Redefining true responsibility

Many views exist on responsibility. Some feel taking it is key, others prefer to avoid related discomfort, pain. A part of you would argue taking responsibility is like taking control of life. Yet what is really under our control?

Society distorts things. We are taught being responsible is doing what we are told by our elders (parents, teachers, mentors), and being irresponsible is acting from our perception of individual needs. The mistaken fear often adopted is if we act spontaneously, this will be like avoiding social, family and cultural responsibilities on our shoulders. In fact, this is a huge misunderstanding or way our minds are manipulated away from truth.

In truth, response is possible only if you are spontaneous, act in the moment, now. Response means that your attention, awareness, consciousness, is fully present. Come what may,  respond with your whole being. It is not a question of being in tune with anyone else, some holy scripture, or some imagined personality. It simply means to be in tune with the present moment.

This ability to respond in the here and now, based on feelings at present is responsibility, another term that silently refers to meditation.  This is a forgotten secret. Remembering and putting this into practice changes how you relate to yourself and the world.

Play to stretch body-mind

Notice new experiences stretch mind- body. Some question the difference between spontaneous and impulsive. This journey challenges self-created limits, nudges us out of comfort zones. Everything unfolding invites us to deepen connection to the heart. Where to from here? Options are as unique as snowflakes.

As we immerse into spontaneous movement, twiddle our fingers, move our shoulders and hips and rest of the body, sing, we rediscover the power of free spirit enables us to feel more alive. Exchanges with like-minded souls spark more curiousity, elicit humor, nurture growth, even unforeseen healing. When we feel stuck, indecisive, lack confidence, allowing our playful spirit expression is like giving ourselves permission to shake up and let go of our illusions. Things can fall into place without control. Where the mind is too serious and constricted, then life feels too confining.

The key to remembering who we are and being that arises from free-flowing, heartfelt actions; jump into puddles, dance, twirl in bare feet, skip in the sand, fly in an aerial hammock, on skates, in a hangglider or some other way that enables you to be one with nature, wind and energy flow of existence. Let the body move. Let Soul be your pilot. See what happens, what shakes itself out.

A widely forgotten truth is that the genius of play naturally guides us to pay attention and focus on what matters. Play is not only about ourselves. Its about how are we relate to environments, energy flow, others and the world around us. We can pay attention to the body-mind and sacred heart in a whole new way. Discover the joy spontaneity evokes and rekindles any moment.

Let go of Attachments

Notice attachment to pleasure, is an obstacle that evokes suffering. We attach ourselves to sources of pleasure because we expect happiness from this, forgetting happiness is always in us as the essence of true Self. To expect joy from the external, from relationships, jobs or other experiences, is to create energetic attachments. If we find these things make us unhappy, we create an aversion to them. Likes and dislikes are impediments on the spiritual path. Basing our happiness and unhappiness on the external makes us feel powerless, dependent and unable to control our destiny. Although happiness seems the basic need of all, why does it seem so few rarely find it and actually dwell here?

Well, just as a pure, clean mirror reflects our true nature beneath and beyond the skin and bones, certain pure, clean faces reflect our core happiness. This is why its saidd the eyes are windows to the soul. We give our power away each time we look away, think a person or situation is reason for our happiness. Other faces and situations evoke discomfort, and our happiness is distorted. So, we tell ourselves we dislike them. This is simply ignorance. Only as we reconnect with core being, go through purification, let go of what distorts true nature do we begin to feel happy at a smiling face because it dawns this reflects our inner radiance. Sri Swami Satchindananda reminds us nothing and nobody an give or take away our happiness, only distort our own timeless inner happiness. This is echoes in the timeless Yoga Sutras of Patanjali.

Thus, only as we connect deeply with Self is it possible to exude this happines or true nature. Its not based on what we do but being intimate and reconnecting with the truth of who we are. As we grow increasingly fearless, our destiny presents in greater clarity. Its up to each of us to seize the day, and listen to the heart to feel truly alive. Only then do we authentically allow fun and spontaneity to arise and be our compass does soul consciously guide the course of our lives.

Let go of Attachments

Notice attachment to pleasure, is an obstacle that evokes suffering. We attach ourselves to sources of pleasure because we expect happiness from this, forgetting happiness is always in us as the essence of true Self. To expect joy from the external, from relationships, jobs or other experiences, is to create energetic attachments. If we find these things make us unhappy, we create an aversion to them. Likes and dislikes are impediments on the spiritual path. Basing our happiness and unhappiness on the external makes us feel powerless, dependent and unable to control our destiny. Although happiness seems the basic need of all, why does it seem so few rarely find it and actually dwell here?

Well, just as a pure, clean mirror reflects our true nature beneath and beyond the skin and bones, certain pure, clean faces reflect our core happiness. This is why its saidd the eyes are windows to the soul. We give our power away each time we look away, think a person or situation is reason for our happiness. Other faces and situations evoke discomfort, and our happiness is distorted. So, we tell ourselves we dislike them. This is simply ignorance. Only as we reconnect with core being, go through purification, let go of what distorts true nature do we begin to feel happy at a smiling face because it dawns this reflects our inner radiance. Sri Swami Satchindananda reminds us nothing and nobody an give or take away our happiness, only distort our own timeless inner happiness. This is echoes in the timeless Yoga Sutras of Patanjali.

Thus, only as we connect deeply with Self is it possible to exude this happines or true nature. Its not based on what we do but being intimate and reconnecting with the truth of who we are. As we grow increasingly fearless, our destiny presents in greater clarity. Its up to each of us to seize the day, and listen to the heart to feel truly alive. Only then do we authentically allow fun and spontaneity to arise and be our compass does soul consciously guide the course of our lives.

Stop Playing it Safe

(Visual Art Bill Brouard- @ Visual Alchemy)

Notice what happens as you stop playing it safe, when all of a sudden, something awakens within you that recognizes you are the one that has been holding yourself back. Its the illusion of fear and conditioned assumptions in the mind that keep us feeling small, powerless or stuck. This revelation is the pivotal moment of finally reclaiming inner power, consciously shifting to focus purely on Soul direction and destiny. Trusting intuition allows energy to flow more freely, can involve abruptly letting go of apparent commitments and aspects of life that previously defined you. Being spontaneous opens channels of vision within you that continue to dazzle and amaze. Creative streams of inspiration arise as if from nowhere. Life experience shifts again.