‘Woman reaching out’ flickrcc.net
Everything is shifting, expect the unexpected, don’t rely on what was, and what’s coming is uncertain. So, there’s only one place to go with all that – within.
If you’re feeling that you’re losing control, be grateful. Control is the ego’s coping strategy: hanging on to something outside of itself that it imagines it needs to feel good. It’s a story of false satisfaction and tenuous security. To keep playing this program to ourselves as the-world-as-we-know-it dismantles is unwise. The world will not be the way we imagined it would or should be. Instead, we can keep choosing to move from an outer focus to our inner, and rebuild from a foundation of truth.
The unhealthy ego is the master of the cycle of discontent. It never skips an opportunity to be regretful, empty, inadequate, needy, or restless. Is this part of you familiar? It’s always looking for something to make you happy. You may find contentment and rest. But very soon, if not in the next moment, the ego finds something else to grumble about, and the cycle repeats itself – tirelessly.
The distortion is in thinking that you do not have what you want and that you need to get it. For example, you may need attention, but think you do not have it within you to meet your own needs. You go looking to someone else. Or you may tell yourself that you lack status, money, love, time, or the latest gadget.
Once you find what you need from outside of you, your fear of losing it can create attachment. You feel safe and secure for a while, but the possibility of loss can create anxiety. Therefore, you protect and control it; you cling, worry, attack, dominate, play victim, etc. It’s a tense, contracting energy, and will unravel any form of peace you thought you created for yourself. These manipulations of energy are what we see in ourselves and others in the absence of inner work and inner stability, and more of this dysfunction in humanity is revealing itself for healing.
Consider what your attachments may be: your possessions and what they represent, people in your life and what they give you, your need to be right, superior or win, your beliefs, what was in the past, the ideas of what your life should be, or your perceptions of God.
“We must be willing to let go of the life we have planned, so as to have the life that is waiting for us.” E.M. Forster
There is an easy way to manage the changes that are requiring us to let go; being curious. The moment you adapt curiosity, you drop resistance, distance yourself from the story of neediness to be able to see the truth of it, and move into a more accepting attitude about whatever you are experiencing. If you feel fearful, be in the moment, and allow yourself to experience yourself: come into your body, feel your emotions, witness your thoughts, inquire, and let the full awareness of your attachment free you into each next moment. One moment is all that exists at any one time, so be with it. Now you have peace.
In truth, lasting security and safety rests within you, never outside of you. It’s most important now to cultivate this inner directed way of living, and let Spirit lead you through your re-creation. Your foundation will be stronger to deal with whatever arises, with flexibility, and grace you with the ability to flow with what needs to go.
“Love without attachment is light.” Norman O. Brown.