By Phyllis King
There are no two ways about it. It does not matter if you are rich, or poor, thin, or fat, young, or old; the life of a human being is full of hardship and challenge. Whatever our circumstance is will determine the nature of our challenges.
Make no mistake. Their life challenges everyone. The best way to view the challenge is with acceptance and gratitude because all our experiences are meant to give us something we need or that will expand our reality. We only feel pain when we resist our challenge in the present moment. This is the burden the mind and ego bring to our experience.
The onset of COVID gave us all a wonderful opportunity. That opportunity was and is to see what we believe is true about ourselves.
We get to see how our beliefs serve or deplete us. Are we fear-based or trust-based? Those who rely heavily on the external for stimulation and validation have struggled the most during this time. These types of struggles are filled with the “stuff” that creates more abundance if we allow them to do so. Once we understand this truth on a deep level living with joy at all times becomes natural. When that becomes our natural state of being, we become more magnetic, and benevolence, and joy follow.
What does all this mean? How do we let a moment like COVID expand our world when seemingly everything outside of us is contracting? We begin by remembering that we are spiritual beings having a human experience. We are an awareness choosing to participate in emotion, thought, and form. Secondly, we want to practice looking at life as theatre. Theatre is full of tragedy, happy endings, sad endings, and complexities.
In the theatre of life, we are watching ourselves, and other human beings play out our karma, live our beliefs and revel in our thoughts and emotions on a grand stage. Those who develop the quiet discipline of recognition of life as theatre, using their awareness to watch life find great power, strength, and joy.
Why is this? When we practice sitting in our awareness, rather than our thoughts and emotions, we begin to become empowered like never before. We recognize who we are and who we are not.
We no longer identify with thoughts or emotions as us. They are simply things we are doing with our energy. Our power no longer comes from external sources but from the collective consciousness.
Lastly, the way we evolve is through the challenge. It is through surmounting obstacles and stretching ourselves we become more than we were yesterday. The absent challenge, we stay the same, and we deaden ourselves to universal life force energy. It becomes more and more difficult to create outcomes or realize our dreams.
As much as we protest when a challenge is invited or put upon us, it is still a challenge. It is difficult. For many of us, our very trust in life can be called into question.
This is the journey of the soul.
In the human experience, we search for happiness and comfort. It is the measure of our success. The spirit is searching for evolutionary experiences to expand the whole and contribute to consciousness at large. Understanding our true relationship to consciousness is the key to joyful living.
The dance of duality asks us to participate in life in such a way that does not invite more trauma to our experience and that does not create more karma for our future experiences. The dance is also to learn how to sit inside the space where our soul lives unencumbered and free. Gary Zukav called this “The Seat of the Soul.” From this place of pure awareness, joy is always available to us.
We see the drama of life in a vastly different way. We interact with life in a vastly different way.
This does not preclude us from having empathy for those suffering or in pain in our world.
We do ourselves a disservice when we deny the depth and dimension of our experiences. They are never meant to be one dimensional. Focus on what you can control and pull your energy away from things you cannot control. See health and wellness for yourself and the world, and practice sitting in pure awareness as much as you can. This is how you become magnetic and gain influence. This is how you attract what you need and want in your life. This is how you can maintain joy throughout any rhythm life presents to you.
I wish you the happiest of holidays and a beautiful new year. With love and gratitude.
