Mindful Monday: When what we have isn't enough

Hello friends...

Our society is a very external one. There’s a huge amount of emphasis put on what’s going on around us; what we do for a living, what we look like, what we have. The popular belief is that the more we have it together on the outside, the happier we must be. But as many of us are aware, that’s just not the case.

This same society suffers from increasing anxiety, depression, addiction, over working and over spending. Interesting.

A few weeks ago, two very famous people ended their lives. A lot of people would say it looked like they had it all, but clearly they didn’t feel that way. We never know how a person feels, what their internal state of being is.

I meet people all of the time who say they have so many beautiful things in their life but they still don’t feel fulfilled and they don’t know why. They should feel grateful but they feel empty. And they feel guilty for not feeling grateful.

We can strive endlessly, have great achievements or wealth but if this is our main focus, we will never feel good enough or fully satisfied. We will always be focused on that next goal, or that next something new that we need to make us feel happy. It’s a never ending cycle. 

This is the nature of the ego. Unless it is tamed, it will be in the driver’s seat telling us we need more of something in order to be complete.

Who you really are has nothing to do with what you do, what you have or what you look like. It is beyond that. It is within, it is unlimited and it is boundless.

When you take the time to go inward you will discover that. There is a depth of peace, a depth of love. There is stillness. It is who you are. To be in touch with this part of yourself does not come automatically but it can be learned and requires only that you spend the time to bring awareness and cultivate something deeper. It requires an interest and intention.

So the question becomes:

Can we have goals, dreams and desires and at the same time be at peace right now with ourselves and our life?

We can!

Freedom comes when we are not identified by our work, our wealth, our body or anything external.

We can enjoy everything without attachment because we know at an experiential level there is more to us than just this. If we lose a job it can be challenging, and at the same time we can get through it trusting there is something else we are meant to do.

Many people come to me for coaching when they are going through a huge change in their life or realize things aren’t working. They had been trying to hold the pieces together for so long until they can’t.

When we go thru a crisis and things fall apart – be it health, career, relationship, things in life no longer make sense. This can be a painful and challenging time and also the biggest opportunity for change and growth – or we can also stay stuck. It’s a choice and it requires courage.

I witness such incredible transformations. It’s like magic when someone’s perception shifts, fear leaves, and there is an experience of who they REALLY are. And most often they say that this crisis was a gift because it caused them to do the inner work and they feel more peace, joy and fulfillment than they ever have in their life. They realize that the peace they were striving and working so hard for was within them all along.  The search is over.

When we are aligned with this peace and are making choices from love this is when things line up for us in our outer world with more ease and grace. We start to live our life from love rather than fear. As a result we are in the flow and we feel more content and fulfilled.

This is living life from the inside out rather than outside in.

This week, I hope you’ll take time to discover the beauty of who you are and the magic of life.

Remember, everything you need to know is within you.

With love,

Diane