The Secret To Resilience In A Changing World
Are you feeling rushed as you read these words right now?
Welcome to the modern world of constant connectivity! And the faster our pace
of life, the more essential it becomes to nurture our inner life for
resilience.
We're living in an amazing age, every bit as futuristic as
the Jetsons or Star Trek sagas some of us grew up with. I love being able to
connect face to face with clients on the other side of the world, or download a
song in a second. Yet this continuous connectivity also poses a challenge: many
of us have trouble disconnecting from all the intensity for some peace and
quiet. Our inner life can silently wither even as we chase the outer holy grail
of success.
The thinner we spread ourselves, the more we skitter across
the surface of our outer lives, never going deep. And since technology can
track us down just about anywhere, anytime, it seems there is literally no
escape!
Trying to keep up the pace can take a huge toll. That stress
shows up in suppressed immune systems, high blood pressure, anxiety,
depression, insomnia, and digestive ailments.
What is needed is more resilience: the ability to rebound
from setbacks and challenges, similar to the elasticity of a rubber band
returning to its original shape after stretching.
Resilience can be developed with practice, just as you can
develop muscle strength by exercising.
The process of developing resilience starts with a reminder
that our true nature is eternal and not time-bound. We literally need to
disconnect and remember that our souls exist in timelessness. Poet E. E.
Cummings put it this way:
"How fortunate are you and I
whose home is timelessness:
We who have wandered down
from fragrant mountains of eternal now
to frolic in such mysteries
as birth and death
a day, or maybe even less... "
By connecting to the soul's eternal nature, we regain our
inner sense of poise. We can learn to not push into the future, nor run from
the past, but to walk our path in this present moment with unhurried grace.
Lama Surya Das calls this place of the eternal present "Buddha Standard
Time." In his book with the same title, he quotes Liu Wenmin, an early
sixteenth century poet on making peace with time:
"To be able to be unhurried when hurried;
To be able not to slack off when relaxed;
To be able not to be frightened
And at a loss for what to do,
When frightened and at a loss;
This is the learning that returns us
To our natural state and transforms our lives."
The busier we are, the more we need time out of the rat race
to regain perspective and renew ourselves from within. It is our inner life
that ultimately sustains us, and not the outer bells and whistles.
Honoring your inner path of truth is essential for a
meaningful life. Research by palliative caretaker Bronnie Ware showed the
number one regret of dying people is wishing they'd had the courage to live a
life true to themselves, and not the life others expected from them.
How do we honor our inner compass amid the frenetic demands
of life so we can live without regrets? Three concepts come to mind: Stay true.
Stay present. Follow the energy.
Stay True.
A commitment to truth, at all levels, is automatically a
commitment to freedom. It is always truth that sets us free. And where Higher
truth prevails, why would anyone need to lie?
In Shakespeare's Hamlet, Polonius advises his son Laertes:
"To thine own self be true, and it must follow, as the
night the day, thou canst not then be false to any man."
Any "security" gained through loss of inner
freedom actually submits to fear at the cost of integrity and truth. A nation
that puts national security above personal freedom has lost its true power
base. In saying this, I am not suggesting that a country should suddenly lower
its guard against all enemies (both real and imagined). I am saying that
addressing the outer issue before addressing the inner conditions in
consciousness that created it, will simply not solve the problem.
This is why politics is not the answer to what plagues the
human condition. Politics is like a trainer who seeks to harness and train the collective
energy so it will function for the good of all. It will ultimately succeed only
at the lowest common denominator.
True freedom is an inside job that starts with elevating
consciousness at the individual level by aligning to Higher truth. That alignment
fosters confidence, resilience and trust.
Stay Present.
Stay in the Now. Past and future are always adjuncts to
that. Don't let the busy-ness of the world rob you of this priceless gift of
NOW.
That means you need to make peace with your past so you can
live without regrets. It also means you need to release the need to control the
future because that is an illusion causing unnecessary anxiety.
You and I do not know what the future will look like because
it is not yet manifest. There is no other human who can accurately predict how
life will play out, because the future is created through a myriad
possibilities and individual choices that ultimately manifest when conditions
are favorable.
There are simply no veterans or pros for where humanity is going
now - it is new to all of us. The choices you and I make in each present
moment, will collectively decide the future that unfolds for us. So let's
nurture our inner resilience and stay true to our path right here, right now!
Follow The Energy.
Let your body be your barometer. It will show you what you
really need. You always create the perfect scenarios to get what you really
need.
There are no good or bad energies. All people and things are
just energy... which is, essentially, neutral. Energy is as neutral as the
electric current that lights up both a cathedral and a drug lab.
Some frequencies of energy may seem particularly useful and
attractive to you for where you're at in your individual consciousness right
now. Other frequencies can repulse for the same reason. That does not make them
good or bad; they are simply useful to your journey at this particular time or
not.
Pay attention to the things that attract or repel you; they
are clues to what you need to do, choose or say in order to move forward on
your path.
Together, these three principles can help you cultivate a
richer and more resilient inner life, no matter how much turmoil you face in
your environment.
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