Some years back, at about 10 a.m. on a spring Sunday morning a sweet young couple knocked on my door - they were Jehovah's Witnesses doing their weekend rounds.

I enjoy listening to how people see life and how they think so I happily invited them in for a chat.

John did most of the speaking, bible in hand, and April mostly listened and occasionally added bits here and there to support John's points.

After listening for about fifteen minutes it seemed pertinent for me to interject with what I'd hoped would be a 'centering' or 'focussing' comment, especially given the conversation to that point was steeped in doctrine, dogma and esotericism.

"Let's keep things practical" I suggested, "what is it that you are really looking for in life? What is it that will truly satisfy?"

John's answer didn't surprise me, it was completely understandable.

He explained that he wanted to spread Jesus' words faithfully, and if he did, he is promised a place in heaven after death. Heaven being a place we can't even begin to comprehend, where unfathomable gifts would be bestowed on us. And, if he didn't then all that would be foregone.

His response quite obviously stems from a common concept emphasised in many religions.

And as many of you have heard me say 'humans have a habit of turning concepts (even relatively useful ones) into hindering beliefs'.

Just sometimes however, something really beautiful happens, a belief, even if deeply ingrained, can get popped in an instant when life delivers just the right blow.

So back to the story...

I replied to his answer saying "that sounds like a way of living where you are waiting for something in the future, always doing things with an expectation"

"And isn't that quite contrary to the simple wisdom we all know intuitively about what a happy life is really about?"

As if I hadn't said anything at all, without missing a beat he carried on his initial track, continuing to flick to sections in his Bible, announcing the name of the scripture and paragraph numbers to support what he was saying.

April on the other hand stood there, no longer following what John was saying, the penny had dropped. She didn't say anything, she didn't need to, the look on her face said it all.

In complete despair with his life, a man points the index and middle fingers on each hand to either side of his head, thumbs pointing upwards and the other two fingers bent inwards, tips touching palms.

He's now paralyzed, consumed even further than before, agonising over which trigger to pull.

We've been looking for meaning outwardly for a lifetime and until it becomes obvious that it's not to be found there we will keep seeking in the same manner and that in itself is the obstacle to what we are seeking.

It is akin to diligently trying to catch a ferry by waiting at a bus stop.

Life starts feeling acceptable when the internal commentary about life's unacceptability ceases.

So, is life really, fundamentally, unacceptable, or is it all in our attitudinal commentary?

It's worth thinking about.

We assume that our expectations of ourselves are what will get our castle built and make us better people, right?

And without realising it these expectations may just be the bars of a prison in which we now live, a prison from in which we feel compelled to set-up more and more expectations in order to finally get our castle.

A prison of expectation in which we slowly but surely become bitter and trapped.

Try relaxing and being who you are in this moment without believing the long list of should and should not's, without believing you are not enough right now and see the walls come effortlessly crumbling down, revealing a castle that never needed to be built.

And if after this momentary freedom sets in, you find yourself picking up your expectations again and reconstructing the prison, then understand that this is normal, it's a habit, so come back regularly to your castle when ever you remember until one day you know to stay there.

What is being spoken about here is an attitude you can move through the day with, it is not suggesting to stop living, it's actually a suggestion of living happily, free of attitudinal suffering.

And it's available right now, just stop.

Peace for now 

We just need to look at our thought patterns to realise that there is a mismatch between what's locked away in our psychology and what's actually happening on the level of life mechanics.

Each person in each moment is exactly one way, and that is just the way that life has shaped them to be, a process which is much less personal, in other words much less a result of a "me controlling entity", than is appreciated.

At some very special point the sperm and egg came together! They formed a single organism which grows according to a magnificently wondrous encoded blueprint (Genes).

The growing doesn't happen because of "you" "doing it", rather it happens inspite of you, in fact you are the result.

As the organism grows it is simultaneously impacted by the environment in which it finds itself in and this continuous stream of stimuli (new conditioning) becomes part and parcel of the growing process (Genes and Up-to-date Conditioning).

At a certain point the heart, which is a result of the impersonal growth process, starts pumping, and then the brain starts functioning and so on, all according to the organisms design and growth.

We couldn't possibly expect it to function differently to its design, right? We'd hardly expect the toaster to wash the dishes!

This growing process doesn't stop, humans are always growing and being shaped by life, a movement that is far less personal than it's given credit for.

At some momentus point that impersonal process ingrained the notion that we, the person, that has been grown and continues to grow, is somehow in control of what we grow into and therefore how we subsequently function moment after moment. This is the opposite of clarity.

We project this view onto the other and from there we are forced to live with the load of blame and guilt, hatred and shame. Whereas, more accurately seen, each person is rolling exactly according to cosmic law, life is happening and so hatred towards the other for what has happened through them, and shame towards oneself has no ground with clarity in place.

Now, I'm not suggesting that with intention we can't see positive change happen, life is all about change, what I am suggesting is that if an intention to change arises then that too is a happening according to your mysterious design - not "your (as a separate doer)" doing.

Understanding this not only brings about much more rapid positive change, but more importantly brings about an automatic and effortless attitude of acceptance towards oneself and the other, towards life.

Ironically, the change we are really looking for in life - peace of mind, comes about through being surrendered and not through "personal" effort.

Surrendering is obstructed through the persistence of a false belief which projects into existence a non-existant entity "I the doer" & "the other the doer".

Seeing things with a bit more clarity, Why not? It doesn't always mean what you would think.

So, if by now your psychology is finding all sorts of arguments with what I've written above, then just go back to the description of the sperm and the egg and see if you find a good flaw.

And if your psychology isn't resisting the above description then I'm sure there is a gratitude to life for delivering clarity. 

Peace for now

If life becomes about what you haven't quite got yet, or what may be delivered or attained in the future, then the prospect of death and dying is always going to be a point of contention.

Makes sense, no? 

We are all in this together.
And we are all doing our best.
The deeper this is known,
The more it will affect our world in ways Beyond our current imagination.
This may sound like idealistic rhetoric
But what if it is much more than that.

Peace for now

All it takes is a little reminder. 

It can happen anytime, in an instant, the holy instant.

Stop N' Drop

Stop (thinking of how it could've or should be), and Drop (into Being).

There you are, it's all OK.

Peace for now 

Whenever there is an ongoing mental narrative running about how another person behaved and how they should have, and could have, behaved differently, it is effectively the equivalent of beinging disgusted towards the kitchen juicer for not producing a nice block of chocolate.

Juice may not be what we would like, fair enough, but it makes sense that juice was produced and not chocolate, right?

And even if juice is not what we would like, expecting a juicer to produce chocolate or a heater to wash the dishes, equates to a fundamental misunderstanding about the nature of things.

This type of misunderstanding of the nature of things ultimately feeds back as a misunderstanding of Self. And that's why that psychological movement when it happens manifests as a cumulative uncomfortableness with oneself and the other, ultimately an uncomfortableness with oneself.

And if this psychological resistance and uncomfortableness happens from time to time, well, it's just the juicer producing juice, no?

Relax, life is happening, trump is trumping, roger is doing his thing and everyone else is right on cue.

Your peace and happiness is never to be found in outcomes so recognising the above is not as bad as it may seem, much better than expected in fact.

Peace for now