Tag: ego

Gratitude…that’s cool!

Posted on by philipdodson

Gratitude has become a buzzword…it’s all part of the fashionable spiritualism peddled by ‘gurus’ in books about finding yourself. We stand in front mirror chanting our positive affirmations and we write long lists every day of what we are grateful for only to then carry on our daily lives in the same ego-centric way forgetting what we are grateful for.

Gratitude is a very important thing in life as it is linked to consciousness and to being rather than to the mind and our endless mindstreams and ego-driven behaviours. When we are truly grateful and practice that gratitude in our daily life and behaviour, we are content with what we have, not constantly seeking more. We are in the moment and accepting of what is, not in denial and stuck in our thoughts.

It is not something to do as a tick-box exercise and then return to our ‘normal’ mind-obsessed unconsciousness. A bit like ‘oh I’ll meditate now to help stress’, similar to popping a pill to fix something temporarily but ignoring the root cause.

Gratitude, meditation, yoga, stillness and many other things that bring us into the present moment and allow us to transcend the mind are part of ongoing spiritual practice that takes time, commitment, sacrifice and dedication. Of course, we all start our journey somewhere and it does not matter how much or how little we do of this. It is doing what suits us rather than a prescriptive approach.

But gratitude is not just a thing to do because it’s cool, rather like yoga isn’t a new cool fitness programme.

Gratitude has to come from our true essence and soul and not from the trickery of the mind.

Only us

Posted on by philipdodson

Only we can solve our challenges in life.

Sure we can get ideas and get support from others. Of course, help from others can inspire us but that’s it, we have to do the doing. We have to commit.

Often though we look to the exterior world and others to provide us the answers to our problems that we actually already know the answer to. We hope they’ll fix us!

It is just we do not want to commit to the sacrifices needed to make those changes within. We are attached to our mind and its negative thought patterns so we are in a state of fear within. Also, we become the suffering, it becomes our story, our persona and therefore the ego does not want change and it will sabotage attempts to do so.

There is a strange comfort in our unhappiness and we fear making that first step to change.

We hide behind the things we can not control rather than take the steps ourselves.

Only we can know what the answer is for us and only we can make those changes. The first step is all we need to do and do it now. That way we detach ourselves from the fear of the mind and its sabotage. We free ourselves from thought by becoming in the moment and conscious. Thought can no longer frighten us.

Then we can take the next step and so on. One moment and one step at a time we can change anything we want. Each moment is a new start, a fresh beginning. However, once we start to think and look beyond now then we slip back into the mind.