If you are in pain, this post is for you…Today, I listened to @babaramdass talk about suffering (thanks to my friend @theresagorski). His words changed everything. He explained that nature is unfolding all the time, even through us. Some moments bring joy and some cause sadness, but none of it we actually control.
I know this to be true having spent decades carving an identity as a mother and a businesswoman, only to have much of that change into something else in limbo. Reluctantly, I’m learning my journey to inner peace actually lies in non-attachment to those identities. This is so very hard for anyone, but especially for a mother who cares deeply. Our egos can’t understand when things don’t go as planned, so we fight against the suffering.
Excessive “busy”ness, persistent outreach, and emotional restlessness have been my tools to maintain what I worked so hard to build, even as they’ve crumbled through my grasping fingers. But Ram Dass reminds us that when we stand back far enough to consider the possibility that there are no errors in the game of life, this suffering begins to lose its grip on us. It’s the ultimate paradox — by letting go of everything our minds have created, we can be free of the pain that runs rampant through our minds.
For years I’ve agonized that if I could just remove or fix the obstacles in my path, I could heal and get on with my spiritual work. Ironically, he says the obstacle IS our spiritual work. The goal is to take what’s on our plate and use it to free ourselves from self-made frameworks that are laced with judgment. Ruminating over what to do next is a habit fraught with fear — fear of losing control, fear of being outcast, fear of being alone. And what if that’s already happened anyway? He says, “When you fully understand that your incarnation is a vehicle for liberation, and THAT’s what your business is on earth, then the answer to which action should you take doesn’t matter.” There are no wrong answers. It’s all going to be horribly beautiful. Our job is to only silence our mind’s drama, so we are not trapped by our misperception that this version of reality is all there is. 💜(#workinprogress) 📸 @elizabeth_ida