Do you ever wonder why you sometimes feel so bad about yourself, or why the events you experience can be so disturbing? Many people feel this way, and most of us believe we suffer like this because the conditions we meet within ourselves or in the world around us are capable of punishing us.
But the fact is, the conditions in our lives don’t actually have the power to punish us as we think they do. The true cause of our pain is that we’ve forgotten that the higher Intelligence that powers this universe is Good: not just sometimes, not only for those who are “deserving,” but for all of us… and in all ways.
As we are, when unwanted moments occur, a part of us reacts negatively, which brings us to a choice point. We can either identify with the dark stream of thoughts and feelings that arises within us, believing that’s all that’s possible for us – or, we can take that negative reaction as a signal to look up and out. This allows us to become quietly aware of the downward-trending presence within us that is working to pull us into a world filled with unwanted negative states. And because we are now aware of it, we can break free.
Through self-observation, we can begin to realize that the real reason so much of what’s going on within and around us seems “bad” is that that’s all we can see! Just as beauty is in the eye of the beholder, so is negativity, which gives rise to inner states like fear, depression, and bitterness. In such moments, having become bound up in thoughts and feelings we don’t want, and then seeing a world that confirms our sense of captivity because that’s what the negativity projects into the moment we see, we literally forget that none of what we’re going through is necessary.
The only reason we ever stand in a storm of negative states is that we’ve fallen asleep! We’ve forgotten who we really are, including our inborn right to call upon a higher Intelligence that instantly transports us out of harm’s way. Anytime we can remember to do so, we are free to wake up and return to our true home—within us—beyond the reach of fear, doubt, or any other dark state.
If we wish to walk through life free of the fear of sudden storms—and to have the abiding confidence of knowing we have an interior home whose light cannot be breached by any darkness—then our task is clear.
First, we must see how we are blinded and then bound in a prison of false perceptions induced by having forgotten our true higher possibilities. And second, we can use the following insight as the wake-up call to action that it is intended to be:
The freedom you have to let go and outgrow who you have been is not something created; it is and always will be yours, which means it cannot be destroyed any more than the onset of night destroys the light of the sun.
Nothing in the universe can take from you your right to be inwardly free; it is a gift that is inborn in human nature. This means that anytime you find yourself struggling to escape the grip of a negative state, it’s only because you’re in a dream (more like a nightmare) from which you have yet to awaken. The true prescription with the power to end your pain is to shake yourself awake from the forgetfulness that has caused you to lose sight of your true nature and its higher possibilities. Remembering the truth of yourself is one and the same as remembering your right to be free.
About the Author:
Guy Finley is an internationally renowned spiritual teacher and bestselling self-help author. He is the Founder and Director of Life of Learning Foundation, a nonprofit center for transcendent self-study located in Merlin, Oregon. He also hosts the Foundation’s Wisdom School — an on-line self-discovery program for seekers of higher self-knowledge. He is the best-selling author of The Secret of Letting Go and 45 other books and audio programs that have sold over 2 million copies, in 26 languages, worldwide.
Guy’s latest book Relationship Magic: Waking Up Together applies decades of spiritual wisdom to practical relationship challenges, transforming any relationship from mundane to magical!
