GLADDENING THE INNER SPACE
I’ve witnessed people recently complaining about life not working out in their favour. I could see how this could be a big disappointment if one envisions the direction of their life in a fixed linear way. We all dead end at times so the work is to turn around and find a different route out of our narrow street of stuckedness.
The hero’s journey is full of pitfalls. Regardless of the outer obstacles to living a fulfilling life, I have come to realize a vast inner world inside myself that is the key to fulfillment. This inner world is what ultimately determines one’s perspective and relationship to what we call reality.
I am increasingly challenged reading pessimistic social media posts and news reports where people so dramatically document and propagate the brutality of day-to-day life (theirs and others). We are collectively distracted by global fear that keeps as at war with one another’s polarized views. We keep forgetting the real reason we came to earth. To gladden the environment (inside and out).
Don’t we already know at this point that struggles and madness are part of earthly life? Observe how we are increasingly exposed to a mad news and social media circus on a daily basis. This repeating cycle of negative reporting (with weekly changes in the long list of ill-mannered tyrannical characters playing the global ego territorial grab game), will not end until we collectively master PAUSING together. True wealth and sovereignty are here and now.
What I really want to know, and master is how to gladden the inner space, how to gladden a struggling person’s life and how to gladden the present moment? Life working out in our favour is an inside job irrespective of outer circumstances. Waiting for life to work out is risky. Life is unresolvable because 8 billion people are mostly making irrational, reactive choices without considering the whole. The inner state of beingness however, is resolvable. It’s mindfulness training. I’m not saying don’t help improve the world. I am saying improve life by firstly learning to relax the erratic arisings of unexamined thoughts, opinions, and feelings.
What ultimately creates change around us? It’s inner work — always has been and always will be. Why? because life is unpredictable and full of disappointment. How I dance with the disappointment is what will determine the outcome. The disappointment itself is attached to lofty unreasonable expectations.
Complaining and overly pessimistic feelings are the result of stubbornly clinging to wishful thinking and pleasurable outcomes.
How we deal with unsavoury outcomes separates heroes from victims.
It’s true that existence can be brutal and difficult, but it can also be beautiful. In this moment, horrible things are happening but so are many beautiful things at the same time: flowers are blooming in the northern hemisphere, poets are writing, someone is discovering something new, people are laughing, others are making love on a beach under the stars. We all get what we want some of the time but there are days where nature delivers a package to our door and we say, “I definitely do not want that.” How we react is dependent on how much time we have spent gladdening our inner world.
I learned in this two-year pandemic, to find beauty and magic on the inside. When I re-enter the world and start to travel again, I am committed to keeping this inner beauty and not abandoning it for the allure of worldly success. If I go to bed with a loving heart, I am successful. If I go to bed angry at the world, I have failed in my most important mission: to bring more love, compassion, understanding and wisdom into a confusing world. What you dream at night has consequences. So why not dream with gratitude and kindness? It’s a decision. Activate your will!
By taking refuge in a calm clear inner world, we end up seeing the outer world in a more wholistic, harmonious way. Regardless of the intensity of outer chaos, when we focus on inner balance, the outer imbalance cannot break us and turn us into blabbering whiny fools lacking gratitude. Life is and always will be a precious gift because it is the best place to resolve our collective dilemma. Why are we here and what are we supposed to be doing with our limited time?
Make an effort. Undertake to train yourself not to let a cruel world break you. Shatter your own patterns of negative thinking and emotional spewing.
If an egg is broken by an outside force, life ends. If broken by an inside force, life begins. Great things always begin from the inside.
Keep travelling on your Hero’s journey and offer solutions to life’s problems. Don’t get stuck complaining. Get motivated to be pro-active and part of an increasing global initiative to gladden the world.
It’s just my two sense today. You might see things differently and although I may disagree with what you believe and say, I will defend your right to say it. Why? Because if you didn’t say it, I wouldn’t really be aware of how much we’re all at war with ourselves on the inside. Understanding at the core that all human beings (including myself) are at conflict with themselves is what motivates me to serve.
Evangelos is a Dharma Teacher, Coach and Writer. You can find more of his work at https://www.fourwaystofreedom.com/
