We live in a fast-paced world that seems to get faster and faster every day. Unfortunately, with speed comes pressure and stress, which can easily turn into overwhelm if you don’t have a solid anchor to help you remain centered and connected to the flow of your life.
The ego-mind makes you believe that external things can keep you grounded if they’re fixed, that is, if they don’t change. However, life itself is constant change, so you never know if what gives you a sense of security now will be there when you need it, or how your own path has to unfold for you to grow.
If you get attached to things, people, or comforts, you cannot imagine your life without them. But your attachments enslave you to fixed ideas about life, which causes you suffering when something changes. You cannot experience emotional or spiritual freedom until you embrace the challenges you encounter while being prepared to drop what trigger negative emotions—your attachments and fears.
In other words, you have to learn to let go. You don’t have to give all your possessions away and live like a hermit in a cave (unless, of course, that is your true calling); even if you did, your ego-mind would follow you with all sorts of unfulfilled desires to produce discontentment. But you must remain aware of the fluid nature of life and flexible enough not to get knocked off-center at every turn.
Your experience of reality is colored by your self-perception, so your external world will invariably reflect your false identifications and beliefs about yourself, which often make you feel trapped in unpleasant situations (see Without Self-Awareness All You Can See Is Ego). You cannot control these situations, but you can learn from them what it is that you’re here to free yourself from.
True Freedom Is Freedom From Ego
Clearly, the more “stuff” you carry with you, the more there is to relinquish along the way. I’m not just talking about material things you accumulate and drag along whenever it’s time to move, although they obviously reflect your past. But I’m also referring to all the concepts, ideas, and self-images to which you hold on tightly, both consciously and unconsciously. They may give you a sense of identity, but they also distort your experience of the present because they’re outdated.
A simple life is a happy life. You need to clear the past to have access to what’s real, not what you continue interpreting according to previous impressions. This is another way of saying that you must purify the mind of ego to be at peace with yourself and the world. Why? Because the ego is the false, self-centered “I-sense” that causes pain and conflict; it is the attachment that disconnects you from the flow of your life by making you want to control or keep things fixed.
Since it goes against the very nature of life, it produces confusion and dissatisfaction, preventing you from experiencing inner peace. Here are a few guidelines to help you simplify your life inside and out:
- Clear any clutter in your living space. Clutter keeps energy from flowing, which affects you on many levels. It’s a reflection of mental, emotional, or physical stagnation as well.
- Get rid of what you haven’t used or needed in the last 2-3 years (or less, if you’re more courageous). Notice how your environment feels lighter afterwards, and so do you!
- Go through everything you want to keep and think of what it reflects: memories, relationships, interests, desires, experiences, people, etc. Question if you truly resonate with it or if it’s something you hold on to out of guilt or attachment. If the latter, let it go!
- Pay attention to your impulses to control people and situations, react in anger, buy more stuff, or overeat. Hold the impulse without following it to discover the anxiety or fear behind it pushing you. Don’t do or say anything until it fades.
- Keep close attention to yourself and your reactions. Whenever you feel an internal tug or resistance on any level, inquire: “What am I so attached to?” and “What am I so afraid of?” Then drop whatever comes to your awareness.
- Meditate every day to be able to observe life as a movie, increasingly developing detachment from your impulses and dispassion for the world.
It’s not possible to experience emotional or spiritual freedom without detachment from the ego-mind reflected in the world. Purifying the mind requires discipline and continuity, as well as a clear sense of direction. So contact me today to learn what your path is really about and how to live a soul-guide life as a vehicle of Divine Consciousness!
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