We all want to have some control over our life, especially when we’re young, filled with dreams and aspirations. We believe that if we put enough effort we’ll be able to fulfill our desires and meet our needs and ambitions. But most people spend their whole life chasing desires without experiencing real fulfillment.
Desires are like dangling carrots in front of the proverbial cart. They keep you moving forward, pursuing things and people in the hopes that you’ll find happiness at the end of your pursuit. But, as you chase them, investing your energy in a future that is always unknown, you also create attachments and expectations. This gets in the way of being fully present (see How To Live Your Life With Presence).
In truth, desires lead you to experience what you’re meant to experience, to learn about life and, more importantly, about yourself. However, you don’t know this when you start following a desire. You simply get an idea or a feeling and the impulse to run with it. Then you come up with a mental structure to justify or support your impulse.
The nature of desire is dissatisfaction. The ego-mind takes control of your perception and behavior by producing a continuous flow of thoughts and desires, and then trapping you with attachments and expectations. The more you invest in something, the more attached you become. If you’re able to fulfill your desire, its enjoyment is temporary, so another one pops up.
If for some reason it’s blocked (or delayed), negative emotions arise as a defense mechanism against a painful reality. The ego pushes all sorts of false or destructive ideas: of life being unfair, of you being a failure or a victim, of others deserving the blame for your suffering, and so on. In any case, the end result is pain.
Embrace the Fluid Nature of Life
Why? Because nothing is permanent. Life is fluid. Things and people change. And yet, the ego-mind fixates your perception—and the idea of happiness—in what’s external and inherently bound to change. In other words, it creates discontentment but deceives you into believing you can resolve it outside of you.
This is how it hijacks your true divine nature, which is eternal peace and joy. Your Inner Self doesn’t need anything and isn’t perturbed by anything; it’s simply dreaming a dream of self-awareness (see Your Life-Movie Is a Dream Within a Dream). But the ego-mind needs negative emotions to exist and make itself felt. Where there is peace and satisfaction, there is no room for ego.
Your higher mind or intellect has the capacity to discern between the two, but it gets overwhelmed by the continuous flow of thoughts and desires of the ego-mind. Without the mental discipline to make room for pure Awareness, you’re trapped in your identifications and distorted ideas (see 3 Reasons Why Daily Meditation Is Essential), spinning in old patterns of perception and disconnected from the flow of your life.
To feel connected, you must anchor in the present by cultivating 3 essential aspects:
- Discipline. Observe your thoughts and feelings without identifying with them. They’re not you, they’re fluctuations of the ego-mind.
- Detachment (or non-attachment). Hold the impulse to follow negative emotions and ask yourself: “What am I so attached to or afraid of?”
- Discrimination. Before reacting to a situation, ask yourself: “Is this the only possible way to view or experience this?”
If you comprehend that the ultimate purpose of life is to know yourself by removing all the delusions of the ego-mind, then it becomes a journey of self-exploration rather than a collection of desires to chase in search of what you already are: love, peace, and joy. So contact me today to embark on an individualized adventure of emotional and spiritual freedom to uncover your true Self!
© 2021 Yol Swan. All rights reserved.
