can I get?” to “What can I give?”
Meditation, contemplative practice, or any activity that trains the muscle of introspective awareness can play a pivotal role in this rite of passage out of the place where we are focused on ourselves. Shifting from a (perhaps subtle) self-serving and entitled attitude towards a place where we can start to function again as human beings and to see our lives in terms of our contribution.
Through learning to settle, rest, and relax within ourselves; we come to see that we actually do not need all of this “stuff”.
And we can joyfully, with authentic generosity, relinquish the desire for more and start to live in the gift that is this rare and precious human existence.
Giving back and putting down all the things that we thought we needed; moves us toward a much simpler way of living.
The real adventure begins when life gets simple!
We wake up to the beauty, intelligence, and wonders of this conscious experience of life on Earth once more.
Takeaway message — The “Give-back Generation”
“If you knew, as I do, the power of giving, you would not let a single meal pass without sharing some of it” — The Buddha
True happiness and the end of suffering begins with the life long intention to continuously wake up to embodied present moment experience.
This is not a passive thing.
There is an intelligence that works through us all (call it evolution or nature).
To follow this thread (or heart’s intelligence); requires that we stop interfering with our growth and healing process.
The key takeaway is that — once we embrace the internal resistance or “inertia” — that makes it difficult to GIVE than we open ourselves up to the magic of generosity.
Learning to give freely, without attachment, is essential to the path of awakening to life’s interconnected nature.
We give to free others and we give to free ourselves.
It is our conduct, actions, and virtuous behavior that (somewhat mysteriously) leads to a profoundly positive transformation in the quality of our conscious experience.
Maybe, we could all benefit from scheduling some time in our busy lives to do something, give of ourselves, in a way that is entirely for the benefit of others.
Through giving back and living simply we can become a generation whose primary focus is on mastering the art of conscious living for the benefit of all beings everywhere without exception.
Start today, start small, say thank you, offer a hug or smile …let your heart gladen. Plant the seed of this powerful, game-changing intention. And allow it to blossom and bear fruit in its own sweet time.
This is going the be the ride of your life!
“When the deeds of people are driven by kindness, generosity and loving regard, for self and others, it’s a certainty that overtime consciousness flourishes and the world is regenerated with it” — Burgs
